No deadline set for Coyotes new franchise

[pixburgher66]

Sorry, hockey in Vegas just seems so wrong. They'd sell out I'm sure...tourists and all, but it just...just no. I get annoyed by some of the crowds in LA (feel too much like Laker games with all those snobby celebs down on the glass, trying to understand icing), the crowds in Vegas would drive me bonkers.

 

[jstewismybastardson]

Vegas would probably pull (or be forced to pull) odds on NHL betting if they get a team right?

that would probably be worse for the NHL

yah ok ... maybe NHL betting isnt off the charts like the NFL is but when you consider alot of people are whispering that the CFL got 2 US TV network broadcasting deals thanks to Vegas offering betting lines on that league for the degenerate gamblers out there, it should be a consideration

 

[forty_three]

Sorry, hockey in Vegas just seems so wrong. They'd sell out I'm sure...tourists and all, but it just...just no. I get annoyed by some of the crowds in LA (feel too much like Laker games with all those snobby celebs down on the glass, trying to understand icing), the crowds in Vegas would drive me bonkers.

The bulk of the arena would be filled with people with comp tickets or who couldn't get into the Penn and Teller show.

But it would "sell out". HOOORAY HOCKEY!


At that point, I'd rather have the 6,000 people in the desert who actually give a shit about the game in the seats.

 

[dash]

Report: Coyotes, Dave Tippett agree to contract pending sale of the team ArizonaSports.com

 

[mattola]

 

[davnlaguna]

It looks like a good deal but then you are stuck with crap beer

 

[davnlaguna]

Sorry, hockey in Vegas just seems so wrong. They'd sell out I'm sure...tourists and all, but it just...just no. I get annoyed by some of the crowds in LA (feel too much like Laker games with all those snobby celebs down on the glass, trying to understand icing), the crowds in Vegas would drive me bonkers.

Kings and Avs play a preseason game every year in Vegas. Rangers playing as well this year. Lots of fun and drinking and events. But this is a once a year thing. I think Vegas could support an NBA team. People making a trip to see their team and party in Vegas. I think an NHL team would last a couple of years and then the fans would stop coming.

 

[mattola]

Gretzky believes NHL will return to Quebec City someday

 

[jstewismybastardson]

dont worry higgy, not "that" C word




Seattle again playing the role of Leverage City
Seattle lives an uncomfortable life as a Plan B for NHL, NBA


Jerry Brewer

Times staff columnist


We’re back to that daunting C-word.

Could.

The NHL could come to Seattle as soon as next season. The nod could be given within the next two weeks. Outdated KeyArena could be turned into a cozy, temporary hockey home.

And the world could end in five minutes, meaning you would’ve spent your final moments entrapped by speculation.

Life as a Plan B is so polarizing.

On one hand, it’s too enticing to ignore the possibility of having the NHL and even the NBA in Seattle. On the other hand, it’s no fun shopping at a store in which items are for sale only in theory.

The Sacramento Kings could’ve come to Seattle, only they didn’t. Chris Hansen put together an extraordinary offer to make it happen and signed an agreement to purchase the Kings, but they turned out not to be for sale to outsiders. The fatigue of that disappointing failed bid lingers, but here comes the NHL, whispering sweet nothings in the city’s ear, expressing admiration but making no real promises, asking Seattle to be its mistress.

At least NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is being more upfront than the man he once worked for, NBA commissioner David Stern. Bettman admits to wanting to keep the Phoenix Coyotes in suburban Glendale, Ariz. He has said Seattle is the backup plan. This is far more respectful than what Stern did, leading Seattle to believe it was in a wide-open race for the Kings when the plan all along was to push Sacramento to approve an arena deal.

Still, regardless of the tactics, Seattle is back in an uncomfortable role. We’re leverage. We’re the big city with the thriving economy and a transparent desire and new arena plan to lure the NBA and NHL to town. We’re the threat of all threats, a city with the juice to get the attention of any struggling franchise in any indifferent city.

