The National Hockey League will comeback to Winnipeg next year following an agreement achieved by a Canadian business group to buy the financially slashed Atlanta Thrashers, a newspaper covered on Thursday.True North Sports and Entertainment will buy the franchise and relocate it in the Canadian Prairie city, according to a report in the Globe and Mail, which quoted nameless sources.the report didn’t remark a value on the deal.True North affirmed for the first time on Thursday that it was having talks with the current proprietors, Atlanta Spirit LLC, but refused any agreement had yet been achieved.Negotiation between the two parties began months ago, according to media reports.“They’re not done,” Scott Brown, a spokesman for true North said, citing to the talks. He also refused that an announcement was likely on Tuesday, as the Globe had reported.the move of the NHL franchise would fill deflect in the city created in 1996 when the Winnipeg Jets moved to Phoenix, Arizona, as part of a league strategy of landing professional ice hockey to U.S. Sunbelt cities.Like the Phoenix franchise, now called the Coyotes, the Trashers have failed to find much success in Atlanta, both on the ice and in the stands. the team has had trouble in getting sufficient fan backing and assembling winning seasons.Winnipeg, while a relatively small city with a mild economic base, has a clichéd market of hockey-obsessed Canadians that come along avid to support an NHL team.True North is possessed by David Thomson, a Canadian billionaire who’s also chairman of Thomson Reuters , and mark Chipman, whose family has realty and other business interests in Winnipeg.

‘No Deal Yet’ about Thrashers Move to Winnipeg