Winnipeg Jets: How Soon Will Dissent Rumble in Winnipeg?

In the intense desire and excitement to get the Winnipeg Jets back at almost any price, few Winnipeg fans have cared about the conditions the returned team has landed in.

Most are simply grateful to owners Mark Chipman and Dave Thomson for returning the team to its rightful place.

This column has long supported a returned Winnipeg Jets franchise, but only under the most favorable conditions that would ensure both long-term survival and a competitive team that can always challenge for the Stanley Cup.

The column has always been critical of the size of the Winnipeg arena, which is nearly 2,000 seats smaller than the current smallest NHL arena, that of the New York Islanders, which has been officially condemned as inadequate by Commissioner Gary Bettman, and the team's owner, Charles Wang, has publicly threatened relocation if the Long Island facility isn't replaced.

Therefore, it is no surprise to find that the Jets are being run (just as this column had predicted) on a tight leash, with little opportunity to ever be competitive.

It has been recently reported that the two NHL teams with the lowest payrolls are—you guessed it—the Islanders and the Jets.

Thomson and Chipman are no fools financially and are determined not to bite off more than they can chew.

But are the Winnipeg fans prepared to permanently accept this state of affairs?

When trying to reason with the shrill rhetoric of the Manitoba Mythbusters and similar pressure groups, whenever I took my stand that the Winnipeg arena was too small, all I was saying was that I wanted the Jets to be permanently stationed in Winnipeg and able to compete equally with all the rest of the NHL teams.

I argued that because the Winnipeg market was the smallest in the NHL, it needed a large arena to make up for lack of revenue in other areas.  But I was shouted down.

It's not hard to speculate that the Islanders and Jets have the smallest payrolls because of the size of their arenas.

Most Mythbusters and other Winnipeg fans constantly downplayed the importance of arena size just to get a team back.

But how long are they going to be content with a non-competitive team that will have no chance to ever win the Stanley Cup?

Thomson and Chipman will go from heroes to villains over night.  Sooner or later, the size of the arena will become a hot point of debate in Winnipeg.

Right now, economic conditions are favorable with a salary cap in place, and in particular, a high Canadian dollar compared to its American counterpart.  But that could change.

Therefore, there is no danger to the immediate future of the team, but I suspect that its ability to compete will become an issue before long.

Will Winnipeg fans be content like before at watching high-priced talent leave the team because it can't afford to keep them?  How can the Jets afford badly needed free agents?

In contrast to Winnipeg, Quebec is going about solving its arena problem before it gets a team back. 

Ex-Nordique President Marcel Aubut is even speculating that once the NHL sees construction of a new 18,000-plus arena beginning, they'll even be willing to give them a team ahead of time that could play in their old arena until the new one is built.

Either way, a returned Nordique team will be able last longer and get a competitive team quicker than Winnipeg can.

Winnipeg is currently building a new larger stadium for the CFL Blue Bombers, one that can be expanded and host Grey Cup games.

What's wrong with building a proper NHL-size arena for the Jets so that the team can become a Stanley Cup champion?

For now, there is no disturbance to the honeymoon period of the returned Jets.  But what will happen when Winnipeg fans wake up from their dream and find what is really there?