IIRC, there was some push by the broadcast rights holder (NBC? Not sure who else before) to have that demographic covered. Though moving to Houston would probably either keep the total number of viewers the same (or increase maybe), they would lose coverage on that demographic. Not sure how important that is in this new deal, but I am sure they go into specifics about teams folding, being relocated, and new teams added for the duration of this TV deal.
Will be curious to see what happens now. I think the NHL will still prefer to keep the Coyotes in Arizona - and I bet it would be rather successful if they had stayed in Phoenix. I am sure the NHL didn't want to move out of Atlanta either, however, but they were basically forced to do so. Really curious where they end up.
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