Globe and Mail reports that NHL may be loaning money to Phoenix Coyotes

I know this about the Coyotes: whatever they say their attendance is, it isn't. In reality, the figures they're putting out are much, much higher than what it really is. I know a lot of teams pad attendance, but they take it to the extreme.

No one in Phoenix gives two shits about the Coyotes, including most of the media, and it's sad, because the team has an excellent young group of kids who, if kept together, could make a great team in a few years.

 

No, they had a multi-million dollar renovation done to Key Arena in 1995, with 80% of the tab picked up by taxpayers. Less than a decade later, of course, they wanted a brand new arena, built entirely at taxpayer expense.

It's safe to assume that any statements made by Bennett regarding the lease were 99.9999979% bullshit.

 

Shocking!

 

Agreed, I hope for contraction.

Winnipeg is not an NHL market.

 

How much of the Sun Belt strategy was based on the idea that fans of out-of-town teams would boost the attendance of the Sun Belt teams when their hometown team visited and eventually become season-ticket holders of their new home team as a somewhat-nebulous result?

 

Reminds me of Jack Kent Cooke's plan to rake in the coin when he abandoned Toronto for Los Angeles in the 1960s. He figured all the transplanted Canadians living in southern California would flock to the Fabulous Forum to cheer on his new expansion team, the Kings. The first season was nicely underway and the Kings were drawing flies and Cooke was moaning that he now knew why there were so many transplanted Canadians living in southern California - they hated winter and they hated hockey.

Hopefully Reggie Dunlop had better luck with the old geezers from the northeast who moved to St. Petersburg, Florida, in the 1970s.

 

Boston has a decided advantage in part because fans got to watch Eddie Shore, Milt Schmidt, Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito win Stanley Cups throughout the generations. Phoenix hasn't had a taste of success.

And I don't care how cheap the tickets are. If you don't win a playoff series in more than a decade and haven't made the playoffs since 2002, you shouldn't be selling out. Toronto is the exception to the rule, not only in hockey, but in pro sports in general. Pittsburgh has a great baseball tradition and I'm sure the tickets are cheap, but that new park is barely half full. Bad baseball city? Or a city with a team that's been shit for over 15 years?

 

Does anyone ever see through the BS stories you see on ESPN about how the Coyotes could be saved if only they got money from parking revenue? If a team is losing $30 million per year, a couple of million in parking revenue won't help.

Scott Burnside of ESPN wrote that the Coyotes could be making upwards of $10 million on parking, except he can't add or multiply.

Take 7,500 cars for a game (not likely), multiplied by a $15 parking fee (hefty), and 45 games (regular and pre-season) and you get just over $5 million per year.

The Coyotes are toast unless the books are cooked to show higher losses.

 

The parking situation hurts -- the team actually pays for parking, as opposed to benefiting from it -- but honestly, the team would be only slightly less screwed if it got the parking money.

The Coyotes are in a tough position. They've sucked for years, including the entire time they've been in the new building, which is on the western edge of the sprawling metro area. When they were competitive they drew well downtown, but it's hard as hell to get people to shell out NHL prices to drive for an hour to see a shit team.

I don't think the market is the chief problem here. Honestly, there are probably two markets in the NHL in which a team could suck for as long as the Coyotes have and still draw a decent crowd. I hope the team stays here, but it has reached a stage where nothing would shock me. And unless they move it to Ontario, it would just fail somewhere else.

 

2 markets? Cmon, thats insane and again it's not about attendance it's about revenue generated by attendance. If they don't move to Ontairio I hope they contract, spread that young talent around the league. Yes, I know contraction will never happen.

 

They've missed the playoff for 6 straight seasons and 7 of the last 8. They were dead last for 3 years running.

How many markets can do that and not have shitty attendance? Toronto. Montreal. Who else? Maybe Philly. Maybe the Rangers. Possibly Minnesota, but they already lost one team. It's a short list.

 

No, Winnipeg is not happening, for all the economic reasons explained in earlier posts.

Seattle has no arena. KeyArena is a dump. Have you ever seen the locker rooms there? (I have). They're tiny by today's standards. Not to mention the lack of suites. And Seattle sure as hell isn't spending public money for an arena in this economy.

Kansas City and the Sprint Center would seem to be the most viable option in the US, followed perhaps by the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. I have doubts about Las Vegas. What makes it different from Phoenix? Even fewer full-time residents and no better arena and much more competition for the entertainment dollar.

Hamilton could be the best option, if Copps Coliseum is viable (is it??) Halifax in the same boat arena-wise, but a much smaller population to draw from. Kitchner? Not unless they build a bigger barn than the one they hosted the Memorial Cup in last spring.

I read somewhere that when the Coyotes left US Airways Arena for Glendale --- for all the reasons so eloquently explained earlier --- they signed a 30-year lease. Stupid as that may seem. So, now if anyone buys them, they are either stuck with them or going to have to pay the city a king's ransom to be free to move someplace else.

Aside from the product on the ice, can someone explain how hockey in Phoenix is any different from hockey in Miami, Anaheim, Atlanta or Dallas? All are relative newcomers to the NHL and only Dallas had the good fortune to win big right away and establish a base.