Could Forsyth County get an NHL team?...Should they?
Do the dollars make sense for a third attempt at an NHL team in Atlanta?
Welcome to my newsletter by me, King Williams. A documentary filmmaker, journalist, podcast host, and author based in Atlanta, Georgia. This is a newsletter covering the hidden connections of Atlanta and everything else.
This newsletter is about the prospect of Forsyth County getting an NHL team and their new 2 billion dollar development. We will not be talking about the history of Forsyth County. That will be another issue altogether in October. But it will cover Lake Lanier, the 1912 ethnic cleansing, 1987’s march, and its current day status.
1. Could Forsyth County get an NHL team?
Earlier this spring, what first circulated as a rumor on Twitter that was first confirmed by 11 Alive reporter Maria Martin took Atlantans by surprise. An effort was underway to bring a new professional sports team to Atlanta, specifically Forsyth County. Led by a relatively unknown developer and possibly involving the Arizona Coyotes, a team in a long-standing effort to secure a new stadium situation in the Phoenix suburbs.
Forsyth County, one of the fastest-growing counties in the state, could be the site of a new or relocating NHL (National Hockey League) team. The county could be the home of a pro sports team if things go the way of local automobile dealership baron Vernon Krause of the Krause Auto Group. Krause is leading the county's multi-billion dollar real estate project, hoping to land a professional hockey team to anchor the project.
1b. The Gathering at South Forsyth
Krause formerly announced his plans to build a multi-use, mixed-income entertainment district in Forsyth County earlier this year. The Gathering at South Forsyth is a $2 billion, 100-acre, mixed-use development anchored by a potential 18,000-seat arena—the future home of a potential NHL team.
Hockey is the only major professional sport not in Atlanta, leading to the hope of the project leaders to land a team at the site. That potential team would be an existing team relocating to Atlanta or a brand-new expansion franchise for the league, which for Atlanta would be its third franchise.
There is no official bid for an expansion team or a team relocating anywhere in the NHL. The league is waiting to see what happens in Phoenix first.
1c. Forsyth County enters ‘The Placemaking Wars’
The Gathering at South Forsyth is in the early phases of development, leaving ample time for the project developers to pivot in case Atlanta cannot secure a team. The early stages of the project could be the start of a new hub in metro Atlanta, anchored by pro sports, or it doesn’t. Regardless, Forsyth County is planting its flag in what could only be described as ‘The Placemaking Wars’ in suburban and exurban Atlanta, where enclave after enclave, ITP and OTP attempt to lay claim as the dominant player in the region.
2. Who is Vernon Krause?
Krause is an auto dealership magnate and head of the Krause Auto Group. Starting with Krause Family Ford in 1991, now spanning 18 dealerships across four states: Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina.
Krause also drew attention in 2018 in Roswell with his plan for a 50-acre 135-court tennis and pickleball center. That project was inspired by the sudden death of his 29-year-old daughter, who died shortly after childbirth. Krause attempted to take public park land in Roswell into a private, for-profit center. After public outcry, the project was abandoned. Five years later, Krause is back, this time in Forsyth County, one of the fastest-rising counties in the state by population and the wealthiest county in the state.
2b. What’s in it for Vernon Krause?
Should Krause succeed, the project would signal that pivoting from one business success into placemaking isn’t a one-off trend. Krause would join the likes of Steve Ngyren, the founder of Serenbe, who liquidated his entire restaurant portfolio in the early 2000s to open the influential eco-suburban enclave to found Serenbe Farms. Krause would also join Chick-fil-A's heir, billionaire Dan Cathy, who’s creating his own community in Trilith. Krause could be seen as the third leader in an emerging new era of development in Atlanta—the rise of the multimillionaire placemakers.
The newest sign of wealth and influence is to build community, literally. For Krause, someone not a household name could become one if he can pull off bringing a multi-billion dollar development and a third professional hockey team to metro Atlanta. If proven successful, Krause’s pivot into real estate from the world of franchise automobile dealerships would also signal that he and Forsyth County are major players in the metro area.
FWIW: There has been no indication of whether or not there are any additional financial partners on the project.
3. Why Forsyth County?
Forsyth County is one of the fastest growing in the state. Forsyth County has grown 43% from 2010-2020. Over the last decade, the county is now thinking long-term as it aims to compete with nearby North Fulton, Gwinnett, and East Cobb for potential residents. A new series of plans and this potential new development aims to continue its upward trajectory.
