Bring the Whalers Home to CT!
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The Whalers: Re-Capturing a Team That Enhances Connecticut
If you lived in Connecticut in the 1980s or early 1990s, you remember a Whaler home game as an EVENT. Streets were alive with people selling tickets, displaying shirts, logos, caps, and pucks. Restaurants were filled. Pubs were raucous. Schoolchildren stayed up late to listen to broadcasts. All for a usually sub-.500 team.
Since the Whalers left in early 1997 Hartford has never been as vibrant.
Connecticut will get an NHL team back. I guarantee it. Do not even think of re-electing me if a team is not ready to lace it up on Connecticut ice within four years of inauguration.
Though some state revenue is worthy for seeding a sports investment, the only way I will ask the legislature for money is if Connecticut is initially the majority owner. With the state owning a team, we have control. We will never again lose a team to a private owner's greed or whim.
Now...the really good part. The 21st century Whalers can be primarily owned by FANS.
Every Connecticut resident could buy into the state's portion of the team. Our goal would be to sell 100% of the state's portion to Connecticut fans. They become shareholders and then control the major team decisions. They select the General Manager; they select the coach. They give input on trades and on player salaries. They set season ticket prices and they propel intermission and off-ice entertainment.
$100 gets any Connecticut resident a share in the enterprise. The state will then release shares to outsiders, but at a premium price. This is how we fund the initial operating expenses. As with corporate voting, Whalers shareholders get a vote for every share they hold. Shares can be sold on the open market after five years, but initial offering shares may only be sold to Connecticut residents, and no single owner may acquire more than 10% of the state's shares.
Literally a youngster can be a shareholder - a very cool Bar Mitzvah present. If $100 is too steep, split it with your siblings.
If you lived in Connecticut in the 1980s or early 1990s, you remember a Whaler home game as an EVENT. Streets were alive with people selling tickets, displaying shirts, logos, caps, and pucks. Restaurants were filled. Pubs were raucous. Schoolchildren stayed up late to listen to broadcasts. All for a usually sub-.500 team.
Since the Whalers left in early 1997 Hartford has never been as vibrant.
Connecticut will get an NHL team back. I guarantee it. Do not even think of re-electing me if a team is not ready to lace it up on Connecticut ice within four years of inauguration.
Though some state revenue is worthy for seeding a sports investment, the only way I will ask the legislature for money is if Connecticut is initially the majority owner. With the state owning a team, we have control. We will never again lose a team to a private owner's greed or whim.
Now...the really good part. The 21st century Whalers can be primarily owned by FANS.
Every Connecticut resident could buy into the state's portion of the team. Our goal would be to sell 100% of the state's portion to Connecticut fans. They become shareholders and then control the major team decisions. They select the General Manager; they select the coach. They give input on trades and on player salaries. They set season ticket prices and they propel intermission and off-ice entertainment.
$100 gets any Connecticut resident a share in the enterprise. The state will then release shares to outsiders, but at a premium price. This is how we fund the initial operating expenses. As with corporate voting, Whalers shareholders get a vote for every share they hold. Shares can be sold on the open market after five years, but initial offering shares may only be sold to Connecticut residents, and no single owner may acquire more than 10% of the state's shares.
Literally a youngster can be a shareholder - a very cool Bar Mitzvah present. If $100 is too steep, split it with your siblings.
Organizer
Mark Stewart Greenstein
Organizer
Newington, CT
