National NHL Media Weighs In On Arizona Coyotes Relocation
July 3, 2024
Some nice hopium here.
4 comments
The NHL has the numbers on how much money AZ has brought in. They want this market and insiders/reporters know it.
It stings with AM fumbling this bag but I think Frank is right, this will be better long term for fans.
Fuck any hockey fan who wants “to grow the game” but only wants teams in traditional markets. Also fuck AM.
Highlights:
Was it REALLY a fan problem? Where did it go wrong?
Mark Lazerus, The Athletic
“It’s a vibrant fanbase that probably has an undeserved reputation because the ownership was putting out a bad product time and time again. Nobody wanted to see them move to Utah. It feels weird. It feels rushed….. With Alex Meurelo out of the picture now, hopefully that opens the door. This is what the league wanted, and hopefully, that opens the door for a quicker return to Arizona because they’re coming back. There’s going to be another Arizona Coyotes. It’s just a matter of when. Somebody has to find the money, and somebody has to find a place to build an arena. Once shovels are in the ground, the NHL is going to be racing to get back to Arizona.”
Ryan Kennedy from the Hockey News
“I felt we never got to see what the fan base COULD be like, because there was always those barriers.” (Multiple owners and multiple arenas… instability).
Frank Seravalli
“It kind of felt like we couldn’t believe that the NHL was comfortable continuing on with the Alex Meurelo group. I think they kind of viewed that (5 year window to reactivate) as a way to move on from the deal. If he were somehow able to pull everything together and get this arena built, wading into an arena where he doesn’t have any expertise in, I guess they were prepared to live with the consequences, but I think they knew the odds were heavily stacked in their (the league’s) favor from the beginning, and that part has been a huge relief. This is going to sound from a negative perspective, but it’s not. I think this is a huge win for hockey fans in Arizona. If they were stuck with the Alex Meurelo group, going through this time and time again, error after error, really all it does is delay the process. Now, what you’re able to do is put together a proper ownership team with proper funding to build a proper arena that hockey fans in the Valley deserve. Noone has ever been thinking hockey can’t work in Arizona, it just hasn’t been able to work where it was, and certainly hasn’t been able to work with six ownership groups. Now, you have a clean slate. I think that’s what this franchise and city really needed.
If and when will they return?
Lazerus
“Just based off what little I know about Arizona government? 2099 or something like that. (Tongue in cheek). Hopefully, within the next three or four tests. That’s very optimistic. That’s what I’d LIKE to see. It’s very clear the league is going to 36 teams very soon, so they’re going to want to do it as quickly as possible. It’s good business. It’s probably going to take closer to four or five years.”
Seravalli
“I will say before 2029. I know that sounds like far away, but it’s really not when you consider it’s two plus years to even build it. I can tell you there will be ownership groups chomping at the bit to try and get in because they see the market size, they see the sport continuing to grow, revenues and ratings are robust, that was the report at the most recent Board Of Governors Meetings. I’m extremely bullish on it. I just wasn’t bullish on the last ownership group.”
I think this all reiterated what many of us here believed.
A) It was NEVER about lack of faith in Arizona. Bettman did this as a last resort, not because he wanted rid of the market, but because he wanted rid of Meurelo and could not continue having the team play in an arena smaller than 95 percent of every ECHL and AHL ones. This was about Alex. Not Arizona.
B) It’s a matter of when, not if before the NHL returns. I’ll scream to the hills the NHL is going to be back before Bettman’s days as Commissioner are done. This isn’t Hartford (it sickens me to say this, but I’m realistic), or another market that will never get another team again. This is a temporary pause, just a reset. The only question I have is who the 36th city with Arizona, Atlanta and Houston will be. If the less than 1 percent chance happens and I get both my lost teams back (Coyotes and Whalers) I can officially die a happy man. Not yet anyhow. I’m 45 and have many years of hockey left to watch. Would definitely be the best day of my sporting life. Won’t count on that. Just expecting half of that. Take the wins where I can I suppose.
C) The talking heads online who keep repeating the same regurgitated gibberish about Arizona not being a hockey market and nobody caring truly are clueless. Said it many times. 6 ownership groups in 27 years. Constant turmoil. No fan base, even in a “traditional market” north of the border would survive that either or support.
The next few years without hockey are going to be miserable, but there’s light at the end of the tunnel. And when the day comes and the NHL DOES return, I fully expect it’s going to be worlds different than the tumultuous 20 plus years we experienced.
They should look to Tucson more than the Valley.
