Goodbye, Coyotes? (Phoenix, Glendale, Tempe: bankruptcy, live, mall)

[mn55110]

The self-defeatist argument claiming hockey cannot survive in the sun-belt has run its course. How many Stanley Cup's have the LA Kings won this decade? The Anaheim Ducks won the Cup in 2007. The Tampa Bay Lightening are playing in the Stanley Cup Finals right now and won the Stanley Cup in 2004. Carolina Panthers won it all in 2006. The Dallas Star's won a couple Stanley Cup's in the 1990's as well. Every one of those sun belt NHL teams sellout nearly all their games, and are well supported.

The Coyote's should have the same success here if not more for a number of reasons:We have far more Canadians wintering in the Valley than any of the examples I mentioned above. In addition to the winter retiree's from the midwest, there is an extremely large number of Minnesotan's who have relocated to Phoenix for work, living here full-time. Minnesotan's eat, live, breathe, sleep, hockey. It's not that far of an exaggeration to say most all of them probably played organized hockey (men and women) at least through high school.

Everything seemed to be going well when they played downtown at the then named America West Arena. then they chased the short-term money to the Glendale built arena. Glendale maybe alright for the ticket buying game attending fan (who mainly lives in: Scottsdale, the East Valley, or Phoenix) to drive on eight-Sunday afternoon's in autumn for Cardinal games. However the 18-19 miles from downtown to Gila River Arena is far more challenging on weeknights for Coyote games.

With that being said, a return to downtown would be ideal, with the proposed new arena for both the Suns and Coyote's, maybe ASU-Hockey as well. Much better for fans living downtown, midtown, Biltmore, Scottsdale, East Valley etc. Building at Talking Stick would be better than the current logistics in Glendale not to mention the current political environment in the West Valley.

The way Glendale treated the NFL during the Super Bowl, it'll be surprising if we host another one for a while. College football will follow the same model this coming January, with only the championship game itself being at Univ of Phoenix Stadium while all the important revenue generating events surrounding the game being downtown, in and around the convention center.

Members of the news media have been constantly talking about the team moving to Las Vegas- or- Seattle. As one who has grown-up around hockey my whole life, I've been watching the serious push to get a second NHL franchise for Toronto, which could easily support two-teams. Also, Portland Oregon has also seriously supported their minor league hockey teams for years and in the past pushed for an NHL franchise.

Whatever occurs, Wednesday's actions by the Glendale City Council will setback economic growth and commerce in their suburb along with the entire West Valley for decades to come.

[Burning Madolf]

Originally Posted by mn55110

Whatever occurs, Wednesday's actions by the Glendale City Council will setback economic growth and commerce in their suburb along with the entire West Valley for decades to come.

Holy crap, talk about exaggeration!

[Jennifer2020]

Don't be surprised if you start hearing things about Tempe building A new football Stadium
Bidwell, NFL, and NCAA Are not happy with Glendale either, Look at Phoenix's new downtown arena , they already have the plans, drawing and the old arena will be turned into a mall and not one thing was heard about this until Phoenix announced that they want the Coyotes

[Renegade007]

The Cardinals probably want out of Glendale, too. Even die hard Cardinals fans in the east Valley must get tired of driving 30-40 miles to see a game, and then another 30-40 miles to get back home. There has to be a better way.

Maybe Glendale can settle for a sprint car dirt track. It might keep Westgate somewhat busy...maybe

[AzScorpion12]

Originally Posted by Renegade007

The Cardinals probably want out of Glendale, too. Even die hard Cardinals fans in the east Valley must get tired of driving 30-40 miles to see a game, and then another 30-40 miles to get back home. There has to be a better way.

There is....Move closer to the stadium.

Geez,driving a whole 30-40 minutes is that trouble some for you? Some of you would never survive in many areas of the country where you'd actually have to drive 1 hr+ to get to a stadium. I see so many posts where people complain if they're not within 10-15 minutes from wherever they're going.

BTW,every Cardinals game has been sold out since day one so I doubt they're going to move because a few can't drive 30-40 minutes for 8 games a year.

