The Arizona Coyotes don’t have an arena to play in or an actual NHL franchise or an owner, really, but they have one thing you haven’t got: a friend in Maricopa County Board of Supervisors chair Tom Galvin, who plans to form an “advisory committee” to “explore options” to bring the Coyotes back from the dead:
“I cringed when local politicians took glee in the demise of our hockey team,” Galvin said. “I think of Wayne Gretzky’s quote: ‘You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.’ So, I’m forming an advisory committee of visionary leaders.”
Local politicians didn’t actually take glee in the demise of the Coyotes, and it was actually Wayne Gretzky’s dad that said that, but whatever! The point is, Galvin is forming an advisory committee, which will have people on it, “smart, credible people who know how to do things the right way” — you know what, let’s just let Galvin keep going on this, he’s on a roll:
Galvin said two big questions need to be answered for hockey to return to the Phoenix metro.
“Who would be the owner? And, where would this building be? It would have to be a world class building,” he said…
Galvin said the situation with the NHL is “different” [from its talks with the Diamondbacks about a potential new stadium]:
“We are not owning a hockey stadium,” he said. “This is about helping promote and convening community leaders to help see how we can get hockey back.”
If you’re a visionary leader who would like to serve on the committee, or maybe have a billion dollars in your pocket and would like to build and own a “hockey stadium,” you can call Galvin’s office at 602-506-7431. He doesn’t actually say he’s interviewing candidates, but it’s pretty clear he needs all the help he can get.
The cheap alternative to a new billion dollar hockey arena is to find an owner who will get down on his hands and knees at 59th and Glendale. Instead of crying about how far Glendale is, talk up all the new carpool lanes ADOT has added. Once SR30 and the carpool transition from I-10 to Loop101 opens in a few years the average speed from the Southeast Valley to Glendale will be around 75. Previous owners, including Bettman and especially Meruelo have only themselves to blame, not Glendale and Mayor Weiers.
If hockey comes back to Phoenix, it’ll either have to involve converting to Suns’ arena or returning to Glendale. Nobody in their right mind is gonna build a third(!) arena in the region on their own dime. There’s nowhere near enough events to support that many facilities of that size.
The Suns arena is not suitable for hockey long term. Heck, even the ASU arena is better for hockey in the short term.
“Forming a committee to shut the door after the horses have bolted.” That’s how the saying goes, right?
The decision(s) to subsidize the Coyotes made between, roughly, 2001 (when they committed to build the arena) and 2020 cost the taxpayers of Glendale well in excess of $500 million dollars (by my math, it’s nearly $700m, but your mileage may vary).
In the end, they have only a 20+ yr old arena and a long string of unpaid contractors and suppliers stiffed by multiple team owners to show for it. That arena – while still a great venue despite it’s age – is a financial liability, not an asset (no matter how hard Galvin or anyone else tries to shape the message).
The halcyon days of hockey in Glendale exist only in the mind of people like Galvin. He harbours a dangerous illusion that not only could but WILL cost Glendale taxpayers hundreds of millions should it come to fruition.
Bettman’s sunbelt strategy has 3 huge holes in it. Phoenix, over 5 million and growing fast just lost the Coyotes. Atlanta, over 6 million lost 2 NHL teams. And the there’s the 4th largest city in the country, which has never had an NHL team, and saw their AHL team thrown out 10 years ago and scramble off to Des Moines. Kansas City has had a shiny arena for 15 years, and no NBA competition, but Bettman has been unable to find an owner willing to face 8 digit losses year after year.
The Aeros left because their landlord pushed them out. They were drawing ok, but playing as an NBA team’s tenant is not ideal.
Des Moines offered a better deal and is much closer to the team’s NHL affiliate, which NHL teams care about a lot.
There is no TV money in the AHL to speak of, so the size of the market does not matter much. Being in Des Moines makes more sense if expenses are lower. They get about 6400 a game, which is fine for the AHL.
Anyway. The success or failure of minor league teams has nothing to do with how a major league team will do. They are going after different customer bases.
During the press conference when Tilman Fertitta bought the Houston Rockets, Fertitta and Tad Brown discussed the possibility of also buying an NHL franchise. Brown and Fertitta both beat around the bush and politely said that NHL in Houston would be a money loser. Fertitta had 7 years to buy the Coyotes, and they ain’t playing in the Toyota Center. By the way, check upcoming Jazz ticket prices on Stubhub. Resale tickets starting at $2 isn’t good news for the Smith Entertainment Group. Are we looking at a repeat of the 1970s failure of the Scouts and Kings in Kansas City?
This is probably just a public relations stunt to placate the couple of hundred Coyotes fans. No one will finance a $1 billion arena that would be the third arena in the Valley. There are bigger metro areas in the US who don’t even have 2 major league sized arenas. Off the top of my head Chicago, the Twin Cities, and South Florida have 2 and only LA and New York have more than that unless you count the Oakland Arena which would give the Bay Area 3.
Twin cities do use two different areas for the T-wolves and Wild, but yes, in most NHL/NBA cities, like Chicago, the teams share an arena. 76ers are looking to build their own arena. And the Nets/ Islanders, Nets/Devils no longer share areas.
Fertitta has said he wants an NHL team but does not want to pay the going rate for it. So that’s at an impasse.
Somebody else will have to buy it and then, presumably, build their own arena. That may happen. Whether Houston “needs” another arena doesn’t matter. Of course it doesn’t. Doesn’t mean it won’t be built.
An NHL team sharing with the Rockets would be a disaster. Toyota Center is the only arena in the area capable of hosting major touring acts. Sharing the venue effectively wipes out most of your concert revenue.