Don't the Flames also pay for the visiting AHL teams to fly out to Abbotsford, as part of the original franchise relocation deal with the AHL?
I think Quad Cities and Omaha were cases (Quad Cities for sure) of the Flames not happy with the people running the business/making promises to woo them there that never came to be.
Abbotsford was them able to create a new market where they also would be able to keep closer tabs on the buisness side, and wouldn't have to deal with have control issues.
But the location is just far too far for the team to travel, and has been mentioned, practice time takes a hit, and its a steep price to pay for the ability of call ups being 1h flight away and being a bit more familiar with the market on a business side.
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