The Arizona Coyotes Arena Referendum fails to pass

[Brawndo]

 

[GASabresIUFAN]

The Atlanta Coyotes has a good ring to it.

[Brawndo]

Per Friedman the NHL last plan is to speak with the Phoenix Sun’s New Owner Mats Ishbia to see if a deal can be struck for the Coyotes to play there. It sounds like the NHL would pay for renovations to the arena. 

2 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

The Atlanta Coyotes has a good ring to it.

To maintain the conference balance Houston, KC or SLC probably gets them 

[LTS]

Queue up Houston or KC.  Can't put a team in Atlanta without disrupting the balance.

Finally time to call it a failure in the desert.. perhaps they should have initiated the trade of Matthews to the Coyotes before they put the referendum up?  🙂

[COSabreFan]

The new Houston Aeros.  Actually one of the coolest sweaters out there.

Edited May 17, 2023 by COSabreFan

[Brawndo]

 

[Brawndo]

 

[Sabel79]

Evergreen.  

[mjd1001]

I never really like expansion teams when they come into the league, but the Coyotes I have grown to like a little bit.  I was hoping this would pass so they would stay there.  I guess once a team develops a fan base (no matter how small) I hate seeing them move.

[French Collection]

I had read that there was quite a bit of support for Tempe.

Well, Bettman has held onto this dream forever, we shall see.

That franchise has dragged down the rest of the league for a long time. I am sure many of the other owners are tired of propping the franchise up. 
 

Time to move to Quebec City and put Detroit in the Central with Chicago, St Louis and Nashville.

[inkman]

[Doohicksie]

32 minutes ago, French Collection said:

put Detroit in the Central with Chicago, St Louis and Nashville.

The Red Wings are in the Eastern Time Zone and hated being part of the Western Conference.

[kas23]

This is just strange. I’ve never been to Tempe, but areas around airports are usually wastelands due to the plane traffic. What else do they want to do with this land? Plus, it looks like this was going to almost completely privately funded. I guess they don’t want nice things. Sounds like it was really a referendum on how popular hockey is in the desert. 

[DarthEbriate]

It's time for the Jedi Coyotes to end.

The cities don't want the headaches of constant moves/threats of moves/legal battles. The general populace has the lingering resentment of past taxes and whatever hidden costs will be found in the future despite any private funding. Just take the team to an actual hockey market that won't need constant bailing out by the league. You can even charge the new city (and maybe owner group) a modest relocation fee.

Thanks for Tage and Matthews and ASU getting a hockey team. It was good to see a couple generations of kids grow up with the game. But maybe all the greater Phoenix-Tempe area needs is an AHL franchise to give Tucson a really close rival.

[Brawndo]

 

[That Aud Smell]

2 hours ago, French Collection said:

Time to move to Quebec City and put Detroit in the Central with Chicago, St Louis and Nashville.

Hmm.

2 hours ago, Doohickie said:

The Red Wings are in the Eastern Time Zone and hated being part of the Western Conference.

Oh.

1 hour ago, kas23 said:

Sounds like it was really a referendum on how popular hockey is in the desert. 

My geography is terrible and I'm not going to prop myself up with Google. Has Arizona State managed to establish a real NCAA program out there? Or does ASU have nothing to do with the area we're talking about.

[Brawndo]

1 minute ago, That Aud Smell said:

Hmm.

Oh.

My geography is terrible and I'm not going to prop myself up with Google. Has Arizona State managed to establish a real NCAA program out there? Or does ASU have nothing to do with the area we're talking about.

Yes Mullet Arena where the Coyotes are playing for now was specifically built for the ASU Hockey Team 

[pastajoe]

 

[Marvin]

5 minutes ago, pastajoe said:

 

I am trying to figure out how Salt Lake City supports both the Jazz and the Coyotes running at the same time.

[French Collection]

3 hours ago, Doohickie said:

The Red Wings are in the Eastern Time Zone and hated being part of the Western Conference.

Maybe their ownership hates it but there are rivalries with Chicago and St Louis.

Chicago, St Louis, Nashville, St Paul and Winnipeg are not much farther than many eastern conference teams from Detroit.

[Eleven]

40 minutes ago, French Collection said:

Maybe their ownership hates it but there are rivalries with Chicago and St Louis.

Chicago, St Louis, Nashville, St Paul and Winnipeg are not much farther than many eastern conference teams from Detroit.

Their fans hated it, just like Toronto fans did when they were in the western conference.  So would I if half of the Sabres' games were in other time zones.

I do wonder about some of these western cities that are being proposed, though.  No doubt the Coyotes had a very loyal following, but it is a SMALL very loyal following, similar to what @\GoBillsInDallas/ wrote in the Round 3 thread about DFW.  It's just going to be the same problem in Houston, KC, or Salt Lake.  Portland might make some sense, but really Quebec City is where it's at.  Maybe we have to deal with unbalanced conferences; it's not the worst thing in the world.

[Scottysabres]

1 hour ago, pastajoe said:

 

Worked in SLC and Provo/Orem corridor many times, area is fantastic. Hockey? Not sure, but has the weather for it.

[Doohicksie]

50 minutes ago, French Collection said:

Maybe their ownership hates it but there are rivalries with Chicago and St Louis.

Chicago, St Louis, Nashville, St Paul and Winnipeg are not much farther than many eastern conference teams from Detroit.

Yeah but the time zone changes and was what they were always complaining about.  They were the only NHL Western Conference team in the Eastern Time Zone and it was terrible.  When I lived there it was brought up several times a season.

[msw2112]

13 hours ago, Brawndo said:

Per Friedman the NHL last plan is to speak with the Phoenix Sun’s New Owner Mats Ishbia to see if a deal can be struck for the Coyotes to play there. It sounds like the NHL would pay for renovations to the arena. 

To maintain the conference balance Houston, KC or SLC probably gets them 

I had not heard this, but it would be fantastic.  I live in Phoenix now.  The best place for the team is downtown.  Ishbia is from Michigan and played basketball at Michigan State, which is a pretty big hockey area.  The problem is that former Suns owner Robert Sarver wanted nothing to do with hockey and didn't want competition for the Suns.  He wanted (and got) total control over the arena.  The arena was never built for hockey and it was recently renovated without hockey in mind.  It's a real longshot for this to happen, but would be fantastic it if did.  Realisitcally, we're looking at Houston, Salt Lake City, OKC, KC, or Quebec City.

[Eleven]

1 minute ago, Doohickie said:

Yeah but the time zone changes and was what they were always complaining about.  They were the only NHL Western Conference team in the Eastern Time Zone and it was terrible.  When I lived there it was brought up several times a season.

They did have Toronto with them for a while.