If this keeps up, our new nickname will be Leverage City. Though the NHL situation differs from the NBA fiasco, it’s impossible to get too hopeful when Seattle isn’t in control of its fate. Yet it’s stupid to be dismissive when a franchise opportunity, no matter how unlikely, presents itself.

So here we are, surrounded by could.

Why bother? Because while this is your heart, it is mostly the investors’ money. In the arena deal Hansen put together with the city and county, $290 million of the $490 million project will be privately funded. Hansen’s group of NBA investors are on the hook for everything else, and they were prepared to spend close to $1 billion to build the arena, buy the team, pay the NBA a relocation fee and throw money at other related expenses.

On the hockey side, investors Ray Bartoszek and Anthony Lanza have yet to discuss their plan publicly, but their $220 million bid to purchase the league-owned Coyotes has already been leaked. Forbes magazine valued the franchise at $134 million in November 2012. If Bartoszek and Lanza believe that much in the NHL’s potential in Seattle, then it’s fair to assume they would work out an agreement with Hansen chip in on this arena project. Otherwise, they’d be making a dangerous gamble by moving a team to Seattle, playing in an inferior hockey arena that could only seat 11,000 and merely hoping that this NBA thing works out so that they could be a tenant at the new facility.

But for now, this is all speculation. Glendale is in control, and it has a tentative deal with the Coyotes on a new lease. Tentative is the word, however, and just a year ago, the Glendale City Council backed out of a 20-year, $324 million arena-management deal because it didn’t want to pay so high a subsidy to the Coyotes.

Unlike the NBA process, which lasted a torturously-long four months, this NHL-to-Seattle possibility came to light just two weeks before finality. We will have clarity soon. There’s not much time to get your hopes up.

Then again, after the NBA debacle, everyone is too smart for that now. Until Seattle is in control, it’s best to keep your heart out of speculation. And it’s important to realize that, even though the Kings’ bid didn’t work out and the Coyotes’ bid isn’t expected to work out, Seattle has made an impression that eventually should result in luring the NBA and NHL.

Should. Life as a Plan B is so nerve-grating.

In Leverage City, we’re still stuck in traffic, waiting, waiting, hoping, waiting

 

[dash]

A long-awaited proposal by the prospective owners of the Phoenix Coyotes intended to keep the team in Arizona generated a mostly lackluster response by the Glendale City Council on Tuesday evening.

One council member left the closed-door briefing early, saying prospective Coyotes owner Renaissance Sports & Entertainment was getting preferential treatment by her colleagues.

“I couldn’t take it anymore,” Councilwoman Norma Alvarez said as she made an early departure from the executive session.

“I’m sorry, but I’m not for the Coyotes,” said Alvarez, who is a longtime opponent of public spending for professional sports.

After the meeting ended, some council members said additional negotiations will be needed before the council will be ready to vote on the matter.

Before the meeting, Councilman Gary Sherwood said he anticipated Renaissance would ask for far more than $6 million a year, but that Renaissance would be willing to share some revenue with the city.

Afterward, Sherwood declined to discuss specific points, but said he’s optimistic that a deal can be reached. There’s one major sticking component to the proposal, but it probably can be addressed, he said.

Martinez said the council will likely not vote on the matter during its next scheduled voting meeting on Tuesday. All the council members have questions about the proposal, he said.

Mayor Jerry Weiers said, “There’s been no decision made by the council, so right now, that’s all I can tell you.”

Acting City Attorney Nicholas DiPiazza said city staff members will continue to negotiate with Renaissance. “This is still a very fluid situation,” he said. “I think an agreement can be reached very shortly or perhaps not.”

 

[jstewismybastardson]

Glendale is so fucked. They are in such a bad spot (literally and figuratively). They either sign this new lease agreement with this massive yearly subsidy that will cost taxpayers alot of essential expected civic services or they walk from the NHL and have this huge debt still to be serviced on an arena in the middle of nowhere ... i mean ... err ... in a city that was supposed to be developed, populated and built up around this sports arena zone

If the area was already densely populated and had a pre-existent self supporting economy with a viable tax base, this would have been an easy solve for the politicos there

I used to think that they could walk away and still get someone like AEG to manage the arena and hold concerts/trade shows/conventions and end up still being in the black like other arenas without anchor tenants (ie sprint center in KC, MTS centre pre-Jets)
BUT
they dont have the population base to pull it off and no one in Phoenix proper wants to drive out there through traffic on a weeknight to go to an event

theyre fucked!

