Quote:
Originally Posted by Underdog
Doesn't KC actually make more sense than Houston?
- newish arena with ice making ability and no other major tenant
- previous desire to join NHL
- works for Central division
- existing rivalry in STL
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Switch the Blues for the Stars and all of those things are true of Houston except not having another team in the arena. Plus, Houston has more than 3 times the population of KC.
Ultimately, it will come down to the same things it always has: Is there a willing and able owner and is there an arena for the team to play in?
As far as I can tell, Meruelo doesn't have any long-term ties to the Phoenix area. Most of his businesses are in Southern California and Nevada. He might be willing to keep ownership of the team and move it to another city if he can get a favorable lease. He also might just want to wash his hands of the whole thing and sell to a local owner elsewhere who can deal with moving the team.
It really depends if this is just a negotiating tactic by the city, or if they're legitimately done with dealing with the Coyotes.
If Meruelo is close to getting a deal done to build a new arena on the east side of the metro area, he might move the team to a non-ideal location like the old Memorial Coliseum in the meantime. Neither Glendale nor the Suns have any incentive to work with the Coyotes because any new arena will be competing with the existing arenas for bookings.
If a new arena deal isn't any closer to happening than it was 5 years ago, I suspect the team will be moving next season. If they do move, I don't think we'll ever see hockey in the Phoenix metro area any time soon.
If they do move, where they end up is a toss-up, but I suspect we'll soon be hearing about many cities having contacted Meruelo. This is how I would rank the possible destinations in the western/central US...
- Houston -- Hockey-ready arena, biggest non-NHL market, Rockets owner has expressed interest in the past
- Kansas City -- Hockey-ready arena, no major tenant in relatively-new arena, no NBA competition
- Portland -- Hockey-ready arena, long history of supporting the WHL, Trailblazers owner previously expressed doubt about putting an NHL team in the market -- but that was before the salary cap, and that owner is now dead with his estate now owning the Blazers and arena
- Milwaukee -- New arena that should be hockey-ready (it was supposed to host a college tournament last Christmas but it was cancelled due to COVID, it is still scheduled for this year), the UW Badgers hockey team has a long history of success and support, do the Bucks owners want to share their building?
- Salt Lake City -- NBA arena can support hockey (the Kings have been playing preseason games there for a few seasons) but at a greatly-reduced capacity and odd seating arrangement, would likely require a new NHL arena for a long-term home
- Oklahoma City -- NBA arena can support hockey, small metro population (about the same as Calgary), could struggle to support two major league teams