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5/23/2019 8:45 pm  #1


Major League Hockey


The Backstory… 

Toronto businessman and billionaire Gerald Thomas started making waves in the world when in 2012 he took over Toronto Island, a tourist attraction and amusement park in Toronto. Thomas quickly turned the fortunes of the park, by turning it into a young adult attraction that featured major acts performing all summer long. In 2014, he launched Islandest, a 3 day music and arts festival on the island that sold out almost instantly. The festival was a major success, and led to other cities contacting Thomas about helping them organize similar festivals and events. His stock rose, and with that, so did his arrogance. 

In 2016, Gerald Thomas made a bold move by trying to buy a majority stake in the National Hockey Associations Toronto franchise. The move was unsuccessful. Thomas would try to then gain entry into the league by trying to purchase other franchises with the intention of moving the team to Toronto. This was not received well within the league, and he was essentially blacklisted from any involvement with the league. 

Furious, Thomas started planning his next move, when the announcement of the XFL and AAF became public knowledge. Thomas felt that with his name backing a new league, this was his way into the professional hockey world. He started contacting people who used him for festival planning to see if they would be interested in starting a new professional hockey league.

He was met with a lot of hesitation and people who told him he was crazy and a lot of people who simply didn’t want to back the league. Thomas, with his recent fortunes, offered deals to prospective owners; He would cover 50% of the expenses of each team in the league up front, and would receive payments annually until each team was paid off. It was a crazy idea, but Thomas felt he had the knowledge and public name to get the younger crowd to follow his new adventure. Still, he was met with resistance. Finally, Thomas agreed to fund 75% of the league and teams, if new owners would fund 25% of their teams. He felt that he had enough capital to get the league off the ground and grow it. Suddenly, Thomas had 23 owners willing to take the chance on the league for a somewhat small investment. With that, Major League Hockey was born… 

The Announcement… 

A press conference was called on Toronto Island by Gerald Thomas, with not much known by the media. His name alone however, was enough to gain interest from local media and news outlets with partnerships in Toronto. At the press conference, Thomas would announce that in September of 2019, Major League Hockey would play it’s first game. He promised high paced, hard hitting, exciting hockey that would draw in the younger crowds. He said they would do things differently with the in game experience and said he would use his knowledge and past to gain the fan base. 

The media naturally thought he was making a terrible move, but he was determined, or cocky enough, to make this a reality. He announced the first team in the league would of course be the Toronto Islanders. 

Thomas announced that he had 23 other owners in different cities ready to take the sport to the next level.

The next question would be, where would the players be coming from? Thomas said that junior franchises and college teams were getting rich off the backs of young adults looking to make a name for themselves. Rules in other leagues prevented most 18 year olds from turning pro, but that wouldn’t be the case with MLH. Thomas announced that anybody 18 years old would be allowed to join the league, with full pay, and wouldn’t need to go through junior or college to turn pro. This was again a bold announcement and strategy, but maybe he was on to something. 

Thomas ended the presser by announcing there would be another press conference on July 1st, 2017 where the league would reveal owners, teams and locations. Crazy or not, the league was ready to move to the next phase.

Last edited by 3pointtally (5/24/2019 9:08 am)


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5/23/2019 9:07 pm  #2


Re: Major League Hockey

The Reveal Part One… 

On July 1st, 2017, Major League Hockey president and founder Gerald Thomas revealed the leagues first commissioner and the man who had been doing a ton of work behind the scenes, Daniel Price. Price was no stranger to Thomas, he was his right hand man on the festival scene, but little was known about him by the public. Price announced that the league had signed arena leases in 24 cities across North America with intention to play the first games of the league on September 1st, 2019. He announced that each home city would have major events during the long weekend to hype up the games and he promised that the league would be a fresh experience.

The league also announced a partnership with Nike, who would be designing all the league jerseys and merchandise. This was seen as a major step in the right direction for the league and was a way for Nike to get back into the hockey world.

