The partying may not subside for quite some time, but when the champagne bottles land in the recycling bins and the bands put away their gear, Winnipeggers might let that small tinge of doubt form a phrase: "Can we keep our NHL team this time?"

Much has changed in Manitoba's capital between the Winnipeg Jets leaving in 1996 and when True North announced a deal to bring the Atlanta Thrashers organization to the city Tuesday.

When the Jets left, the Canadian dollar was in the tank, NHLers' salaries were rapidly escalating, Winnipeg's economy was stagnant, and the city's rink was desperately in need of a replacement.

All of those situations have been reversed, making Winnipeg a viable NHL city again – but still, there are a number of unique challenges the city will have to face in order to keep the team, experts say.

Does Winnipeg need a high loonie?

The Canadian dollar was about 65 cents US when Shane Doan and his Jets teammates packed their bags for Phoenix. The team, which hadn't gotten past the first round of the playoffs in a decade, was drawing little more than 11,000 fans a night for an average price of about $23.

Simple economics killed the Jets. The owners were paying in American dollars but earning revenue in weak Canadian dollars.

But with the loonie at or past par, the team will no longer be losing millions by paying its players in greenbacks.

The Conference Board of Canada is forecasting the Canadian dollar to remain strong for the next several years based on the strength of our commodities and the weakness of the American dollar.

"We have absolutely no reason to believe (the Canadian dollar) will go anywhere beneath parity for the next two, three, four years," Mario Lefebvre, director of the Centre for Municipal Studies for the Conference Board of Canada said. "Having the dollar at parity certainly supports (the NHL's) return (to Winnipeg)."

Lefebvre says that Winnipeg's team will also now have an owner in True North with the kind of "deep pockets" needed to sustain the cash crunch if the loonie ever goes back under parity.

David Thomson, the 17th richest man on the planet, is one of True North's backers. That bodes well.

Barry Prentice, a business professor at the University of Manitoba, says the NHL's business model has gotten "a bit more rational" with the introduction of a salary cap after the lockout.

"When the Jets left, there was no limit to where these salaries were going," he said.

The NHL's salary cap is expected to be in the low $60-million range this season and while high, it at least gives cost certainty and a level playing field.

Is Winnipeg big enough?

Winnipeg's MTS Centre, which is owned by True North, will be the smallest rink in the NHL by more than 1,000 seats. Its capacity is only about 15,000, which isn't that far from the 13,469 in average attendance in Atlanta last season (the third worst attendance in the NHL.)

Even the notoriously optimistic NHL commissioner Gary Bettman admitted Tuesday, "It doesn't work if this building isn't full every night."

True North plans to sell 13,000 season tickets, with a five-year commitment to the most expensive seats ($129) and a three-year commitment for the cheap seats ($39).

Howard Bloom, publisher of sportsbusinessnews.com, said he applauds True North for their bold business plan, which requires Winnipeggers to make a long-term commitment.

But "long-term, people are going to have to pay more to watch hockey in Winnipeg because of those . . . missing seats," he said. "Pony up, Winnipeg, tickets aren't cheap."

At $82, Winnipeg will have the third highest average ticket prices in the NHL after Toronto and Montreal – hockey-mad cities with much bigger populations to draw on.

Average ticket prices in comparable cities to Winnipeg, such as Ottawa and Edmonton, remain much lower. In Edmonton, it's $64.87 and in Ottawa, it's $59.75, according to the latest numbers from Team Marketing Report.

The NHL's leaguewide average was about $54.

Prentice said with those high ticket prices, the new Winnipeg team may have "some difficulty" in the long term – especially if the team isn't a winner.

"The base is there to support a team, but that said, it's still a small market. Everyone is not an investment banker, there's a lot of ordinary folks, so I would say the team has no trouble in the first few years . . . but if this is not a winning team over time, they are going to have a tough time to make it," he said.

Lefebvre sounded similar concerns about the small market.

"The marketing department of the (new Winnipeg team) will probably be working harder in the summer than the one of the Toronto Maple Leafs," he said. "If you have someone cancelling a season seat in Winnipeg, it's tougher to find a replacement than it is to find one in Toronto where you have a waiting list."

Bloom says: "It's obviously important to win. It will be interesting to see if they only make the playoffs once in the next 10 years how people in Winnipeg will react to that."

Bloom also says that unlike teams on the East Coast -- mostly all within a few hours drive of each other -- Winnipeg won't be able to count on selling tickets to the opposition's fans.

He says Quebec City -- where he predicts the Phoenix Coyotes will eventually land – can count on support from rival cities like Boston, Montreal and Toronto.

But both Lefebvre and Prentice note that Winnipeg has a growing economy.

"All boats rise with the tide," Prentice says, pointing out Winnipeg is benefiting from a thriving Western economy. "Things do flow to Manitoba, and that's one of the reasons we've only got five per cent unemployment.

"Think about Winnipeg as part of a dynamic, growing region. I think our chances of supporting a team are much, much better than they were at the time when the Jets left."

Lefebvre says the Conference Board of Canada is forecasting greater economic growth in the western provinces than the eastern provinces in the coming years and "that's great news for the Winnipeg area. )

"Winnipeg is doing well over the past 15 years, income per capita is on the rise, employment has been sound. It's a great combination."

Can Winnipeg attract NHLers?

Some of Canada's smaller NHL cities, notably Edmonton, have had trouble in recent years signing and keeping players. There's always rumours for the reasons behind a big star like Chris Pronger or Dany Heatley demanding to leave his Canadian club.

Phoenix Coyotes goalie Ilya Bryzgalov caused a bit of a stir earlier this year when he said he wouldn't play in Winnipeg if his team was relocated. The Russian complained about the cold weather and the lack of parks.

Former Atlanta Thrashers players are moving from a metro area where five million residents couldn't pick them out of a police lineup. In Winnipeg (pop. 750,000) they will be the biggest celebrities in town, their performance and lives under a much bigger microscope.

Winnipeg's famed two seasons, winter and mosquito season, might not have the same draw as playing in the U.S. South all winter.

But Bloom thinks players would rather play in a city where hockey is on the radar.

"You get to play in a city where hockey matters and I think that makes a difference for a player when all is said and done," he said.

"And when you look at the talent signing in some of the warm weather cities, you don't see a lot of players gravitating towards those teams."

Prentice says Winnipeg's reputation as a cold, stagnant city just isn't accurate.

"Not withstanding the general impression that Winnipeg is just a little south of the North Pole, Winnipeg's winter isn't that hard to deal with," he said, adding he grew up in southern Ontario. "And there's a number of old Jets players – they stayed in Winnipeg – I think people that move here find it a pretty nice place to live and raise a family.'

The NHL landscape has also changed to benefit Winnipeg in building a team. No longer are championship teams stacked by signing free agents. Instead, smart drafting and keeping talent is the way to build a winner.

To thrive, Winnipeg will need to keep its fan base happy, its rink full. To do that, it will need to win, or at least look like the franchise is heading in the right direction.

And that could be the biggest challenge of all, but at least it's one every team faces.