Serabelly on brand with that new brand bullshit. He can still go fuck himself and his scapegoat fuckery. #yotesforever
4 comments
The NHL has the numbers on how much money AZ has brought in. They want this market and insiders/reporters know it.
It stings with AM fumbling this bag but I think Frank is right, this will be better long term for fans.
Fuck any hockey fan who wants “to grow the game” but only wants teams in traditional markets.
Also fuck AM.
Highlights:
Was it REALLY a fan problem? Where did it go wrong?
Mark Lazerus, The Athletic
“It’s a vibrant fanbase that probably has an undeserved reputation because the ownership was putting out a bad product time and time again. Nobody wanted to see them move to Utah. It feels weird. It feels rushed….. With Alex Meurelo out of the picture now, hopefully that opens the door. This is what the league wanted, and hopefully, that opens the door for a quicker return to Arizona because they’re coming back. There’s going to be another Arizona Coyotes. It’s just a matter of when. Somebody has to find the money, and somebody has to find a place to build an arena. Once shovels are in the ground, the NHL is going to be racing to get back to Arizona.”
Ryan Kennedy from the Hockey News
“I felt we never got to see what the fan base COULD be like, because there was always those barriers.” (Multiple owners and multiple arenas… instability).
Frank Seravalli
“It kind of felt like we couldn’t believe that the NHL was comfortable continuing on with the Alex Meurelo group. I think they kind of viewed that (5 year window to reactivate) as a way to move on from the deal. If he were somehow able to pull everything together and get this arena built, wading into an arena where he doesn’t have any expertise in, I guess they were prepared to live with the consequences, but I think they knew the odds were heavily stacked in their (the league’s) favor from the beginning, and that part has been a huge relief. This is going to sound from a negative perspective, but it’s not. I think this is a huge win for hockey fans in Arizona. If they were stuck with the Alex Meurelo group, going through this time and time again, error after error, really all it does is delay the process. Now, what you’re able to do is put together a proper ownership team with proper funding to build a proper arena that hockey fans in the Valley deserve. Noone has ever been thinking hockey can’t work in Arizona, it just hasn’t been able to work where it was, and certainly hasn’t been able to work with six ownership groups. Now, you have a clean slate. I think that’s what this franchise and city really needed.
If and when will they return?
Lazerus
“Just based off what little I know about Arizona government? 2099 or something like that. (Tongue in cheek). Hopefully, within the next three or four tests. That’s very optimistic. That’s what I’d LIKE to see. It’s very clear the league is going to 36 teams very soon, so they’re going to want to do it as quickly as possible. It’s good business. It’s probably going to take closer to four or five years.”
Seravalli
“I will say before 2029. I know that sounds like far away, but it’s really not when you consider it’s two plus years to even build it. I can tell you there will be ownership groups chomping at the bit to try and get in because they see the market size, they see the sport continuing to grow, revenues and ratings are robust, that was the report at the most recent Board Of Governors Meetings. I’m extremely bullish on it. I just wasn’t bullish on the last ownership group.”
I think this all reiterated what many of us here believed.
A) It was NEVER about lack of faith in Arizona. Bettman did this as a last resort, not because he wanted rid of the market, but because he wanted rid of Meurelo and could not continue having the team play in an arena smaller than 95 percent of every ECHL and AHL ones. This was about Alex. Not Arizona.
B) It’s a matter of when, not if before the NHL returns. I’ll scream to the hills the NHL is going to be back before Bettman’s days as Commissioner are done. This isn’t Hartford (it sickens me to say this, but I’m realistic), or another market that will never get another team again. This is a temporary pause, just a reset. The only question I have is who the 36th city with Arizona, Atlanta and Houston will be. If the less than 1 percent chance happens and I get both my lost teams back (Coyotes and Whalers) I can officially die a happy man. Not yet anyhow. I’m 45 and have many years of hockey left to watch. Would definitely be the best day of my sporting life. Won’t count on that. Just expecting half of that. Take the wins where I can I suppose.
C) The talking heads online who keep repeating the same regurgitated gibberish about Arizona not being a hockey market and nobody caring truly are clueless. Said it many times. 6 ownership groups in 27 years. Constant turmoil. No fan base, even in a “traditional market” north of the border would survive that either or support.
The next few years without hockey are going to be miserable, but there’s light at the end of the tunnel. And when the day comes and the NHL DOES return, I fully expect it’s going to be worlds different than the tumultuous 20 plus years we experienced.
They should look to Tucson more than the Valley.
Serabelly on brand with that new brand bullshit. He can still go fuck himself and his scapegoat fuckery. #yotesforever