Sports
The Jets
Re-launching a Winnipeg Icon By Tania Moffat
proudly decorate the majority of fans as they take their seats in a sea of blue and white. Tis is no ordinary hockey game, it is a Winnipeg Jets game in their home arena. Hold on because it is sure to be a wild ride. Eighteen years ago, an aging arena
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combined with rising operating costs and salaries due to free agency rules led to the eventual downfall of the Winnipeg Jets. Despite a devoted fan base and the efforts of Spirit of Mani- toba comprised of several local business people, including Mark Chipman the last ditch effort was for naught. Our boys eventually packed up their skates
20 • Winter 2014
he air buzzes with excite- ment. Every last seat is filled. Jerseys, baseball caps, scarves and other Jets memorabilia
and retired their jerseys. Te team’s move to Phoenix left a great hole in the heart of the city. Hockey fans were devastated to have to part with such an integral part of the city’s sense of self. After it was obvious that their efforts
had failed, Mark Chipman, chairman of True North Sports & Entertainment, which owns the current Winnipeg Jets franchise of the National Hockey League (NHL) and the MTS Centre put all of his efforts into the bringing the next highest level of hockey to the city. Te Intermediate Hockey League team, the Minnesota Moose, renamed the Manitoba Moose, moved to Win- nipeg in the year following the depar- ture of the Jets. Tey were our team for 15 years. “Part of why the Jets left was because
the arena was inadequate. We knew that if we ever wanted to open talks of having the NHL return to Winnipeg we needed to build a proper arena,” Mark explains. But it was more than an effort to fulfill a distant dream; a new arena would be a boon to the city. A vi- brant gathering centre to host concerts and cheer on the Manitoba Moose was desperately needed. Trough his travels Mark saw successful downtown arena projects and realizing their viability he pushed to develop the new MTS Cen- tre, a move that would lead to further development in downtown Winnipeg. “Once the MTS Centre was built we
did contemplate the idea that someday the NHL might return to Winnipeg, that it was a possibility, but the arena was never built to do that (to bring the
The Hub
Photo by Krazytea
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