Forsyth County is the growth engine of the Atlanta exurbs. Its rate of growth is one of the top in the state. Forsyth County is seeing record growth like the other counties bordering Lake Lanier. Forsyth is currently the 8th most populous county in the state. It is fast rising, moving on pace to overtake Clayton County on the south side of metro Atlanta and Savannah’s Chatham County by the decade's end.
FWIW: Krause also owns a lake house in Forsyth County, at Lake Lanier, which was listed for sale and then taken off the market earlier this summer.
3. What would be the most likely team to relocate?
The biggest target is the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes, a team currently rumored to be relocating from its Tempe, Arizona home. The team is currently in a less-than-favorable series of negotiations regarding a new arena with both the city of Tempe and Phoenix. The key disagreement with both cities is the need for public funds to be used to fund a new stadium and its mixed-use entertainment district.
3b. The Arizona Coyotes want a new facility. The problem is the voters don’t want to subsidize it.
The issue is complicated for the Coyotes as attempts to convince voters have failed. This includes three separate ballot initiatives to convince local taxpayers to fund the new stadium and entertainment district have failed. This includes earlier this year when Tempe voters again rejected using public funds to go to the team. The Coyotes are still considering their options but prefer to have the team remain in Phoenix.
In addition, the ownership group has not publicly stated any concrete plans to sell and/or move the team to another city. But if that team would be relocated, there’s no guarantee Atlanta would be on the table. Atlanta would be competing with several other cities for the Coyotes.
The team has been attempting to relocate from the Phoenix suburbs for a more centralized city location. Preferably back in the city proper or remain in the suburbs of Phoenix with a financial package attached.
Should an agreement not be reached or a better one arrive in another city, the Coyotes, a team initially relocated from Winnipeg, Canada, would be on the move for the third time in franchise history.
3c. The options outside of Atlanta for the Coyotes relocation
Atlanta would have to compete with Houston, Kansas City, Salt Lake City, and Milwaukee, who have also expressed interest in the Coyotes.
Salt Lake City: Salt Lake City is also eyeing the franchise if things can’t be worked out between the team and the cities of Phoenix or Tempe. Salt Lake City would still work from a better geographical fit, allowing the team to remain in its current conference and maintain the same Western rivalries.
Houston: The nation’s fourth-largest city, Houston, has sought an expansion team for years. The Coyotes could also be in play should they become available. As a relocation spot, Houston has even better comps than Salt Lake City, including a larger base of potential fans in one of the most diverse big cities in America, including a large Latino base of would-be fans.
Kansas City: Kansas City has wanted a hockey team for decades. This includes a somewhat embarrassing 2007 effort to build an arena for a team on spec. Kansas City built an arena, the T-Mobile Center 2007, one of the few examples of a city building for a team that didn’t work out.
The arena is now used for concerts, special events, and primarily for smaller sporting events. This includes two stints of an arena football team, occasionally as a regional hub for the Women’s NCAA basketball tournament, and annually by the Big 12 Conference for its annual men’s basketball tournament.
Milwaukee: The Milwaukee Bucks, the NBA team, for years has been the subject of relocation rumors, but after the securing of a new arena for the team, efforts to add a hockey team have been simmering.
4. Expansion team versus Relocation
The far cheaper and more favorable option for an Atlanta (ahem, Forsyth County) team would be a relocation. Whether it be the Arizona Coyotes, the Tampa Bay Lightning (another franchise with stadium issues), or another team, relocation is the more economical option.
4b. Relocation
Relocation fees can vary, but even by 2009-11, when preliminary efforts to relocate the Coyotes to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada were estimated to be between $90-$195 million. After that failed, the efforts to relocate anytime since then have been mostly mute leaguewide. Since then, the preferred mode of expansion has emerged as the league preference. Considering the more lucrative expansion options, NHL owners would prefer the team to stay in Phoenix to avoid cutting off future revenues from an expansion team.
When the Thrashers were sold for $170 million in 2011 and then moved to Winnipeg, a relocation fee of $60 million was included. Of that relocation fee, most of the revenue went to the other team owners and the league. The move also boosted the overall value of the new Winnipeg Jets by 21% immediately. Should a move happen for the Coyotes, a similar jump in value could also happen.
