The Calgary Flames, the New York Islanders, the St. Louis Blues and the Edmonton Oilers just after Peter Pocklington moved his farm team here, have all made public threats to move to Copps.
There was Harrah's Casino money behind bids to deter Quebec or Winnipeg from migrating south and coming to Hamilton in the mid-1990s. There were the two failed expansion bids of 1990 and 1997 and, over the last four years, three attempts by Balsillie to buy teams – the Penguins, Predators and Coyotes – with increasingly public and brazen intentions of moving them here.
Balsillie's Phoenix gambit gave national clout to an argument which previously existed only in Hamilton: the GTA can and should support a second NHL team.
In fact, even Bettman, considered to be severely anti-Hamilton, had to admit in court that this market was “a league opportunityâ€.