Agenda producer Navin Vaswani writes a blog named Sports and the City.  I asked him for his take on the possibility of another team moving into Southern Ontario:

How does one say goodbye to his hockey team? As a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs – I’m as “bleed blue and white” as they come – I know I’ll never have to answer that question for myself. For better or worse, my fair city is stuck with the team that hasn’t won a Stanley Cup  since the NHL expanded past six teams.

 

 

For fans of the Phoenix Coyotes, that question is all too real. Their hockey team is in limbo. Its fate in the hands of a judge. 

 

Perhaps it’s because I’m a Leafs fan, and have no real affinity for the Coyotes, that I haven’t paid as much attention to this story as I should have. Mr. Jim Balsillie really wants to own a hockey team. His numerous attempts to buy a team – any team – and his over-market bid for the Coyotes prove that. He also wants to move said team – any team – to Canada. To Southern Ontario. To Hamilton. And here’s where my Leafs come into play. They’ve been accused of blocking Mr. Jim Balsillie’s attempts to move a team to Southern Ontario, and have been accused of asking for an absurd “territorial rights” fee.

 

As a Leafs fan, that’s disappointing. The last thing the Maple Leafs need to do is give people more reasons to hate them. They’re already the richest team in the league. They’re already able to sell out the building, regardless of the product on the ice. And they know it. It’s as if they’re saying: “Hey, there’s only room for one mediocre hockey team around here.”  

 

There’s little doubt Southern Ontario, and Hamilton in particular, could support an NHL franchise. I think Toronto could support another team, too. A little competition certainly couldn’t hurt the Leafs. But I firmly believe that another team in Ontario shouldn’t come at the expense of fans in Phoenix. 

 

I can’t imagine how I’d say goodbye to my hockey team. And I struggle to think how Travis Hair (a.k.a OdinMercer), the fine blogger at Five For Howling, would do it as well. Because he might have to.

Check out the Phoenix take here.