4c. Expansion
This is because for a new team to start in the NHL, a supermajority of owners must agree for a team to enter. The league inspects the financing mechanisms, ownership group, stadium plans, and other due diligence. Once approved, the team pays an expansion fee, a fee that the majority of revenue goes to the owners, not the team.
It’s more lucrative to keep the Coyotes in Arizona and expand into 4-5 new cities as each franchise fee escalates with a new entry. This has a secondary effect of raising the overall franchise value of all teams, which means a potentially higher sale price if an existing team were to be sold. The 32 league’s owners can see a personal payday of north of $20 million each for each new team.
An expansion team would cost north of $650 million, not including payroll, stadium, local taxes, and other team expenses. The Las Vegas Golden Knights expansion fee was $500 million in 2017, and the Seattle Kraken was $650 million in 2021. Owners are more favorable to expansion as most fees are distributed to them with a small cut to the league and none to the players.
4d. Could the Coyotes stay put?
At the same time, the costs of expansion or renovation may keep the team in Arizona. But For many teams in the NHL, Atlanta Thrasher’s departure in 2011 reflected an economic reality of many hockey teams: most don’t make money. While some teams are doing quite well, many in the league are not, and this is coupled with a slight decline in the value of several teams in the league.
5. Atlanta has already had two* NHL teams. Maybe the third time’s the charm?
Despite losing out on two NHL expansion teams, the NHL isn’t against a third attempt. Atlanta, a city with the dubious distinction of losing two NHL franchises, is still a contender, but it has some historic memory hurdles and market hurdles to overcome.
Relocation and conference realignment in the NHL is a revolving game of musical chairs, and 2023 is no different. A potential third Atlanta team would continue a history of almost relocated NHL teams across North America.
5b. The Atlanta Flames, Atlanta’s first professional hockey team
Atlanta’s first team, the Flames, existed briefly in the city from 1972-80 as the NHL’s only team in the south. The league placed a single team in the south for its expansion efforts. For the entirety of its existence, the Atlanta Flames were the only team in the south, leaving it with no regional rivals.
The closest would-be rival for the Atlanta Flames would’ve been the St. Louis Blues until the formation of the Washington Capitals in 1974 in Washington, DC. The move resulted in a team with so-so attendance but a solid record, making the playoffs 6-of-8 seasons.
As a result, the team was sold to a Canadian ownership group. After departing Atlanta for Calgary, Canada, in 1980, the southeast was without any professional hockey team for over a decade. After leaving Atlanta, the team would make the playoffs for ten consecutive years, winning the Stanley Cup in the 1988-89 season.
5c. The Atlanta Thrashers and regional hockey in the southeast
After the departure of the Flames, professional hockey would be nonexistent in the South until the early 1990s. The 1990s saw the arrival of four teams to the southeast. The Miami expansion team, the Florida Panthers, in 1992, and the expansion Tampa Bay Lightning a year later. Alongside a relocation of the Hartford Whalers relocating in 1997 to Charlotte to become the Carolina Hurricanes. The next closest southern-adjacent team, the Dallas Stars, happened due to a relocation from Minnesota in 1993. The stage was set for the arrival of the second attempt at hockey in Atlanta, the Atlanta Thrashers.
Named after the state bird, the Thrashers would play at the newly erected Phillips Arena, replacing the Omni, the original home of the Flames and the Atlanta Hawks. The Hawks and the Thrashers shared the arena in downtown Atlanta overlooking the Gulch. Despite the initial excitement, the Thrashers didn’t catch on to the level of fandom as the Braves, Falcons, or the Hawks.
The team sold better than average and had a so-so record but was saddled with an ownership group looking for an exit. The team was once again sold 12 years later in 2011. This time relocating the team to Winnipeg, Canada, becoming the Winnipeg Jets. The Jets themselves returned to the NHL after losing their original team to another city, Phoenix. That team would become the Phoenix (now Arizona) Coyotes.
6. The last two Atlanta teams never had any true geographic rivals. A new team could fit in much better.
Atlanta hockey has been beset with two really bad instances of timing. The Flames were isolated in a league where hockey in the South was mostly an afterthought until 20 years later. During the NHL’s expansion era, the Thrashers entered with a slew of establishing teams and an ownership group focused more on money than the franchise.
