NHL Board of Governors approves sale of Coyotes and relocation to Salt Lake City (Mod warning post #157)

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Utah Reggeton

 

[MikeyMike01]

Wang was with Nassau county wasn’t it. Different county/city for where UBS arena is at.

Wang had several failed schemes, including:

- building a 60 story skyscraper in the middle of the suburbs
- building an arena in Queens near the Mets stadium
- a publicly funded stadium in Nassau
- moving to Brooklyn

 

[Daximus]

Imo Utah Yetis is the worst name thats been suggested & I dont understand the fascination with it at all.

Rolls off the tongue nicely. Not much does with Utah though. Going with Salt Lake or Salt Lake City opens up more options. Seattle Kraken made zero sense as well but here we are.

 

[Satans Hockey]

Maybe. I’m just at the point of my life where I’m tired of corporate success at the expense of the regular human. Corporations buying season tickets might be great for billionaire owners but what about a mom or dad who just wants to take their kid to a hockey game?

I've always thought kids 5 and under should be free if they sit with their parents, it's easy marketing that costs the teams absolutely nothing and hooks fans in when they are young and the parents will spend money on food and merch anyway.

Vast majority of the arenas are 2 and under free, some are 3, some even go by height.

 

[HolyCrap]

I like the idea of a Blizzard vs an Avalanche.

Who would be their mascot? Jack Frost or Frosty the Snowman.

 

[kingsholygrail]

Who would be their mascot? Jack Frost or Frosty the Snowman.

Krampus.

 

[BCNate]

It always comes down to ownership.

Charles Wang tried and failed to get a deal done for almost 15 years. Ledecky/Malkin got a deal done in like 6 months.

100%. Well said

 

[hockeyboy1923]

It always comes down to ownership.

Charles Wang tried and failed to get a deal done for almost 15 years. Ledecky/Malkin got a deal done in like 6 months.

That is just more evidence that the NHL and ownership is an old boys club that cares more about their club than making smart decisions to grow the sport.

This clown show in Phoenix is only going to further dissuade good businessmen from wanting to be owners in the sport. Right now all of them are flocking to the MLS and the NBA and making billions doing so.

 

[Rob Brown]

 

[JS19]

I'm really unsure if Utah will have long-term success. I don't have a good feeling about having sustained fan support

Worth noting that the Jazz (despite having terrible seasons in recent years) do really well in terms of sellouts (282 games) + average attendance (18,000-ish this season) in the NBA. In their shittiest year (2023), they still averaged 18,000-ish fans in the arena. If you normalize for the fact that NHL scheduling will compete with NBA, I can't see how Salt Lake City doesn't meet the 14,000 seat threshold to start, and then increase as the Olympic hype becomes palpable + get a new NHL-ready arena.

It always comes down to ownership.

Charles Wang tried and failed to get a deal done for almost 15 years. Ledecky/Malkin got a deal done in like 6 months.

Generally agree, but this seems different. With Wang, it always felt like he was a boom/bust kind of businessman, so he'd always think up unorthodox business ideas that would often never come to fruition (although funny enough, his lighthouse project is hilariously close to what Meruelo wanted with the real estate deal, so the similarity is definitely there too), whereas Ledecky and Malkin had more standard ideas and weren't so hellbent on Brooklyn like Wang was.

I wish I were a fly in the negotiations between various Coyotes owners and the municipalities, because from all indications on the outside looking in, it seemed like municipal governments viewed the Coyotes as toxic, with no reason to believe there ever was a stable business there. So is it really any surprise of hesitation to go to business with them?
In particular, between the publicized missed payments between municipalities and businesses (back taxes for Gila River Arena), and the municipal-specific issues (infrastructure and fan population) that go with arena deals.

All this to say, I think there is too much blind optimism around Arizona. Sure it is a large market, and hockey CAN work, but there are a lot of problems that have to be solved and too many question marks. We now know that the market is centralized primarily in the DT/Phoenix area, and there is already a massive hurdle there because of the lack of interest in having two arenas to accommodate NHL and NBA clubs.

 

[kvladimir]

Some new blood is always good. Happy they won't have to do a division realignment.

There won't be a realignment. SLC is in the Mountain time zone full time, so no 2+ time zone separation with any of the other Central teams. Unlike Phoenix, which because the state of Arizona doesn't switch to daylight savings time, was always technically in the Pacific time zone from March to October

 

[hockeyboy1923]

Worth noting that the Jazz (despite having terrible seasons in recent years) do really well in terms of sellouts (282 games) + average attendance (18,000-ish this season) in the NBA. In their shittiest year (2023), they still averaged 18,000-ish fans in the arena. If you normalize for the fact that NHL scheduling will compete with NBA, I can't see how Salt Lake City doesn't meet the 14,000 seat threshold to start, and then increase as the Olympic hype becomes palpable + get a new NHL-ready arena.


