Thin Ice

Money, Politics and the Demise of an NHL Franchise

Thousands of Winnipegers rallied on the streets while corporate businessmen fought each other behind closed doors. Information was manipulated. Arms were twisted. Politicians capitulated. Adults wept on open-line radio shows. Children broke open their piggy banks. This was the campaign to keep the NHL’s Jets from leaving Winnipeg. The book is about hockey, but it is not about The Game. It is about the business of hockey and how changes in this business are threatening the games survival in Canada. And while the story is set in Winnipeg it is not about a single city. Given the new corporate-driven, continental business of NHL hockey, this story will almost certainly be played out in other Canadian cities.

Request Exam Copy Download excerpt

About the book

Cultural Studies

What people are saying

Roy MacGregor, sports writer, Ottawa Citizen and author of Road Games: A Year in the Life of the NHL
“Jim Silver has done all of us who love the game of hockey an enormous favour. For too many years, Canadians have let the myth of the game shroud the reality of the business. While we think of frozen ponds, what really counts is revenue streams. And his examination of the southward course that stream is taking is a cautionary tale for us all.”

Author

Jim Silver

Jim Silver is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Winnipeg who has written extensively on poverty and related issues, including public housing and low-income rental housing, community development and education, adult education, and Indigenous street gangs. He is a founding member of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives–Manitoba and played a key role in the establishment of Merchants Corner, a University of Winnipeg off-campus site in Winnipeg’s low-income and racialized North End.