In Winnipeg, the hopes that the NHL returns are in everyone's hearts. Even the non- believers carry a little bit of hope with them, but will the city keep faith much longer?
Let's take a trip back to the 1995-96 NHL season, the last year in Jets history! The salaries of the top five players that year are as follows:
1 Wayne Gretzky, STL $6,545,363
2 Mark Messier, NYR $6,000,000
3 Keith Tkachuk, WPG $6,000,000
4 Mario Lemieux, PIT $4,571,429
5 Pavel Bure, VAN $4,500,000
Three of the top five are in the Hall of Fame today and the other two may one day find themselves there as well.
Wayne Gretzky, ("The Great One") the best player to ever grace the ice, was making money that today would just barely get you one of the top stars playing in the NHL today.
Next, we will look at Mario Lemieux making a salary of 4.5 million dollars, which is just more than a player today like Cory Sarich who is making just under 4 million this year.
With the NHL players values increasingly going up and the salary cap continuing to rise every year, how would a team be able to survive in a smaller market like Winnipeg?
Some people will argue that Winnipeg would still be better than a place down south; however, in the southern states people are making more money than people up here.
So how much better would Winnipeg be? Not much better when it comes to the money!
Don't get me wrong, I am from Winnipeg and would love to have an NHL team. I think it would be better than the southern states when it comes to atmosphere, and Winnipeg would back up their team 100% when it comes to spirit. But the thing that would become a problem like back in 1996, how deep will the people dig into their pockets.
Well, hopefully one day we will be able to find out!
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2 months ago
Your article does not cover many important points. First of all the southern teams are surviving because of the new CBA. The CBA facilitates a system of equalization where the nhl teams pool a percentage of their revenue and share it. Secondly the value of the canadian dollar was much less in 1996, while now it is at parity so winnipeg would actually be getting more value for the dollars spent on tickets. And thirdly and probably most importantly, the Jets would have a legitimate hockey facility in the MTS center which has the potential to become an NHL arena with a few upgrades. So overall all the pieces are in place for a very healthy hockey team, the only thing needed now is a bunch of rich guys with a lot of will power.
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