Quote:
Originally Posted by Jordan!
How many seats were in the Corral when The Flames were waiting on the Dome to be finished??
How embarrassing for the NHL that must have been!
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Because comparing the situation in 1983 is even remotely comparable to 2022.
And it's not close to the same scenario.
The Flames (7.5k), Sentators (10k), and Sharks (10k) all played temporarily in smaller facilities as new teams to the NHL that were waiting for new arenas to be built.
In those scenarios there were finalized plans and details for that new arena to be available to the team, and construction was underway.
That's not the case in Arizona.
The Tempe deal has not been approved and IMO is not close to being a certainty. A possible renovation of the Veterans Memorial Colisseium has barely been discussed and would be years out from happening.
This isn't like the there is going to be a new rink ready in a year or two and the Coyotes would just be playing out of ASU as a stop gap.
There is no ETA. There is no planned rink. They could be playing in a rink that holds as few as 3,600 people for multiple years with no planned arena in sight.
Plus the Coyotes have been a disaster for about 20 years now, this isn't some new expansion team.
They actually have a perfectly fine rink in Glendale that was built specifically for the team but they have mismanaged and abused that relationship, and failed to ever actually attract fans to the rink.
That's why it embarrassing for Arizona.
And after 20 years of this now the NHL should just finally admit they were wrong and move the team to Houston or Quebec City who have NHL quality rinks just waiting for them.