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by Gixxer1K

There is....Move closer to the stadium.

Geez,driving a whole 30-40 minutes is that trouble some for you? Some of you would never survive in many areas of the country where you'd actually have to drive 1 hr+ to get to a stadium. I see so many posts where people complain if they're not within 10-15 minutes from wherever they're going.

BTW,every Cardinals game has been sold out since day one so I doubt they're going to move because a few can't drive 30-40 minutes for 8 games a year.

You're missing the whole point. The location is horrible because pro sports venues & entertainment districts belong in a more centrally located area ... or least in areas that are already established with infrastructure, including transportation options besides just driving. A west Valley location was chosen for several reasons, but one reason was all the whiners over there who complained that the west Valley kept being left out of everything, WAAAH WAAAH. So the whiners got their way and the venues moved out there, but it was nothing but a poorly planned venture to begin with. If the Coyotes move out & business suffers, too bad/so sad! Glendale screwed up, and now they have to live with the potential consequences.

We kept hearing for years that the Cards stadium, Coyotes arena, and Westgate would bring in a massive amount of development to that area ... but look at what has developed: very little. It's still surrounded by lots of vacant land. If this area was such a prime location, all the promises that were initially made for developing the area into a major sports, entertainment, and office location would have materialized by now. And along with that would have been more people wanting to move closer to the stadiums. The reality is that more people are wanting a more centralized location for living, working, and entertainment. Those who choose to live in the suburbs are free to do so, but don't bellyache when amenities like stadiums, employment centers, and major shopping hubs don't come out your way!

The worst part of all is taxpayers are left flipping the bill for this idiotic location. Taxpayer money should NEVER be used to pay for pro sports or the stadiums. All the major leagues are raking in tons of profits, including the NHL, so as far as I'm concerned, the commissioners and the investors are the ones who should flip the bill.

[Jennifer2020]

The Coyotes are less then 1.5% of the Glendale Budget, What is really hurting the cities are all
public sector employees salaries in the 100k Club ,pensions & benefits, Glendale just added 40 million to the Pension fund
Then there's pension spiking, overtime abuse etc.... People are retiring and making more money then when they were working.
and to get those government jobs, you need to be connected or related, you notice how multi family members all work
for the same town city etc......

[pbenjamin]

While I believe that sports franchises that have 40+ games a year (NBA, NHL) or 80+ games a year (MLB) should be centrally located, I think that NFL stadiums are just fine when they are on the periphery. They have 8 regular season games a year and they are almost always on Sunday afternoon. It is much less of a burden to drive a long way under those circumstances. There was once a proposal to build the Cardinals a stadium near downtown and it would have been lousy land use given the rarity of its usage (and the Bidwills' insistence that there be additional land on which to roll out the grass).

[phoenixmike11]

Glendale's sports dream sours amid Coyotes deal conflict

another article highlighting glendale's sports problems

AZ republic argues for a Suns/Coyotes downtown arena

http://www.azcentral.com/story/opini...enix/71152086/

[observer53]

Originally Posted by Jennifer2020

Don't be surprised if you start hearing things about Tempe building A new football Stadium
Bidwell, NFL, and NCAA Are not happy with Glendale either, Look at Phoenix's new downtown arena , they already have the plans, drawing and the old arena will be turned into a mall and not one thing was heard about this until Phoenix announced that they want the Coyotes

I can tell you don't live here. Tempe is NOT going to build a new football stadium. ASU is doing a major renovation of Sun Devil Stadium as we speak, but the NFL is not going back in there. That wasn't a good partnership, either. I don't think the NCAA is unhappy with the Glendale stadium at all.

And yes, I'd heard talk about a new downtown arena before the recent statements (after the Glendale vote) about bringing the Coyotes downtown. Very preliminary talk, mind you, but it was happening, because newer is better in terms of those facilities, all over the country, and US Airways Center is one of the older ones. I doubt they've as yet spent the money to have architectural plans drawn, but it isn't as if there was no talk about a new arena at all until a few days ago.