Thrashers in talks for sale, move to Winnipeg: report

ATLANTA, Georgia — Owners of the NHL's Atlanta Thrashers have started negotiations with a Canadian group on a sale that would move the club to Winnipeg, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Monday.The financially struggling Thrashers, whose average home attendance of 13,469 last season was the third-worst in the 30-team league, could be the second NHL team to ditch Atlanta for Canada after the Flames left for Calgary in 1980.The Atlanta Spirit ownership group, which has sought new investors for several years, has opened talks with True North Sports and Entertainment, the newspaper reported, citing an unnamed person familiar with NHL sale rules.No deal has been completed but the ongoing nature of talks could mean a move is possible ahead of next October's start to the 2011-2012 campaign.Bill Daly, the NHL deputy commissioner, said in an e-mail to the newspaper there was "nothing I'm prepared to say at this point."A purchase price for the club has been reported in the range of $170 million with the NHL also receiving a fee for relocation.Any sales deal and relocation would have to be approved by league owners, but attempts to find new investors that would keep the team in Atlanta have not found success.The Thrashers, an expansion team that began play in 1999, was part of the NHL's push into non-traditional US markets in warm-weather cities.Michael Gearon, a co-owner of the Thrashers, said in February there was a "sense of urgency" to find financing for the team and said relocation was a possibility, with annual losses of $20 million.True North, backed by billionaire David Thomson, owns a 15,000-seat arena in Winnipeg that would be home to a relocated NHL team. A top-level development team for the NHL semi-finalist Vancouver Canucks currently plays there.NHL owners are familiar with True North, which had been mentioned as a possible suitor for the league-owned Phoenix Coyotes should they be forced to move.City officials in Glendale, Arizona, agreed to pay $25 million to the NHL for the second year in a

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