From: patrick@is.rice.edu (Patrick L. Humphrey)
Subject: Re: ESPN Followup
Organization: Rice University
Distribution: na
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 03:03:29 GMT

In article <3SEP199211415616@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov>, bimson@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov (GREG) writes:
>In article <1992Sep3.122302.27548@cs.rochester.edu>, hoebel@cs.rochester.edu (Lou Hoebel) writes...
>>In article <Sep03.040044.58615@yuma.ACNS.ColoState.EDU> mmb@lamar.ColoState.EDU (Michael Burger) writes:
>>>Some details:
>>>
>>>--25 regular season games (mostly on Fridays)
>>>--up to 37 playoff games
>>>--Full Stanley Cup Finals
>>>--$80 million over 5 years (comprable to $50/3 year with Sports Channel
>>>   parts of America)
>>>--Provisions for future network TV coverage
>>>--First game will be Oct. 6 (Tue.) - Phila. vs. Pitt. (Lindros vs. Lemieux)
>>>
>>>Enjoy
>> 

[part of the exchange between Greg and Lou deleted]

>>I could care less if X million homes in Houston, Miami or Atlanta
>>now have access to hockey......the sport ain't gonna make it done south!
>>How many Super Speedways are there in CanadaLand...right. Its a religion
>>down south...Petty is a diety, the names are Foyt, Earnhardt and Waltrip.
>>Not Igor, Ivan and Mario. Visit Alabama or Texas and tell me if hockey'
>>is going to make it there...or Arkansas or Tennessee or Georgia or
>>South Carolina or Arizona...hey gary!..got any ice there?
>> 
>I do disagree with this, however.  The NHL could have ad some serious 
>rivalries if they had accepted Cincinnati and Birmingham from the WHA. 
>Considering that the Flames didn't move to Calgary until the following 
>year, Birmingham, Atlanta, and Cincinnati could have been a great 
>rivalry.  Also, Birmingham and Cincinnati were starting to make money, 
>so they weren't deadwood teams.

Indianapolis wouldn't have been, either, except for an owner known (and
not liked very well) by Atlanta fans -- Nelson Skalbania.  How many people
know that Wayne Gretzky started his pro career with the Indianapolis Racers?
Skalbania's selling Gretzky to Edmonton was the sign that the Racers were
on the way out -- and after folding them, off he (Skalbania) went, to buy
up the Flames...and Atlantans know too well what happened after that.

>Don't forget, Houston had a WHA team, too.  The original owners sold 
>the team, which was in the red, to new people, and when they found out 
>that they were responsible for the operating loss from the team, they 
>just folded it up.  That had nothing to do with the fans.  The south 
>could probably support many teams, since the main reason for their 
>population growth over the past 15 years was due to Northerners moving 
>south.

That's not quite what happened to the Aeros.  The original franchise was 
granted to Paul Deneau, and destined for Dayton -- but arena problems (as
in lack of) made him move the franchise to Houston in April 1972 before
the team had so much as signed a player.  Deneau sold his holdings to 
George Bolin at the end of the regular season in 1973-74, and Bolin held
the team until their second season at The Summit (1976-77) -- at 
which time, it was sold to a group headed by Kenneth Schnitzer.  Unfortunately,
Bolin managed to drive the Howes out of Houston and to New England, so the
fallout from that caught up with Schnitzer -- and when the NHL's tease of a
merger fell through after the 1977-78 season, he sold the players' contracts
en masse to Winnipeg, and the Aeros were history.  Had he held out one more
year, it's my opinion the Aeros would still be with us today in the NHL...
 
-- 
Patrick L. Humphrey  (patrick@is.rice.edu)  Rice Networking & Computing Systems
     +1 713 528-3626 at Rice. 776-1541 at home. 667-6554 at Palace Lanes. 

                    I've fallen -- and I can't reach my beer!