Quote:
Originally Posted by Hot_Flatus
Another one of those "why is this team even here" franchises if you ask me. The fact that someone bought the team for that much money and is not moving it anytime soon makes you wonder....
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The team did much better in Hartford, in terms of attendance and profit margin. It was the ego of Karmanos that moved the team into an unproven market, after negotiations with the Connecticut Government broke down, in regards to funding a new arena in Hartford.
Doctor Karmanos' Traveling Road Show debuts. "Anywhere But Hartford" seems to be opening number. Columbus, Raleigh, Minneapolis, St. Paul, even Las Vegas are mentioned as possible relocation sites. Eyes roll when Karmanos announces that the team is considering renovating a 55-year-old, abandoned Ohio aircraft hangar as a temporary home until a new arena can be built in Columbus.
Karmanos calls the Columbus proposal -- a 25-year lease under which the operator would pay $3 million in annual rent to the convention facilities authority and $200,000 a year to the community -- a "significantly better deal" than the offer he received to stay in Hartford.
"That's a situation I don't want to find myself in ever again," he says. "I'm going to put myself in a market that will work financially."
Karmanos tells an Ohio TV station that Columbus is his number one choice. The broadcaster asks him to repeat it. He does. A week later in North Carolina, Karmanos denies Columbus is the front-runner. Karmanos also notes his team now is "formerly the Hartford Whalers." Asked to propose some new names, Karmanos smiles, suggesting Cyclones or Hurricanes. Karmanos tours the Greensboro Coliseum, a possible interim site where the team will play for two seasons while a new arena is built in Raleigh, and pronounces it a "first-class facility."
source:
https://sophia.smith.edu/~jeue/John/pete.html
It was even rumored that Karmanos wanted to work out a deal to move the team to the Palace in Auburn Hills, Michigan to compete with his long time arch-nemesis Mile Illitch, for the Detroit market, but the NHL would never allow it. Karmanos would later anger other NHL owners by offering Sergei Federov a 4-year $28 million dollar contract, with $16 million to be paid out on the condition that he helps his team advance to the Conference Finals. The deal was structured in a way that put the Wings at a huge disadvantage, since they were defending Stanley Cup champions, and most likely to make the Conference Finals again, while the Hurricanes were battling for the final playoff spot. Illitch matched the Canes off, regardless.
I'm actually surprised it took 20 years for Karmanos to sell the team. At one point he was losing $25 million a season.