Generally agree, but this seems different. With Wang, it always felt like he was a boom/bust kind of businessman, so he'd always think up unorthodox business ideas that would often never come to fruition (although funny enough, his lighthouse project is hilariously close to what Meruelo wanted with the real estate deal, so the similarity is definitely there too), whereas Ledecky and Malkin had more standard ideas and weren't so hellbent on Brooklyn like Wang was.

I wish I were a fly in the negotiations between various Coyotes owners and the municipalities, because from all indications on the outside looking in, it seemed like municipal governments viewed the Coyotes as toxic, with no reason to believe there ever was a stable business there. So is it really any surprise of hesitation to go to business with them?
In particular, between the publicized missed payments between municipalities and businesses (back taxes for Gila River Arena), and the municipal-specific issues (infrastructure and fan population) that go with arena deals.

All this to say, I think there is too much blind optimism around Arizona. Sure it is a large market, and hockey CAN work, but there are a lot of problems that have to be solved and too many question marks. We now know that the market is centralized primarily in the DT/Phoenix area, and there is already a massive hurdle there because of the lack of interest in having two arenas to accommodate NHL and NBA clubs.

The failure of the Coyotes can be pinned on the NHL and team management. Being in Glendale never made sense because it is a lower income area and a far and hard commute from the parts of the city where hockey is popular (Scottsdale, East Valley, etc.). AM should not have pinned everything on Tempe, should have pushed other options more quickly.

The market isn't centralized primarily on DT Phoenix, but DT is a somewhat convient location between Scottsdale and East Valley which are the most popular hockey areas. The proposed location in Scottsdale / Desert Ridge will work if they move forward with it it given the demographics and rapid growth in the area. Its also an easier commute for East Valley than Glendale was. But the NHL is going to upset a lot of people in PHX with this clown show which will not make the financing easier.

Its not really blind optimism but common sense. Phoenix is a large (10th largest) and rapidly growing metropolitan area including demographics attractive for the sport w huge inflow of people and money from the Midwest and Norcal. It has a rapidly growing youth and college hockey presence including development of bonafide NHL stars like Austin Mathews. After all the positive growth for hockey in PHX over the last 10 years, it is surprising to me how many people still think it was a "failed" experiment. The only thing needed is good management but rather than strong-arm AM into exploring a sale to a local billionaire, Bettman would rather strong-arm a sale to his buddy in Utah.

This is just standard stuff for the NHL though. Which is why hockey continues to decline in popularity vis-a-vis other major sports in the US.

 

[chauron]

Lou has an idea for a team name

Why wouldn’t a beehive state have something related to bees such as Stingers, arena could be beehive.

 

[Megustaelhockey]

Me: *googles the state bird of Utah to see if it could make for a cool team name.*
Also me: Oh...

 

[NHL1674]

Me: *googles the state bird of Utah to see if it could make for a cool team name.*
Also me: Oh...

View attachment 855032

So relocate the team to California. Problem solved.

 

[Boris Zubov]

Me: *googles the state bird of Utah to see if it could make for a cool team name.*
Also me: Oh...

View attachment 855032

It's true what they say....California really has invaded every state to the Mississippi.

 

[StreetHawk]

Why wouldn’t a beehive state have something related to bees such as Stingers, arena could be beehive.

If you google Utah stingers you get a volley team in the National Volleyball Association.

All sorts of these minor associations that have team names. Utah swarm is an Ultimate youth disc league team.

 

[Daximus]

Utah Ambush.

Then you can either go with the Utah Raptor sort of theme without stepping on the NBAs toes but it also has the option of a wild west theme.

 

[AslanRH]

Me: *googles the state bird of Utah to see if it could make for a cool team name.*
Also me: Oh...

View attachment 855032

Them be called Dump Pigeons around these parts

 

[saintflannel]

how about the Utah Wolves? pay homage to the Ute people.

"Creator and culture hero of the Ute tribe. Like other figures from the mythic age, Wolf is usually represented as a man in Ute stories, but sometimes takes on the literal form of a wolf."

 

[red devil]

 

[Goalie_Bob]

People filing those names may not be associated with the team.....

 

[Zirakzigil]

People filing those names may not be associated with the team.....

Ownership could be filing random names to throw people off and make sure something they may want doesnt get patented. Last thing theyd want is to have to go pay Kyle the troll from HFboards money for the naming rights.

 

[Petey O]

"Utah H.C"

Really?

 

[Rabid Ranger]

I'd love the Yetis.