Out of the Arizona organizations awarded gaming licenses in September, Coyotes seem like one of the only ones that doesn't have their #### together, hasn't announced a partner and gone live.
So stretch the payables and last as long as possible until they do?
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Of those first 18, the only professional sports teams whose operating partners haven’t launched are the Phoenix Mercury (partnered with Bally’s Arizona) and Arizona Coyotes (no announced partner)
This had nothing to do with the inability to pay that paltry sum but more about this ownership/management group not knowing wtf their doing or conducting business in a fashion consistent with a professional sports franchise.
And hundreds more. You get my point.
Houston's GDP is over 15 times that of Quebec City's.
That list certainly puts things in perspective. A top 10 Canadian metro can't even beat out the fourth biggest market in rust belt Ohio. How many of you can even name what state Allentown or Worcester are in? That's the scale QC has on the USA.
If you're looking for a league that fills the market demand for hockey crazed small cities it already exists, it's called the CHL. All those passionate fans can watch the Remparts and pay 10 bucks each for tickets to bring the whole family. The NHL though is for big boys. You can't view the NHL sun belt expansion as anything other than a smashing success that has skyrocketed revenues for the league. For every miss like Atlanta or Arizona, you have tampa, nashville, vegas, dallas. It's a proven strategy, and there's no chance in hell bettman allows a team to leave one big market, skip over huge waiting markets like Houston or even KC, to enter Quebec. His job is to make money for owners, not sentimentally grant franchises to backwater Canadian cities.
I'm sure they will find some loophole or something and scrape by like always
Speaking of loopholes, maybe Vegas can take some of that $16M in cap-circumvention LTI relief money they've got kicking around and toss $2M of it Arizona's way.
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That list certainly puts things in perspective. A top 10 Canadian metro can't even beat out the fourth biggest market in rust belt Ohio. How many of you can even name what state Allentown or Worcester are in? That's the scale QC has on the USA.
I can but mainly because of Billy Joel.
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That list certainly puts things in perspective. A top 10 Canadian metro can't even beat out the fourth biggest market in rust belt Ohio. How many of you can even name what state Allentown or Worcester are in? That's the scale QC has on the USA.
If you're looking for a league that fills the market demand for hockey crazed small cities it already exists, it's called the CHL. All those passionate fans can watch the Remparts and pay 10 bucks each for tickets to bring the whole family. The NHL though is for big boys. You can't view the NHL sun belt expansion as anything other than a smashing success that has skyrocketed revenues for the league. For every miss like Atlanta or Arizona, you have tampa, nashville, vegas, dallas. It's a proven strategy, and there's no chance in hell bettman allows a team to leave one big market, skip over huge waiting markets like Houston or even KC, to enter Quebec. His job is to make money for owners, not sentimentally grant franchises to backwater Canadian cities.
That's what I can't stand Bettman and pine for the NHL of the 1980s.
Speaking of loopholes, maybe Vegas can take some of that $16M in cap-circumvention LTI relief money they've got kicking around and toss $2M of it Arizona's way.
Wait, let me get this straight…
Vegas is already spending $97 million on an $81 million cap…
So they can take back part of that money and give it to another team? What, Eichel is a charity now?
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All due respect, you don't understand the geography and demographics of this Metro..
The Coyotes held an open practice 2 mins from my house in Gilbert last weekend and it was absolutely packed for the 32nd place team in the league. Hold that in Peoria and there would be 20 people
Just curious but how many people went to see the Coyotes practice? I really don't think I'd watch that if it was in my backyard.
There must have been another reason why people were there.
That list certainly puts things in perspective. A top 10 Canadian metro can't even beat out the fourth biggest market in rust belt Ohio. How many of you can even name what state Allentown or Worcester are in? That's the scale QC has on the USA.
If you're looking for a league that fills the market demand for hockey crazed small cities it already exists, it's called the CHL. All those passionate fans can watch the Remparts and pay 10 bucks each for tickets to bring the whole family. The NHL though is for big boys. You can't view the NHL sun belt expansion as anything other than a smashing success that has skyrocketed revenues for the league. For every miss like Atlanta or Arizona, you have tampa, nashville, vegas, dallas. It's a proven strategy, and there's no chance in hell bettman allows a team to leave one big market, skip over huge waiting markets like Houston or even KC, to enter Quebec. His job is to make money for owners, not sentimentally grant franchises to backwater Canadian cities.
Although it's not a level playing field because there are way more hockey fans in Quebec City than there are in probably all those above-named cities combined.
I think two factors you should consider are the number of hockey fans in the market and the fact that the Canadian TV deal is still more than the US deal(s) -- and also the next one up for expiration. Having another Canadian market helps this.
This report from 10 years ago talks a bit about it. Some factors have changed in the last decade but a lot of the points remain true:
Although it's not a level playing field because there are way more hockey fans in Quebec City than there are in probably all those above-named cities combined.
Nine of the cities on that list currently have either minor pro or major junior hockey teams, and in one case, both:
Greenville: Greenville Swamp Rabbits (ECHL)
Allentown: Lehigh Valley Phantoms (AHL)
Knoxville: Knoxville Ice Bears (SPHL)
Des Moines: Iowa Wild (AHL) and Des Moines Buccaneers (USHL)
Syracuse: Syracuse Crunch (AHL)
Tucson: Tucson Roadrunners (AHL)
Madison: Madison Capitols (USHL)
Worcester: Worcester Railers (ECHL)
Bakersfield: Bakersfield Condors (AHL)
Of course none of those cities can support an NHL team; they are all minor-league markets. None of them support a major-league team in any other sport, either. Quebec City fits right into that group, both economically and demographically.
It would appear that there are more hockey fans in the U.S. than some xenophobic Canadians are willing to believe.
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I think two factors you should consider are the number of hockey fans in the market and the fact that the Canadian TV deal is still more than the US deal(s) -- and also the next one up for expiration. Having another Canadian market helps this.
The Canadian TV deal isn't going to increase because some of Montreal's media market has been carved out to let in a new team. Very few people in Quebec stopped watching hockey when the Nordiques left town. In fact, considering how hard Rogers had to cut costs to stay afloat on the current deal, it's extremely likely that the next Canadian TV deal will be smaller no matter how many NHL franchises are in the country.
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