 

[esls79]

Glendale is so fucked. They are in such a bad spot (literally and figuratively). They either sign this new lease agreement with this massive yearly subsidy that will cost taxpayers alot of essential expected civic services or they walk from the NHL and have this huge debt still to be serviced on an arena in the middle of nowhere ... i mean ... err ... in a city that was supposed to be developed, populated and built up around this sports arena zone

If the area was already densely populated and had a pre-existent self supporting economy with a viable tax base, this would have been an easy solve for the politicos there

I used to think that they could walk away and still get someone like AEG to manage the arena and hold concerts/trade shows/conventions and end up still being in the black like other arenas without anchor tenants (ie sprint center in KC, MTS centre pre-Jets)
BUT
they dont have the population base to pull it off and no one in Phoenix proper wants to drive out there through traffic on a weeknight to go to an event

theyre fucked!

So then the only solution is to give Phoenix all Friday/Saturday night home games this season.

Easy fix.

 

[dash]

Yup...The biggest mistake was not building the new arena in the Phoenix downtown core. I realize Jobing.com is across the street from the football stadium where the NFL Cardinals play, but people will make that drive 8 times a season to watch NFL games (especially on weekends when traffic is lighter). Asking people to make a hour long commute 41 times a season through heavy traffic is not going to work long term.

 

[dash]

Lest we forget the $300 million they spent on a MLB spring training facility (oh by the way that was heavily financed as well and they continue to spend gobs of money on the remaining debt payments).

 

[mattola]

So then the only solution is to give Phoenix all Friday/Saturday night home games this season.

Easy fix.

new commish right here people


make em play 3 home games in a row on weekend lol fri/sat/sun

 

[jstewismybastardson]

Lest we forget the $300 million they spent on a MLB spring training facility (oh by the way that was heavily financed as well and they continue to spend gobs of money on the remaining debt payments).

like i said, they thought they could build the whole arena sports zone and the population would come ... 2008 economic upheaval wasnt what they needed

"if you build it ... they will come Ray" didnt quite work out here

 

[dash]

new commish right here people


make em play 3 home games in a row on weekend lol fri/sat/sun

I was thinking that would be a great schedule for a team in Vegas at the new 20,000 seat arena at the MGM Grand

 

[Nasty_Magician]

new commish right here people


make em play 3 home games in a row on weekend lol fri/sat/sun

You can't play 3 days in a row, that's just outrageous.

Just schedule doubleheaders on Saturdays.

 

[dash]

You can't play 3 days in a row, that's just outrageous.

Just schedule doubleheaders on Saturdays.

What a day for a hockey game, let's play two!!

 

[forty_three]

Glendale is so fucked. They are in such a bad spot (literally and figuratively). They either sign this new lease agreement with this massive yearly subsidy that will cost taxpayers alot of essential expected civic services or they walk from the NHL and have this huge debt still to be serviced on an arena in the middle of nowhere ... i mean ... err ... in a city that was supposed to be developed, populated and built up around this sports arena zone

If the area was already densely populated and had a pre-existent self supporting economy with a viable tax base, this would have been an easy solve for the politicos there

I used to think that they could walk away and still get someone like AEG to manage the arena and hold concerts/trade shows/conventions and end up still being in the black like other arenas without anchor tenants (ie sprint center in KC, MTS centre pre-Jets)
BUT
they dont have the population base to pull it off and no one in Phoenix proper wants to drive out there through traffic on a weeknight to go to an event

theyre fucked!

Serious question because I don't know - other than the football stadium, what's out there? Do they have convention centers, malls, casinos, Amusement parks, ANYTHING?