If there were to be a new return to Atlanta for an NHL franchise, it would be accompanied by successful teams in nearby cities Charlotte, Nashville, Tampa, and Miami. The NHL has been satisfied by its presence in the southeast, but despite the on-the-ice success, having some ownership groups not threaten to relocate could push the league to return to Atlanta to anchor the southeast more firmly.
The NHL has wanted another Texas-based team to join Dallas for years. That city, likely being Houston, cementing a bigger footprint in America’s fastest-rising big state. The Dallas Stars have managed to eke out stability, blueprinting how to make a successful Sunbelt hockey team. Having Houston as an in-state rival could also lend the league to seeing the state further expanding there as well in the future.
7. The other concerns about a move to Forsyth County
The Forsyth County site would be one of the most isolated from public transportation, connecting highways, class-A office space, civic infrastructure, police capacity, hospital capacity, housing capacity, available hotels, and the population density needed to sustain a pro sports team. They are placing the team in a situation that is arguably no different or even slightly worse than what they currently have in Phoenix.
7b. Forsyth County is far, even by Atlanta standards
The team would be the furthest professional team from the Atlanta airport, the only major airport in the region. It’s unlikely that Forsyth can make up ground without a serious financial aid and infrastructure package attached. The Gathering at Forsyth is by far the farthest away from the city proper and the Atlanta airport.
It’s more limited by even highway reach, and its distance from would-be ticket holders would primarily come from Cobb, Gwinnett, Cherokee, and Forsyth, a mix that’s not impossible to maintain due to the lack of intra-regional connectivity such as mass transit, and residential density.
7c. This may get expensive
Due to the relocation preferences of the Arizona Coyotes, it’s not likely that Forsyth County would be in the cards unless a large financial package including addendums infrastructure, first responders, and upgraded medical facilities were included. Not to mention the actual arena itself. It’s highly likely that if a hockey arena is built, it would benefit the team with some combination of subsidies, tax increment financing, and revenue splits.
For immediate comps, the Atlanta Falcons received $200 million from the city of Atlanta to construct the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. But the figure could be as high as $700 million. The Atlanta Hawks received $250 million to renovate State Farm Arena. The Atlanta Braves move to Cobb County included a deal of $300 million toward the construction of Truist Park and The Battery Atlanta.
The Braves deal in Cobb also spans for the county to subsidize other aspects of the battery, including traffic planning, police, and fire for each game, resulting in millions more being spent on the deal. Cobb has had to cut some services, including funds to the library system, increased licensing fees, budget increases, and questions on how to fund the police, including tapping into federal funds. The team will remain in the facility for the next 30 years.
Additionally, some reports state that visitors to the site have not contributed to the expected level of revenues. However, the team and the county stated something different. Both state the team is now profitable.
7d. Gwinnett’s 1990s malls as an arbiter of Forsyth County’s plans
Suburban and exurban problems then and now suffer from the same problems—sprawl and demographic shifts. Suburban, and in the case of Forsyth County, exurban plans could be subject to the same market forces.
The problem with sprawling developments like The Gathering at South Forsyth is that they are subject to the whims of exurban marketplaces. Gwinnett County, like the entire metro, had an explosion of growth in the late 1980s through the mid-2000s. A boom period with an endless supply of suburban and exurban development, including the growth of several small towns into full-fledged suburban cities. Pushing the metro Atlanta boundaries further away from the core city.
Gwinnett County has been the poster child of suburban sprawl and large retail complexes. As the 1990s built out, several sprawling shopping centers were uber successful for a time, but after years of changes in demographics and demand, they have seen various states of change. Gwinnett now has a rising surplus of emptying and/or high-vacancy malls throughout the county. Malls that have county leaders pressed on how to address these mass ghost towns in the county, creating both short-term and long-term revenue issues.
8. Everyone now wants a mixed-use district.
Developers and sports teams across the country cite the success* of The Battery Atlanta in Cobb County as the case study in new sports complexes.
8b. The Battery Atlanta is the blueprint.
The Battery Atlanta is the guidepost for this 100-acre project. Since its opening in 2017 just outside the city limits in Cobb County, the project has redefined urban planning around stadiums. Stadiums are now copying the model of The Battery Atlanta, a mixed-use, 365-day residential, entertainment, and commercial district.
Sports teams are seeing the issues with isolated teams away from core cities, resulting in development patterns focused on being located within urban cores. Or at least very close to the central city.
