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Post by IGive1 on Dec 9, 2014 11:01:25 GMT -5
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Post by ricardo on Dec 9, 2014 20:51:19 GMT -5
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Post by aj0512 on Dec 10, 2014 9:52:57 GMT -5
While it would suck to lose the easy driving distance to Plymouth, I would welcome an OHL team in Chatham. You wouldn't have to do any realignment, and still a close drive for Windsor and Sarnia.
That said, however, it appears that the arena would need a lot of work. The current rink, Chatham Memorial Arena, only seats 2,412 for hockey and is currently home of the Chatham Maroons of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League. It's also about 65 years old. There are very few concession stands or washrooms. They'll need to pump a lot of money into it, or build an entirely new rink all together. It was also the former home of the Chatham Wheels, before they moved to Saginaw in the early 1990s.
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Post by IGive1 on Dec 11, 2014 14:45:53 GMT -5
This is very strange. A successful businessman has to let the league know where he is moving his team in 20 days and he does not have a definite location? Very strange. He is "hoping it is Chatham". Hoping. A multi-million dollar operation and he is hoping to find a new home for it in the next 20 days. This can not be how he ran his other businesses.
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Post by johnt on Dec 11, 2014 16:54:08 GMT -5
That said, however, it appears that the arena would need a lot of work. The current rink, Chatham Memorial Arena, only seats 2,412 for hockey and is currently home of the Chatham Maroons of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League. It's also about 65 years old. There are very few concession stands or washrooms. There is precedent in the OHL to move a team to a city that has a similar arena. When the Sting moved to Sarnia in the mid-90's, they initially played in the Sarnia Arena. Because of political issues on where to locate a new arena, it took the league to threaten ownership with pulling the franchise to finally get an arena built. Anyone remember the old Kingston Memorial Arena, predecessor to the K-Rock Centre? The roof leaked in that building. And lastly, the infamous "The Jack" in St. Kitts. The Ice Dogs played in that dump for several years before the new arena was finally built. The above are recent examples of teams moving into sub-OHL standard arenas. A firm commitment by Chatham to build a new arena and the Plymouth to Chatham deal may be finalized. If it is, we can all go visit TJ Brodie's family in Dresden.
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Post by donjohnson on Dec 12, 2014 10:51:32 GMT -5
A firm commitment by Chatham to build a new arena and the Plymouth to Chatham deal may be finalized. If it is, we can all go visit TJ Brodie's family in Dresden. That is the key, a committment...there's no way in this age of stadiums/arenas that you can move a team without an arena or at minimum, promise of an arena. If you go the route of the promise and back out on it, that team will be gone in 60 seconds. Even at this level, it's big business and if an owner can't make money off of seats, season tickets and sponsorships, there's no way they're going to move to or stay in a city.
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Post by ricardo on Dec 29, 2014 20:10:54 GMT -5
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Post by aj0512 on Dec 29, 2014 20:27:31 GMT -5
Not sure how much steam this rumor has, but did hear recently that St. Thomas (half hour south of London) is also a potential landing spot for the Whalers. Based on the article, it sounds like a decision will have to come pretty quickly to go in effect for next season.
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Post by IGive1 on Jan 8, 2015 20:39:01 GMT -5
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Post by johnt on Jan 8, 2015 21:52:32 GMT -5
The OHL gave the Whaler organization a 15 day extension from the December 31st deadline to transfer the team to another location next season.
BTW, if anyone remembers, Costa Papista was the Spirit's first GM, coming with the team from North Bay.
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Post by ricardo on Jan 9, 2015 8:01:23 GMT -5
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Post by SaginawGensFan on Jan 9, 2015 14:43:43 GMT -5
The Whalers moving to Flint would be the best thing I have heard in a long time... not sure about how it will play out long term, but it will be a much easier (shorter) drive to the IMA - er, Perani Arena - than Plymouth & I love games there in Flint. I really like the arena even if it does need a ton of upgrades. Plus it will help me to hate the team even more than I already do! LOL!!! Financially speaking, tho, I just don't see how an OHL team will survive in Flint.
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Post by aj0512 on Jan 13, 2015 12:40:19 GMT -5
Per Terry Camp on ABC 12 News, the Whalers are holding a press conference tomorrow to discuss the future of the franchise, and all signs are pointing to a move to Flint.
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Post by kidowsley on Jan 13, 2015 15:49:21 GMT -5
Latest update from mLive making it sound like Whalers move to Flint is a done deal. Announcement scheduled for Wednesday morning.
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Post by spiritfan8 on Jan 13, 2015 17:00:19 GMT -5
This is flat out too good to be true--not only to keep our instate rival but have them move an hour away. I wasn't around for all of the IHL Flint-Saginaw legendary stuff, so this would be more than I could hope for--BRING IT!!!!!!!!
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