Atlanta NHL Round-Up: New-ish Challenger Enters Race

Along with Alpharetta Sports & Entertainment, North Point Mall, Vernon Krause and his group, Krause Sports and Entertainment, are looking to put a team at The Gathering at South Forsyth – more on them in a moment. Daly added in the ESPN article that Carter is looking for a place better than either.

It’s completely unknown where this development would be north of Atlanta. However, I’m going to throw two ideas out there that could make sense.

One is Pennant Park, which is adjacent to The Battery and was acquired by the Atlanta Braves’ parent company, Atlanta Braves Holdings, last year. It’s a 34-acre property that currently consists of six office buildings. It would increase the size of The Battery by 30%.

Since then, there hasn’t been much information on what the plan is for the property. However, this opens an opportunity for a potential arena that could help anchor The Battery. Since it’s already a popular destination for entertainment, the benefits could be symbiotic.

This would require the Braves to be up for sharing The Battery. If they’re not, then it’s only a fun idea.

Another is over in Gwinnett County. The Atlanta Gladiators, the Nashville Predators’ ECHL affiliate, play in the city of Duluth. Carter has a stake in the team, making it easy to link the two. People associate that area with watching hockey. Might as well have an arena where people are already wired to go.

A counterargument would be that maybe the group would want to space out the teams. An NHL team could already impact the ECHL team, and having them nearby could make it worse. There may not be a viable option for a second local arena. County government may not want two arenas. All reasons have to be assessed.

Krause Group Not Close to Bid

This info has come to light over the last week. Not long after a press release came out saying that Krause Sports and Entertainment was submitting a bid, the brakes were pumped.

The NHL denied that they were receiving a bid. The actual ownership group also put out a statement saying the announcement that was released was premature.

“Unfortunately, information shared during a recent community update — and subsequently distributed by email — was premature and incomplete, leading to inaccurate statements on social media,” they said in the statement.

For now, the NHL keeps hearing them out. Daly, via ESPN, even spoke highly of the market.

“A full market analysis in the Atlanta region is going to be important. Certainly, it would be important for our ownership to understand why it would be different this time than it has been in the past,” Daly said. “I would argue that Atlanta has changed dramatically and significantly over time. I think building location is going to be very, very important.”

Atlanta has been without a team since the Thrashers left for Canada to become the latest version of the Winnipeg Jets following the 2010-11 season. The Atlanta Flames were around from 1972-73 until 1979-80, but then moved to Calgary, where they’ve been ever since.