There is more money to be made as destination districts. Places where fans and non-fans can go during the off-season to enjoy nightlife, restaurants, and concerts. This is anchored by a base of residential apartments and condos alongside a portfolio of on-property hotels and office space.
8c. The stadium game has changed. This current model is stuck between old and new ideologies in planning.
The colloquial success of The Battery Atlanta has enticed teams across the country to reconsider their models of stadium development. This includes college and professional teams who are attempting to replicate the model. The NFL’s Tennessee Titans in Nashville and the University of Tennessee in Knoxville cite The Battery Atlanta in their prospective plans being influenced by The Battery Atlanta.
The potential move of the Arizona Coyotes to Atlanta comes when sports teams are moving away from the previous isolated suburban stadium plans. Once the ideal in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, stadiums are now being built back in urban cores (see: Chase Center in San Francisco), just outside city limits (see: MetLife Stadium of New Jersey), and/or in edge cities/districts (see: SoFi Stadium in Inglewood California.)
For some teams, there is a more deliberate attempt to replicate the urban experiences of walkable districts within existing suburbs—this form of ‘drive-to urbanism’ at newer sports stadiums. Teams are seeking to replace lost or unrealized gains of solely having a team that people pay for tickets, parking, and in-stadium concessions.
8d. The national trend in stadium districts
The most recent NHL stadium, UBS Arena, home of the New York Islanders located in Long Island, was specifically built to be 1) closer to the city limits of NYC, 2) closer to multimodal transit, and closer to a wider swath of fans. The Coyotes also echo these problems, citing that despite playing in a brand new collegiate Arizona State hockey arena in nearby Tempe, they are losing money and fan engagement by being in the suburbs.
The NHL, NBA, MLB, and WNBA have made it a priority that all of their facilities are located closer to their urban cores over the last twenty years. At the same time, the MLS and NFL are the only remaining holdouts on this model. The NFL is still beholden to this model, but bigger market teams, such as the Washington Commanders, are considering moving back into the city.
8e. Comps for Forsyth County’s mixed-use arena
The most comparable in-region mixed-used sports entertainment facilities are Duluth’s Gas South arena, the Battery Atlanta in Cobb, and Centennial Yards downtown for the Atlanta Hawks (and Falcons).
Metro Atlanta already has an AA-level hockey team, the Atlanta Gladiators, located in Duluth in Gwinett County. The team is a farm team to the NHL’s Nashville Predators and an AAA team, the Milwaukee Admirals.
Gas South Arena has become mostly Gwinnett and the northern exurbs home for concerts and high school events. Its growth plan was severely handicapped by the 1-2 combination of the failed 2019 MARTA referendum and the subsequent abandonment of developer Mark Toro from the project. Followed by the pandemic. The project, now in 2023, is back on target with a renewed focus on being a mixed-use entertainment district anchored by the suburban urbanism of Avalon, another Mark Toro-designed community. The Gas South Arena is now a part of The Gas South District, a mixed-use entertainment center as the hub of major activity for Gwinnett County.
8f. The Coyotes want a stadium of their own
For the Coyotes, a move to any arena outside of Phoenix is an upside. An arena of its own allows for greater control of the venue, practice schedule, and regular season scheduling. It also allows them to make more revenue and potentially control their options for monetization.
The team has played at Arizona State University for the last few seasons. As a result, the arena is the smallest in the league at only 5,000 seats. Additionally, the team does not control the land or non-NHL revenue of the site. Xavier Gutierrez, the team president and first Latino president in NHL history, is leading the effort to keep the team in Arizona.
Meanwhile, The Gathering at South Forsyth has added Frank Ferra as the Senior Project Executive to the project, adding more credibility to a potential NHL team. Ferra was the former CFO of Arizona State University’s athletic department. A move centered on bringing a person well aware of the team, the local Arizona market, and the NHL in preparation for a potential move.
9. Do the dollars make sense for this team?
The Coyotes seem to have met the ceiling of interest in Arizona, and a move to a market could lend more financial success for the debt-ridden franchise. But the Coyotes have been such a magnet for financial issues; is it worth it?
The upside
A new team could anchor a multi-decade growth plan for the northern exurbs.
