The partying may not subside for quite some time, but when the champagne bottles land in the recycling bins and the bands put away their gear, Winnipeggers might let that small tinge of doubt form a phrase: "Can we keep our NHL team this time?"
Much has changed in Manitoba's capital between the Winnipeg Jets leaving in 1996 and when True North announced a deal to bring the Atlanta Thrashers organization to the city Tuesday.
When the Jets left, the Canadian dollar was in the tank, NHLers' salaries were rapidly escalating, Winnipeg's economy was stagnant, and the city's rink was desperately in need of a replacement.
All of those situations have been reversed, making Winnipeg a viable NHL city again but still, there are a number of unique challenges the city will have to face in order to keep the team, experts say.
Does Winnipeg need a high loonie?
The Canadian dollar was about 65 cents US when Teemu Selanne and his Jets teammates packed their bags for Phoenix. The team, which hadn't gotten past the first round of the playoffs in a decade, was drawing little more than 11,000 fans a night for an average price of about $23.
Simple economics killed the Jets. The owners were paying in American dollars but earning revenue in weak Canadian dollars.
But with the loonie at or past par, the team will no longer be losing millions by paying its players in greenbacks.
The Conference Board of Canada is forecasting the Canadian dollar to remain strong for the next several years based on the strength of our commodities and the weakness of the American dollar.
"We have absolutely no reason to believe (the Canadian dollar) will go anywhere beneath parity for the next two, three, four years," Mario Lefebvre, director of the Centre for Municipal Studies for the Conference Board of Canada said. "Having the dollar at parity certainly supports (the NHL's) return (to Winnipeg)."
Lefebvre says that Winnipeg's team will also now have an owner in True North with the kind of "deep pockets" needed to sustain the cash crunch if the loonie ever goes back under parity.
David Thomson, the 17th richest man on the planet, is one of True North's backers. That bodes well.
Barry Prentice, a business professor at the University of Manitoba, says the NHL's business model has gotten "a bit more rational" with the introduction of a salary cap after the lockout.
"When the Jets left, there was no limit to where these salaries were going," he said.
The NHL's salary cap is expected to be in the low $60-million range this season and while high, it at least gives cost certainty and a level playing field.
Is Winnipeg big enough?
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