HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - Eight years after the Whalers left Hartford for North Carolina, a developer wants to bring another NHL team to the Connecticut capital.
Lawrence Gottesdiener is head of Northland Investment Corp., which owns $500 million US worth of property in Hartford. He would like to put the team in a $250 million arena he hopes to build.
''We've got our own money, we're willing to invest in an arena and we're willing to buy a team,'' he said. ''It would be an important entity and symbol of the city, the region and the state.''
Gottesdiener's plan calls for a publicly subsidized, 16,000-seat venue that would be home to a major hockey team. The University of Connecticut men's and women's basketball teams also would play some games there.
The new arena would replace the Hartford Civic Center under the proposal, which was announced Wednesday amid talk of the Civic Center's future.
I'm not sure if a 16000 seats arena would be enough though. Then again if games presented there are full house on average it will already be more than what the Sabres, the Canes and the Preds draw on average each game, and all 3 are doing quite well this season.
People can say what they want about the Canes and Preds, but last night in Jersey there were 11,971 for a New Years Eve game between the Leafs and the Devils.And I bet about 1500 were Leafs fans.Maybe I am missing something here but over the last 10 years have the Devils not won 3 cups?They may not be the team the used to be but they are not as bad as the Blues.Maybe the Ranger turned Devils fan is a Ranger fan again.So its just not just teams from the south who have attendance problems.