A move to a bigger city such as Houston or Atlanta could lead to much larger revenue opportunities on par with the top cities in the league. A move to either city could lead to greater exposure to Fortune 1000 companies, merchandise sales, ticket sales, partnerships, and local TV deals.
The downside
The Coyotes aren’t only the NHL’s least valuable team, it’s also the least stable.
The team filed bankruptcy in 2009 before being taken over by the league until the team was purchased in 2013 for $225 million. Included in that deal was a special 15-year lease that would keep the team in Phoenix. The deal was made with the understanding to keep the team local and avoid a move to Seattle. The deal was terminated two years later.
As a result, the team has moved around the Phoenix metro in various arenas for the last few years, including the Desert Diamond Arena and Arizona State University’s Mullett Arena, where they currently play*.
Then, in 2021, it almost faced eviction for unpaid bills at its rented arena. The team has played in three different arenas. Leading to a still active $2.3 billion lawsuit against the city of Phoenix over its proposed new arena. The team is still without an arena deal for this upcoming season and is considering playing at Mullett Arena.
The money has been small for a while now.
The Coyotes are last in revenue at $127 million, nearly half the league’s top-earning team, The New York Rangers, at $249 million. Who also happens to be the league’s most valuable team at $2.2 billion compared to the $450 million of the Coyotes.
The per-team revenue is enough to cover about half of the team’s payroll, which is the lowest in the league. The team’s average revenue per fan is around 13 dollars, nearly a third of the revenue of the New York Rangers at $35 per fan.
Compared to would-be regional teams in the southeast, the Florida Panthers, $137 million in revenues for 2021-22, and the Nashville Predators, $169 million, the Coyotes would still be at the bottom. The Tampa Bay Lightning are in the center of the league in revenue at $187 million.
The TV money is good but not great.
Despite the lower revenues, the team can at least bank on newly signed television for some consistency. The NHL recently signed a pair 7-year deal with ESPN and Turner Sports that runs until the 2029-30 season. This is in addition to a larger deal with the Canadian sports network Rogers SportsNet.
10. Conclusion
There’s a good chance The Gathering at South Forsyth could work with or without a hockey team. The project also has the benefit of an upswing in both local desire for mixed-use entertainment districts and the continued growth profiles necessary to sustain a project like that…at least in the short term.
Is there another team in case the Coyotes are out?
Even if Atlanta loses out on the Arizona Coyotes, the idea of the Tampa Bay Lightning could also be on the table as the team has been trying to find a new arena for the last 15 years. The team is now courting potential buyers of the team. And unlike the Coyotes, has been flirting with leaving their city. Unlike the Coyotes, the Lightning would bring a championship-caliber team, winning two of the last three Stanley Cups.
Despite their successes, in the past, Carolina and Tampa Bay have had public issues regarding attendance, revenue, and relocation, but neither have moved. Both teams have managed to whether the storms and become championship teams with the Tampa being one of the rare exceptions of Sun Belt cities being star hockey towns. While Carolina has had some brushes with the idea of relocation in the recent past. But is now out of the relocation picture, as the team renewed their lease in Raleigh until the 2044 season.
At the same time, Houston has been on the precipice of a team for years, but until the situation is settled in Phoenix/Tempe, the league isn’t in a rush for an expansion team. Still, the uncertainty in Tampa and Arizona has held up expansion, especially with league owners preferring expansion over relocation. For Atlanta, the costs of expansion may be too expensive.
But the better and bigger question remains…If it is true that the Coyotes are on the move, why is this not being pitched for downtown Atlanta?
The Atlanta-Winnipeg-Phoenix triangle could result in a reshuffle to how it was 50 years ago.
One of the biggest ironies that could arise is that the team that left Winnipeg for Phoenix, which led to Winnipeg taking Atlanta’s hockey team, could lose their team for Atlanta.
The original Winnipeg Jets relocated to Phoenix, then took the Thrashers and became the Winnipeg Jets again to success. The Colorado Rockies (not to be confused with the baseball team) lasted only six seasons before the arrival of the Colorado Avalanche in 1995 and have been a success ever since. This has proven that NHL teams can relocate back to their home cities, and it works out. There is a precedent for an Atlanta team to be successful after an unsuccessful first (and second attempt). So there is a chance…The Arizona Coyotes could be the new* Atlanta Thrashers*, but is that something we want?
Atlanta is a sports town. Will it now translate into being a hockey town, too?
-KJW