True North Sports and Entertainment was founded in 2001 by
Manitoba Moose co-owner
Mark Chipman and several local investors. Their goal was to build a new entertainment and sports venue in
downtown Winnipeg to help revive the city's downtown area and possibly one day bring an NHL franchise back to Winnipeg following the departure of the original
Winnipeg Jets franchise to
Phoenix, Arizona in 1996. Ownership of the Moose was transferred to TNSE in 2003. The 15,321-seat MTS Centre (later Bell MTS Place and now the
Canada Life Centre) was completed in fall 2004 and became the new home of the Moose, replacing the
Winnipeg Arena. The Centre was built at a cost of $133.5 million on land acquired from
Osmington Incorporated, a real estate firm owned by Toronto billionaire
David Thomson. In exchange for the land, Osmington took a minority share in TNSE. Chipman and Thomson, through their respective
holding companies, now have complete ownership of TNSE. In summer 2010, TNSE opened the
MTS Iceplex, an arena and training complex located on the western edge of Winnipeg. TNSE realized its goal of landing an
NHL franchise in May 2011, when it purchased the struggling
Atlanta Thrashers, subsequently relocating the club to Winnipeg and renaming it the
Winnipeg Jets. As a result, the Moose were relocated to
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador for the 2011–12 season and rebranded as the
St. John's IceCaps, and became the top minor league affiliate of the Jets. Although the IceCaps were successful both on and off the ice, TNSE opted to return the club back to Winnipeg for the 2015-16 season. The second incarnation of the Manitoba Moose now share the MTS Centre with their NHL parent club and are one of only two AHL teams to have this arrangement, and will be the only one after the
San Jose Barracuda move to
TechCU Arena for the 2022-23 season.
Bringing the NHL back to Winnipeg In January 2007,
Mark Chipman was invited to meet with NHL executives, including commissioner
Gary Bettman, in
New York to make a presentation about bringing an NHL team to Winnipeg, either through expansion or relocation. TNSE was not alone—the NHL also met with interested parties from
Houston,
Kansas City,
Seattle, and
Las Vegas, but were most impressed by the presentation from the Winnipeg group. Both Vegas and Seattle eventually got expansion teams in later years, with the former getting the
Golden Knights in 2017 and the latter in 2021 with the
Kraken. In 2009, Bettman approached Chipman about the possibility of taking over the struggling
Phoenix Coyotes. The Coyotes were on the verge of declaring
bankruptcy and were purchased by the league out of bankruptcy court later that year. In October, Chipman made a second presentation to the league about relocating a team to Winnipeg. The Coyotes ownership issue remained unresolved in May 2010. As the league was not prepared to cover the team's losses for another season, the league executive reached a tentative agreement to sell the Coyotes to TNSE, allowing them to relocate the franchise back to Winnipeg. This was intended as a back-up plan, as the league's first choice was to keep the team in Arizona. With no other investors in place, the league asked the
City of Glendale to cover the Coyotes losses for the 2010–11 season. Facing a tight deadline, city council voted in favor of the deal rather than risk losing the primary tenant of their arena. After a failed bid to sell the team to Matthew Hulziser, the NHL and TNSE resumed their negotiations in spring of 2011. Glendale city council decided to cover the team's losses for another year, so TNSE shifted their focus on another opportunity—to acquire the Atlanta Thrashers from the
Atlanta Spirit group. On the morning of 31 May 2011, the sale was finalized and announced at a press conference held at the MTS Centre. The sale and relocation of the team to Winnipeg was approved by the NHL Board of Governors on June 21.{{cite news|title=NHL board of governors confirms Winnipeg team Although the Jets did not qualify for the
Stanley Cup playoffs in their first season, the team was very successful off the ice. It was widely believed that the Jets, playing in the league's
smallest market, would require assistance through the NHL's revenue sharing program to be financially viable. However, the team's revenues in
2011–2012 exceeded expectations to the extent that they did not qualify.{{cite news|title=Jets will not need NHL's revenue-sharing A tradition among Jets fans in recent years is to shout the lyrics "True North" during the singing of
O Canada prior to games, presumably in recognition of the ownership group which brought the NHL back to Winnipeg. ==Assets==