[News] Coyotes relocating to Salt Lake City

[AustinL_NHL]

- already horrible name reports
- god-awful arena
- very meh incoming team, with the chances of a decent piece or two wanting out this offseason
- Mormon-dominated area (normally religious groups wouldn't be a factor, but Utah is half mormon) and every mormon friend I had growing up (I had many lol) had zero interest in hockey (Derek Ryan is the only LDS NHL player) but lots of interest in other sports (many LDS athletes across other sports) so I feel like the data points towards a fair question: does a Mormon market have a big interest in an NHL team? At the very least it's gonna be a massive culture shock to NHL athletes haha

Yea I don't think it's gonna work. But I hope I'm wrong. Utah (or at least the little I've seen of SLC) is ridiculously beautiful.

[TheScorpion]

Meruelo is being interviewed live by Arizona Sports right now. It's been a complete gong show. Fumbling his words, dodging every question, trotting out ridiculous buzz words and repeating constantly that "I still own the team."

[Johnny Makarov]

Originally Posted by Zarley

Sal Tlay Ka Siti

Vitamin injections by the case and all the flour you can eat!

[The Fonz]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

Meruelo....repeating constantly that "I still own the team."

Can someone photoshop Meruelo onto this old guy and an NHL logo onto Steve Carrell

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by sleepingmoose

They are forgoing it for now - Meruelo has to pay them $1bn to get his new franchise within 5 years. He doesn't just come back for free.

If he does what we all expect and he can't get it together, then he walks away with the money (whatever's left after he pays off debts). The NHL is no further behind (or I guess up $200m), and Ryan Smith is out $1.2bn.

Not exactly.

The NHL could have gotten the full $1.2B from Smith as a franchise fee.

[sleepingmoose]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Not exactly.

The NHL could have gotten the full $1.2B from Smith as a franchise fee.

They got $200m from him now, and they’ll get the rest from Meruelo when he comes back (in theory). It works out the same if they expand.

[Nsd1]

Maybe an alternate if they want to go with the Blizzard theme:

Spoiler!

[Ped]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

I don't understand where Bucci is getting his data from

https://www.ksl.com/article/50936222...ibrant-capital

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.co...nsion-ballpark

Like they have already approved a lot of it from a tax/state funding perspective.

Even The Athletic claiming Delta Center will be heavily renovated:

The current plan is for the Delta Center to undergo a series of massive renovations, transforming it into a state-of-the-art facility that can comfortably house both an NHL and NBA franchise. That arena project will likely take several years to complete.

https://theathletic.com/5427179/2024...tah-explained/

[Reggie Dunlop]

Utah Fury Hockey is a series of romance novels....

https://www.goodreads.com/series/240...ah-fury-hockey

I recall Seattle running into some similar conflicts with "Sockeyes" as there was a "Sockeyes" series of romance novels.

https://www.goodreads.com/series/126...ockeyes-hockey

[dammage79]

Saw a tweet:
SLC will sell tickets, I mean when a guy says he's gonna take his wife to a game, that's 6 tickets right there

[MissTeeks]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1781079264143479103

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

This may be the best deal a theoretical expansion team has ever received. They get an entire roster of players, grade A prospects and young players with potential, a huge amount of cap space, and a bunch of draft picks.

Utah is obviously not a great team but they have a lot of capital to draw upon to become a playoff contender.

[dammage79]

Well they just oversold whatever ARz could have done. In two hours lol. That's already a win.

1000 Mormon husbands bought season. Tix for his family.

These mormon jokes are such low hanging fruit.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by AustinL_NHL

Derek Ryan is the only LDS NHL player

Not saying you're wrong, but how do you know this? I know there have been others in the past at least (Dan Snyder I think). I kind of assumed Trevor Lewis might be as he is from SLC and his family came from Southern Alberta. Could just be a coincidence though.

I kind of feel bad seeing a lot of the Mormon related jokes on here. I don't know the faith and have no opinion on it. Every Mormon I ever met when I lived in Southern Alberta was really nice to me though, so I generally have a positive view on them.

[butterfly]

Originally Posted by AustinL_NHL

- already horrible name reports
- god-awful arena
- very meh incoming team, with the chances of a decent piece or two wanting out this offseason
- Mormon-dominated area (normally religious groups wouldn't be a factor, but Utah is half mormon) and every mormon friend I had growing up (I had many lol) had zero interest in hockey (Derek Ryan is the only LDS NHL player) but lots of interest in other sports (many LDS athletes across other sports) so I feel like the data points towards a fair question: does a Mormon market have a big interest in an NHL team? At the very least it's gonna be a massive culture shock to NHL athletes haha

Yea I don't think it's gonna work. But I hope I'm wrong. Utah (or at least the little I've seen of SLC) is ridiculously beautiful.

- Loudest arena in the NBA with dedicated fans and a beautiful location
- Loaded with draft picks and no bad contracts
- Lol. It's Salt Lake City, the place is awesome. It's not the 1950s anymore. Right up there with Seattle, for me, after southern California. Go to Provo-Orem if you want a "Mormon dominated area".
- Ownership is so invested in the team and wants it to become a success. People see that and appreciate it.

[dammage79]

Names the league needs:
Ravens
Cougars/Lions
Grizzlies

Out of their licensed names: Blizzard works best out all of them but it's not great. Venom sucks. So does the other one.

[TheScorpion]

Originally Posted by butterfly

- Loudest arena in the NBA with dedicated fans and a beautiful location
- Loaded with draft picks and no bad contracts
- Lol. It's Salt Lake City, the place is awesome. It's not the 1950s anymore. Right up there with Seattle, for me, after southern California. Go to Provo-Orem if you want a "Mormon dominated area".
- Ownership is so invested in the team and wants it to become a success. People see that and appreciate it.

Well, as we all learned in Arizona, talk is cheap. We'll see how they do in the early goings but 6,000 season tickets in two hours isn't overwhelming compared to other recent ticket drives. Smith has been saying all the right things but he'll run into a lot of the same challenges the Coyotes did if he can't get that basketball arena sorted out pretty quickly.

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

Not saying you're wrong, but how do you know this? I know there have been others in the past at least (Dan Snyder I think). I kind of assumed Trevor Lewis might be as he is from SLC and his family came from Southern Alberta. Could just be a coincidence though.

I kind of feel bad seeing a lot of the Mormon related jokes on here. I don't know the faith and have no opinion on it. Every Mormon I ever met when I lived in Southern Alberta was really nice to me though, so I generally have a positive view on them.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone used the actual Mormon bible to write their comedy play Book of Mormon. If you want to educate yourself on Mormonism is a satirical way, watch South Parks Mormon episodes. 100 percent factual.

Anyways, having lived in Lethbridge, heard the stories about Cardston, the surreal things you hear that lie underneath the outward kindness of Mormons is what warrant jokes. Cheap jokes. Think of it like Catholic priest jokes.

In my age group I know more people who fled the Mormon way than I do actual Mormons.

They're honestly kind of neck and neck with Jehovah Witnesses is terms of religious wackiness. Friendly people, but you know why they're friendly??? Honey trap.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Ped

Even The Athletic claiming Delta Center will be heavily renovated:





https://theathletic.com/5427179/2024...tah-explained/

Ah I think I missed the heavily renovated part that was below the break.

Yeah a situation similar to Seattle where they heavily renovate to be able to keep the preferred location might be the case too.

But I honestly kind of consider that the same as a new rink once your investing hundreds of millions to renovate.

[D as in David]

The Utah Perpetually Revolving Owners.