About a week ago, I wrote an article about the defunct Hartford Whalers, one of three NHL cities that lost their franchises in the 1990s along with Quebec and Winnipeg. But while Winnipeg now has its Jets back and Quebec is so close to getting back their beloved Nordiques that they can almost taste it, Hartford’s Whalers are nowhere in sight.
The Whalers were originally a WHA city, formed in 1972 as the New England Whalers in direct competition with the NHL’s Boston Bruins. After trying to compete in Boston, the Whalers moved to Hartford where they became identified with the city ever since, and when the leagues merged in 1980, they dropped the New England tag and became solely Hartford’s team.
Hartford was the only American WHA city to join the NHL along with Quebec, Winnipeg and Edmonton, and like Quebec, it was new to being a professional sports town. (Edmonton and Winnipeg were members of the CFL).
Unfortunately Hartford, Quebec, and Winnipeg could not shake off what might be described as “small city mentality”. Whereas Edmonton built a modern arena to make the Oilers competitive with established NHL teams and insulate them from tough economic times, the other three cities were just content to expand the old arenas from 10,000 to a barely acceptable 15,000.
In retrospect it was the first sign of lack of faith in the team, particularly at the ownership and municipal government level.
Faith is a tricky factor in sports. On the playing field and ice, it is usually described as an “intangible”, but in many cases it is a crucial factor – perhaps even the most crucial.
Perhaps the person who understood the importance of faith in sports the best was legendary Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi. He strongly believed that his teams had to be prepared not only physically but mentally. His teams were always characterized by a strong belief in themselves.
And off the field or ice, faith was to be just as crucial a factor as the cases of Hartford, Quebec, and Winnipeg (and other cities in other leagues who lost their franchises too) were to prove.
When tough times came in the 1990s, no investor/owner believed they could operate an NHL franchise in Hartford, Quebec, and Winnipeg unless a modern arena was built. And nobody at the municipal and state/provincial government levels showed any faith in rectifying the problem. All three cities lost their NHL franchises.
But whereas there was little faith at the ownership and governmental levels, a fan base had been created, particularly in Quebec and Winnipeg that resented the loss of their teams and immediately began efforts to get them back.
Right from the first day that they lost their team, the fans showed the faith that would turn a dream into reality. They believed that their old teams belonged to them and to their cities alone, and that one day the Winnipeg Jets and Quebec Nordiques would play hockey against their NHL rivals once more.
Nor was the NHL hostile to their efforts. In 2010, Commissioner Gary Bettman made a tour of all three cities and stated the price of readmission to the NHL: adequate fan-base, good ownership, and an acceptable modern NHL arena.
Though these are expensive factors to comply with, they are perfectly reasonable in today’s North American professional sports league environment.
There is no reason to bring back a sports franchise if it cannot be run properly and complying with all three factors ensures long term stability, competitiveness and survival.
It is strange that no action has been taken in Hartford because metropolitan Hartford is the biggest market of all three cities (app. 700,000 Winnipeg, 800,000 Quebec, 1.2 million Hartford) and would have the best chance of survival, stability and competitiveness.
While nothing has been done in Hartford to comply with the NHL’s terms, Winnipeg has the Jets back and Quebec will probably get the Nordiques again when NHL expansion is announced.
And it started with the fans, at the faith level.
In Winnipeg, a pressure group was formed, called the Manitoba Mythbusters. They formed a united core, out to prove that NHL was wrong to take their team away and that an NHL franchise was feasible in Manitoba. They made themselves known, would not take no for an answer. and increased their membership so that politicians and investors would take notice.
Things began to gradually happen. Winnipeg built a new arena (intended for the AHL) and quietly began to recruit potential investors including Canada’s richest man, a member of the Thomson family.
When the Thrashers failed in Atlanta, Winnipeg was ready and Bettman surprisingly overlooked the small seating capacity of Winnipeg’s arena and allowed the Thrashers to move to Winnipeg.
Like Winnipeg, the rebirth of the Nordiques started with the fans at the faith level. They made repeated calls for action to be taken to get their team back. Finally, 80,000 of them banded together and signed a petition calling for the return of the Nordiques.
This petition was important on two levels. First it served as a sounding board to both investors and politicians that there was a substantial market in Quebec for an NHL franchise. Second, it told the politicians and investors that the Nordiques fans were prepared to put their money where their mouths were, both for a returned franchise and a new arena.
The Winnipeg and Quebec experiences are blueprints for Hartford. To get the Whalers back, it has got to start with the fans and faith.
Reading some of the Internet articles about life in Connecticut without the Whalers is like reading about aimless animals wandering in a pasture without any clear direction. You read about the small groups of fans, some even ex-ticket holders who gather in bars once a year to remember the Whalers.
You read about the “cute” Whalers logo that Whaler fans insist was the best in the NHL and how Whaler sports merchandise in Connecticut still sells to a new generation of Connecticut fans who have had no contact with the team.
You read about former president Howard Baldwin futilely trying to stir up interest for a returned franchise which he believes will succeed if Hartford complies with Gary Bettman’s terms.
You read about how the mayor of Hartford wants the Whalers to return in a new arena that would be part of a revival of the Hartford downtown area and how nothing is done unlike in other cities where core revival has occurred. Obviously the lack of faith is more than just about a sports franchise. People do not believe in metropolitan Hartford.
So are the Whaler’s doomed to remain a nostalgic NHL memory? It does not have to be that way as the Quebec and Winnipeg situations are proving. Taking a leaf out of their pages, what can Whaler fans do?
Band together.
A few scattered voices yelling in isolation is not going to make a difference. If necessary form a pressure group like the Manitoba Mythbusters (Hartford Whale Catchers? Breeders?) who will organize petitions, talk to businessmen, the media, and politicians, and keep in regular contact with the old Whaler fans all over New England and the new ones who are buying the merchandise. Howard Baldwin is nothing by himself: Howard Baldwin with an 80,000 signature petition like what happened in Quebec has some teeth.
Show you like NHL hockey
One of the ways of doing this in Quebec was to get the Montreal Canadiens to play an exhibition game in Quebec and sell out the arena. Again it told politicians and investors that there was a market for hockey in Quebec and that the fans would put their money where their mouths were to get their team back. Get the Boston Bruins or the New York Rangers (parent to Hartford’s AHL club) to play an annual exhibition game in Hartford and sell out the arena. A game against Montreal, or one of the New York or Pennsylvania teams would be a good draw.
Make yourselves visible and known
If other people see that there is a group that means business, they will be more likely to jump on a bandwagon that has the potential to be a winner. When it was rumored that the New York Islanders might relocate, a large contingent of Quebec fans bought tickets to an Islander game that was not sold out and turned up wearing their Nordiques uniforms and carrying banners and other messages that Quebec wanted their team back. If New York did not want the Islanders, Quebec wanted them as the Nordiques. Politicians, investors, and the NHL took notice.
Talk with and if necessary get help from Winnipeg and Quebec
There are hard core fans in both cities who took steps to make their dream a reality. Talk to a Manitoba Mythbuster, or a die-hard Nordiques fan that got involved in organizing petitions, getting media attention, and negotiating with investors and politicians. If fans in Hartford are not sure about where to start and what to do, fans in Quebec and Winnipeg obviously know something about getting a lost NHL franchise back.
Show faith and act upon it
The Hartford Whalers will not come back by themselves. Wishing them back at nostalgia parties in bars will not get any results. The Nordiques and Jets are coming back because people believed in them and showed it. It all started with faith shown by the fans.
An article like this will conclude with a line that was used near the beginning of the last Whaler article I wrote:
Whaler fans, where are you?
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