[News] Tempe voters reject the Coyotes Arena and Entertainment District

[getbak]

I think the only way they could relocate for next season would be if they already had something lined up in case the vote went the way it did. People point to the Winnipeg announcement being at the end of May, but that was in the works behind the scenes for quite a while.

[SuperMatt18]

To me that is one of two scenarios:

1) Negotiation Posturing: It's tough to get a good sale price and to be able to charge a relocation fee when the buyer thinks you don't have a choice.

2) Ishbia has stepped up to the table...a big barrier in the past was that Sarver wanted no part of the Coyotes sharing a rink with the Suns, and really he controlled that relationship with the city over the Footprint Center.

But that is all changed now with Ishbia as the owner. Also technically the city of Phoenix owns the Footprint center...and most days now the owner of the sports team wants to control the arena and the surrounding retail area.

So if Ishbia wanted to build his own arena for the Suns to play in...then maybe he would want to add another tenant to be an anchor and give him more nights of revenue for that investment.

[Jordan!]

Plan B better be signed sealed fast. This can’t go on another 1-3 years.

[BsFaninCGY]

Salt Lake Super Soakers

[Reggie Dunlop]

Daly has to say that to cover the league's ass if a relocation bid needs more time.

They're not going to make announcement until all the Ts are crossed.

[CalgaryFan1988]

Originally Posted by Goriders

How about the Saskatoon Blues?

Saskatoon Blades?

[FlamesAddiction]

Would there be repercussions for breaking the agreement with Mullet?

[TheScorpion]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

Next season yes, but relocation discussion for beyond that will remain front and center.

Their agreement at Mullett covers the next two seasons, with an option for another after that. But yes.

[curves2000]

The Coyote will probably play one more season there and try and move on. They might try and get some leverage by having very quick convo's and trying to find a solution locally but after that, they will look to another market.

When Wpg moved, they had a fully functioning and well maintained building, AHL staff and more. I wouldn't classify it as an easy move, but Wpg had experience in running a pro hockey team for a long time, had the staff and the building in place and was able to pivot fairly quickly.

Do the other markets have everything almost plug and play ready? Wpg was able to sell out their tickets in an hour or so and be financially successful from day #1.

It will be a quick process but I think another season to shore up details is required.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

What did they do to get everyone excited?

Absolutely nothing. The league has been extremely quiet on this and has not done anything to disclose possible strategy relating to the Coyotes. Hasn't stopped some tweets being used to "confirm" a move to Salt Lake is imminent.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

Not given the right shot? The team has been failing since 1996, how many decades of trying and failing to draw a fan base is appropriate before we can decide if an area is a hockey market or not? Seems like 27 years should be a significant amount of time to tell the Coyotes are not going to work in Arizona. Do Florida? Florida has an NHL arena. Florida has never defaulted on rent. Florida's average attendance in the past 10 years has been between 14-16 thousand people. Last year Florida averaged over 16,000. Arizona averaged 4000. Before that in Glendale they averaged 11-12 thousand.

Not given a shot as in the fanbase was never given a location that worked.

And you took Fla's biggest year in 10 years (other than that they cracked 15K just once) and compared it to a fake Glendale number. Fake because Glendale's lowest average year before 2020 was 1200. The actual average attendance in AZ was more like 14-15K.

https://www.hockeydb.com/nhl-attenda...h.php?tmi=5763

Since then, yes, the year before they moved wqas 11K and of course they averaged whatever the sellouts are in Mullett this season.

[GioforPM]

Yeah I don't understand the issue with the league saying they're playing in Mullett next year. No matter what happened unless there's a decent arena in the new location there's no way a move could happen that fast. Even gettuing a sale done on paper would be a rush job.

[devo22]

I certainly wouldn't expect them to play anywhere else next season. That stuff needs time, and they have an agreement with Mullett in place, so it makes no sense to rush this. I just found the "there's still a path for the Coyotes in Arizona" tweet funny, as in long-term future, not next season.

[Mr.Coffee]

Originally Posted by CalgaryFan1988

Saskatoon Blades?

Saskatoon isn’t big enough, and this city hasn’t done enough to show it’ll work. I was at a team party for my kids hockey and some of the dads were getting dreamy about it. I’m like this place can’t even get 3,000 people into a WHL game… convincing people this will be a better market than some of the others mentioned in this thread will be a tough one.

I do think though, that this city is growing very rapidly and it could be possible in 20-30 years.

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Dodgers
Flames
Braves
Rams
Cardinals

Lots of teams across pro sports didn't change their names when moving. But now there is so much money in rebranded merchandise.

Giants
Warriors

Originally Posted by PeteMoss

Feel like this is overstated. Highly doubt Phoenix viewership of national games is changing much with or without the Coyotes. The local TV market in the US is collapsing so its not like you're going to get a big pay check for local TV rights anymore either.

The Suns just pulled their games off Bally's where they were getting paid and moved to an OTA channel where they make a bunch less.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/28/phoe...amond%20Sports.

Quebec brings in a second team in the french speaking markets. TVA pays $120 million a year for national TV rights.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/repo...ticle15642270/

RDS pays $60m/year for local Canadians rights - https://www.theglobeandmail.com/spor...ticle24117815/

Very likely Quebec generates move TV deal revenue than Arizona would in the future.

Completely agree. The regional landscape is changing immensely. And for National deals it's tough to parse how much the 'not TOR/MTL/VAN' teams are worth to the equation vs. the not 'NYR/PHI/CHI/BOS/LAK' teams, but I'd think the lowliest Canadian team is worth more than the fringes of the US deal.

It boils down to how a network exec can spin numbers when selling to advertisers...it's worth noting we've gone from 24 to 23 to 24 to 25 US teams in the last decade or so. Losing 'big TV market' ATL doesn't appear to have been a tragedy

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

Saskatoon isn’t big enough, and this city hasn’t done enough to show it’ll work. I was at a team party for my kids hockey and some of the dads were getting dreamy about it. I’m like this place can’t even get 3,000 people into a WHL game… convincing people this will be a better market than some of the others mentioned in this thread will be a tough one.

I do think though, that this city is growing very rapidly and it could be possible in 20-30 years.

They just want to get to quit cheering for the Oilers.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

Their agreement at Mullett covers the next two seasons, with an option for another after that. But yes.

Do you know the financial details of the Mullett agreement? The fee to break the contract must be less than the loss running the team per year.

Taking the hit for a few years to get into the new building was just a cost of doing business, but with that option over breaking the Mullett agreement has to be under consideration.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

What did they do to get everyone excited?

Gave a ray of hope we would have a new team with cool new jerseys and name.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

Gave a ray of hope we would have a new team with cool new jerseys and name.

But that wasn't them - it was just the vote.

[TheScorpion]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1658919073319911424