During the 1980s and 90s, the Hartford Whalers was one of the biggest attractions in Connecticut. Being the only professional sports team in the state, the NHL hockey team accumulated a devoted fan base throughout its 25-year existence.
Despite the franchise’s move to North Carolina and transformation into the Carolina Hurricanes in 1997, the Whaler’s fanbase refuses to die. The team has a faithful online community, with many calling to bring the Whalers or a new hockey team back to Hartford. Petitions have been started, as well as a few unsuccessful movements to bring a team back to Connecticut.
Mark Stewart Greenstein, a longtime Hartford resident and former governor elect, hopes to change that.
Greenstein grew up watching the Whalers and considers himself a fan to this day. When running for governor in 2018, one of his main goals was to bring about an economic revival in Connecticut by bringing an NHL team back to Hartford.
“I was inspired by wanting Connecticut to rebound. Not just in terms of hockey, but we’ve been on a decline for most of 30 years, and the Whalers leaving was a big cog in Hartford not rejuvenating itself,” said Greenstein.
Although Greenstein was not elected, he is now the director of NHL to Hartford, an organization dedicated to creating a group ownership that will be prepared to buy an NHL team when the time comes for them to relocate a team or expand.
The group hopes to bring an NHL team back to Connecticut by 2027 and has been working to garner attention and get people involved in their ownership, according to Greenstein.
The NHL has relocated and expanded teams several times over the past few years, with the Arizona Coyotes moving to Utah and becoming the Utah Hockey Club earlier this fall. Las Vegas received an expansion team in 2016, which became the Vegas Golden Knights.
Many, including Greenstein, expect that over the next few years the NHL will begin looking for a city to expand or relocate a team again. Greenstein stated he hopes to make Hartford a serious candidate for a team by creating an ownership that is equipped to take it over.
“Our expectation is that the NHL will want to expand, probably by two teams. If in the next three years they call for expansion, we want to be among the cities in play. There will be others. We already know. There’s a group in Houston, there’s a group in Atlanta and there’s been a long-standing group in Quebec. We want to have at least as good of a standing as Houston in Atlanta,” said Greenstein.
To do this, NHL to Hartford is aiming to create a team ownership that is part “Green Bay Packers style” owned and part “billionaire” owned, according to the organization’s 2024 notice.
The Green Bay Packers is the only NFL team that is publicly owned, according to CNBC. The team is owned completely by 538,000 stockholders, many of which are Packers fans.
NHL to Hartford hopes to emulate this system by allowing fans to make “interest-bearing deposits as shareholders of the team,” as stated in the organization’s notice. This means that anyone could invest in the team now and one day become a future shareholder, according to Greenstein.
To invest in the team, one must make a $120 deposit which will sit in a bank account and gain interest, said Greenstein. Then, if over the next two and half years the NHL opens to expansion, the $120 becomes $600 by investors paying the difference. If this happens, those who invested are now shareholders.
“You’re a tiny shareholder. If you only have one share, it’s one 2,000,000th of probably the value of the hockey team, because a hockey team now is probably going to have a valuation over a billion dollars, but you have a tiny share. However, your family could buy in for a bunch of shares. You could give one to each of your kids, and now you’ve got six shares in the house instead of just one,” Greenstein explained.
However, a team in Connecticut is not guaranteed. Therefore, if there is no NHL opportunity by May 2027, investors’ money will be fully refunded according to the organization’s notice. If an opportunity does come, then each 20% deposit will be stepped up to 100% and all shareholders who invested $600 or more will become fully vested.
Greenstein explained that vested means that investors are then proportional owners in the NHL franchise. According to the NHL to Hartford notice, proportional owners will have the ability to vote on decisions such as seat pricing, jersey and gear distribution, online broadcast distribution and renewing player’s contracts.
Greenstein said he hopes that this will allow fans to make decisions on the workings of their team.
“We want widespread decision making, not just ownership. We want people to be able to involve themselves in draft picks to say with their voting share, who do we renew a contract with? Who do we give a raise to? What coach should we bring on?” Greenstein explained.
NHL to Hartford also hopes to get a billionaire involved in the ownership. Greenstein expressed that the “billionaire” doesn’t necessarily have to be one person but more of a sophisticated management group that most likely has experience in sports ownership at a high level and is wealthy.
“Maybe that is the owners of a European soccer team. Maybe it’s the owners in Canadian football and they want to get a toehold in the NHL. It needs to be somebody who is fairly wealthy,” Greenstein said.
The need for a billionaire is essential to bring a team to Connecticut, according to Greenstein, as it will bring legitimacy to their ownership and make the NHL take them seriously.
“The NHL will be more respectful of a group like ours that has a one-point person at their level. Widespread Green Bay Packers style ownership alone, I don’t think, is as convincing as a lot of us plus one billionaire,” said Greenstein.
NHL to Hartford has not taken any investors yet but is hoping to reach 3,000 investments by January 2025. Greenstein believes that if they can garner 3,000 supporters by then, NHL to Hartford will be able to move forward in big strides.
“We need 3,000 families. If we get those commitments to level 3,000, we’re in business. If we just get a trickle, and it starts the march to 3,000 by January hopefully more people will publicize this, and people will start knowing about us,” Greenstein said.
To do this, NHL to Hartford is planning on holding three meetings from January through March 2025, in which they will continue to gather support for their cause.
More information on how to get involved can be found on the NHL to Hartford website.
We need the state to have the money ready for a new arena. We’re a small market and need to stand out. A renovated XL center won’t do. Salt Lake City got a team because they liked Ryhn Smith and the state come up with 900 million like nothing towards a new arena. Too bad the state isn’t living up to its potential, for years we’ve been the largest media market in the country without a major 4 team.
Sadly Connecticut is a minor league state. As a hockey kid growing up here I had the chance to go to many empty civic center whaler games. Sure there was a base crowd but the minor league hockey game in New Haven drew much better crowds. But this is a very fair weather sports team state. Look at UConn basketball. So many national championships but if the teams aren’t playing well, lots of empty seats. Real sports areas will sell out and support teams no matter what. Not Connecticut. Would I love to see the nhl back? Sure. But could most people afford to go to games all the time? Does a fancy empty arena make sense?
Never going to happen. The Whaler were losers with clueless ownership. The team was a stain on the NHL.
More Boston, NY and Quebec fans showed up for games than Whaler’s fans.
Once the insurance companies(that owned sections of lower level seats)pulled they’re support due to financial issues, the Whaler’s were done.
People stopped supporting a loosing team in a minor market. The NHL will never grant Hartford another franchise. The ONLY hope for professional hockey in Hartford is if an existing NHL owner moved a team to Hartford, that’ll never happen.
Enough of the “let’s bring the Whaler’s back to Hartford” . It’s dead and buried
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