North Sports - Atlanta Thrashers Moving To Winnipeg - Report

The Atlanta Thrashers have reportedly been sold to a group intending to move the franchise to Winnipeg.

According to the Globe and Mail on Thursday, the Atlanta Spirit the group which owns the Thrashers has agreed to sell the team to True North Sports and Entertainment, and an official announcement is expected next Tuesday.

National Hockey League by-laws require that any team seeking to relocate, must submit a written application to the league office by January 1 of the year preceding the one in which the move is to occur. One exception to the rule would be that, if a majority of the teams consent, the league can accept a later filing date.

That means the Thrashers can conceivably move prior to this coming season, or for the 2012-13 campaign.

Winnipeg hosted the Jets in the NHL from 1979 through 1996, before the franchise relocated to Phoenix, which recently had agreed to pay the NHL $25 million to keep the Coyotes in Glendale for the 2011-12 campaign.

Earlier in the week, the Winnipeg Free Press reported that the league is working on two separate schedule drafts for next season one with Atlanta and one with Winnipeg.

True North Sports and Entertainment owns and operates the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League and the MTS Centre.