With that, they began to reveal all 24 teams, owners, and locations:

Team: Minnesota Monarchs
Rink: Herb Brooks National Hockey Center
Capacity: 5159
Owner: Justin Parker


Team: North Dakota North Stars
Rink: Scheels Arena
Capacity: 5000
Owner: Joseph Gosling



Team: Portland Marauders
Rink: Veterans Memorial Coliseum

Capacity: 10,400
Owner: Sam Dawson



Team: Winnipeg Warriors
Rink: Bell MTS Place
Capacity: 15,321
Owner: Maddox Kane



 Team: Vancouver Chinooks
Rink: Pacific Coliseum

Capacity: 16,281
Owner: Michael Preston


 Team: Seattle Storm
Rink: Hec Edmundson Pavilion

Capacity: 10000
Owner: Ezra Miller

Last edited by 3pointtally (5/27/2019 8:45 pm)


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5/23/2019 9:51 pm  #3


Re: Major League Hockey

Can’t see the images.


 

5/24/2019 8:15 am  #4


Re: Major League Hockey

CCLXXXVII wrote:

Can’t see the images.

But I can so perhaps he's fixed it!

Anyway, great start so far!  Can't wait to see where this goes.

 

5/24/2019 8:47 am  #5


Re: Major League Hockey

CCLXXXVII wrote:

Can’t see the images.

Are you looking on your phone? They aren't showing up on my phone either which is frustrating. I had the same issue on the CCSL boards. I'll see if I can figure out the issue again so it works that way.

Edit: I removed part of the url from the league logo to test it on my phone, and while it works, the image ends up being way too big. The logos and jerseys are way bigger files than the league logo, so for now it's probably best that I leave them smaller and not make the thread unreadable. Hopefully it can be fixed ASAP so they can appear on mobile too.
 

Last edited by 3pointtally (5/24/2019 8:57 am)


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5/24/2019 9:54 am  #6


Re: Major League Hockey

I would flip the "North Stars" part of the North Dakota script. This would mean it wouldn't be read upside down, and always left to right. I'd also recommend keeping the white highlight on the right side of the north arrow on the logo. As it stands right now, the red point seems out of place.



2x Alt Champion :: AltLB Champion Oklahoma City Bison - 2022 :: AltFL Champion New York Emperors - 2022

 

5/24/2019 11:24 am  #7


Re: Major League Hockey

3pointtally wrote:

 Hopefully it can be fixed ASAP so they can appear on mobile too.
 

At the moment there isn't a fix for image sizes on mobile, but we're looking into it. 
Please check your messages before posting any updates. 


Only the written records of his travels survive.
 

5/24/2019 12:35 pm  #8


Re: Major League Hockey

Balu the Bare wrote:

3pointtally wrote:

 Hopefully it can be fixed ASAP so they can appear on mobile too.
 

At the moment there isn't a fix for image sizes on mobile, but we're looking into it. 
Please check your messages before posting any updates. 

 
If you switch to desktop format on mobile it looks fine. So while a fix would be great it isn’t necessary.

 

5/25/2019 5:03 pm  #9


Re: Major League Hockey

Really liked all of them, especially the North Stars.

 

5/26/2019 9:10 pm  #10


Re: Major League Hockey

*** Had to do some digging to find all the references I used to piece together some of the logos. I have been working on this project for over 6 months, so while I don't have 100% of the pieces I resourced, I have done the best I can to show where I got my ideas from and pieces of the logos. ***
Monarchs - https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a1/Crown_of_Saint_Edward_%28Heraldry%29.svg/1200px-Crown_of_Saint_Edward_%28Heraldry%29.svg.png
Changed crosses to stars, removed the pearls, altered colour 

North Stars - https://previews.123rf.com/images/njnightsky/njnightsky0901/njnightsky090100006/4094711-nautical-star.jpg
Changed colour and line width 

Marauders - https://i.etsystatic.com/17857814/r/il/488660/1609865215/il_fullxfull.1609865215_sj7e.jpg
Changed eye, added eyepatch, removed crossed bones
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQE-FNH6dq-YGtZ1UohX-1B60DSgCKI0ooUidae1HUhSjn1IR51
Changed hat shape, added the crossed knives 

Warriors - https://i.pinimg.com/originals/37/69/23/376923d01376e93d1ff1bc15b694a6ff.png
Changed outline, added checkered pattern, added the W 

Chinooks - http://www.lazytweet.com/wp-content/uploads/at/atlantic-cod-fish-vector-illustration-gm.jpg
Altered the eye and mouth, top fin and body pattern


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