No deadline set for Coyotes new franchise

[mrwallace2ku]

C'mon guys. I think we can all agree that both Portland and Seattle should never get NHL teams.

read your hockey history BEFORE the NHL was born…the answer lies within.

 

[DevilishWon]

Just say no to Portland or Seattle.

I think the Panthers need a real rivalry team so I say West Palm Beach, FL

 

[wazzu31]

deflects from hockey to talk about soccer…go figure.


tacoma=the armpit of Washington

Oregon = the forgotten state west of Texas. Literally brings nothing to the country besides nasty micro brews and crappy athletic apparel.

 

[mrwallace2ku]

Oregon = the forgotten state west of Texas. Literally brings nothing to the country besides nasty micro brews and crappy athletic apparel.

our #1 bumper cash crop is pot and we do it a hellava lot better than you mossbacks, maybe you should hire Ryan Leaf for some future advice. Hear he has all the time in the world these days.

 

[wazzu31]

our #1 bumper cash crop is pot and we do it a hellava lot better than you mossbacks, maybe you should hire Ryan Leaf for some future advice. Hear he has all the time in the world these days.

Ryan Leaf > any so called QB from Oregon State and our weed is better. Portland is a third world city, no way NHL would ever put a team in a one trick pony state. Your market is bored Seattle sports fans.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

I love what's going on in here.

 

[dash]

I love what's going on in here.

I think we've uncovered the founding fathers of Cascadia, BBB.

 

[jstewismybastardson]

I think we've uncovered the founding fathers of Cascadia, BBB.

Its Lewis and Clark

 

[Comeds]

read your hockey history BEFORE the NHL was born…the answer lies within.

I found this, is this what you meant?

"A 1797 engraving unearthed by Swedish sport historians Carl Gidén and Patrick Houda shows a person on skates with a stick and bung on the Willamette River, probably in December 1796 as he struggled to escape the Portland area"

 

[sabresfaninthesouth]

Its Lewis and Clark

Jebediah Springfield and Shelbyville Manhattan?

/Which one wants to be able to marry their cousins?

 

[dash]

Jebediah Springfield and Shelbyville Manhattan?

/Which one wants to be able to marry their cousins?

lol - I can't remember - But to continue the hilarity, does this mean Washington has the lemons and Oregon has the beets?

 

[dash]

Pretty funny that we're approaching the 5 year anniversary of this thread and hey, here's a shocker from Bettman:

PHOENIX — The National Hockey League's commissioner is trying to kick-start legislation stalled in the state Senate that would allow the Arizona Coyotes to build an arena.

Gary Bettman sent a letter to House Speaker J.D. Mesnard and Senate President Steve Yarbrough on Tuesday that said the team wants to stay in the Phoenix metro area but its current location in Glendale is not profitable or feasible.

"The simple truth? The Coyotes must have a new arena location to succeed," Bettman wrote. "The Coyotes cannot and will not remain in Glendale."

Bettman: Coyotes cannot not remain in Glendale - Article - TSN

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

It's the funniest thing watching him threaten people who are as indifferent to his cause as humanly possible.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

The former mayor of Glendale released an open letter that roasts the Coyotes' ownership and particularly Gary Bettman.

Was gonna just post the link but this warrants posting in its entirety:

Dear President Yarbrough and Speaker Mesnard:

Strong emotions rushed through me as I read the recent haughty comments from NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and Coyotes Owner Andrew Barroway regarding their personally motivated announcement of the absolute impossibility of hockey succeeding in Glendale.

As the former Mayor of Glendale who had a front row seat for many of the City’s dealings with the NHL and the Coyotes, I cannot sit silently as they mislead the Arizona Legislature and unabashedly insult the community I love.

Mr. Bettman saw a tremendous future for Coyotes hockey in Glendale BEFORE the City of Glendale and its taxpayers committed $200 million to absorb the initial cost of arena construction and full cost of infrastructure construction in 2002. At that time, Bettman said of the arena “This is a great place for hockey, and we’re thrilled to be here.” At that same time he praised then-owner Steve Ellman and Wayne Gretzky, the Coyotes’ managing general partner, for providing stable ownership and building a playoff contender. “Everything you touch turns to gold,” he told Gretzky. Upon the venue’s opening in 2003, Bettman said “This building is a major step forward for this franchise and this franchise wouldn’t survive without it.”

If he indeed believed Glendale was unsuitable for the NHL, he did not express that opinion in 2010 as he was asking the City to partner with the league in shepherding the owner-less Coyotes through bankruptcy. That “partnership” required an annual $25 million subsidy from the City while the NHL searched for a new owner.

During the NHL’s search we endured one potential ownership group after another and heard why each new one was going to be the answer. It’s hard to remember all the names: Reinsdorf, Ice Edge Holdings, Hulsizer, Jamison. They all kind of run together, don’t they?

In late 2010 as a deal seemed to be reaching completion which would result in Matthew Hulsizer becoming owner of the Coyotes, Bettman said: “We believe that that Coyotes and NHL hockey can be successful in Glendale. The (bankruptcy) circumstances we went through a year and a half ago...we weren’t in a position to see things done right.” Alas, the Hulsizer deal never reached the back of the net.

After I retired as Mayor in January of 2013, Anthony LeBlanc emerged with yet another NHL-endorsed ownership group, Ice Arizona. At that time, Bettman said, “With ownership committed to making the franchise a success, with an opportunity for businesses and fans to know that there is no uncertainty, we think this franchise can do very, very well.”

Little did anyone know that the annual “management fee” Glendale gave this ownership group to operate the arena was instead transferred directly to the lenders from whom LeBlanc and partners had borrowed the money to buy the franchise. It was later discovered that the Coyotes had violated state law in hiring Craig Tindall, the former Glendale City Attorney who had been involved in lease negotiations on Glendale’s behalf. As a result, Glendale terminated its lease with the Coyotes in the summer of 2015. Even then, Bettman was still bullish about Glendale as a hockey market saying, “We’re committed to the market; we believe everything will be worked out and the team will play this season in Glendale and for years to come.”

So now we find ourselves in 2017 and from his midtown Manhattan offices, Bettman has a new bill of goods to sell. Forget everything he said previously. Now he wants you to believe him when he says hockey absolutely cannot work in Glendale. And you may remember - because it was in bold type - “the Arizona Coyotes must have a new arena location to succeed.”

A great deal of fast-talking and fuzzy math has come from Bettman, Barroway and LeBlanc but their message cannot be more clear: in their minds the Coyotes’ lack of success is Glendale’s fault. Disregard the fact that the team ranks last in the NHL in hockey spending, continually trades away top talent while it annually “builds for the future,” and spends next to nothing to market the team. I will say what they will not: the Coyotes position at the bottom of the standings is a leadership problem, not a location problem.

The facts are easy to verify. Before the Coyotes moved out of downtown Phoenix they ranked 29th in attendance out of the league of 30 teams. Their first year in the Glendale Arena they ranked 19th in attendance. Attendance stayed in that tier until the floundering team started losing their disappointed fans’ support.

Now the NHL and the Coyotes’ ownership group have hitched their wagons to a new scheme: Senate Bill 1149. After receiving hundreds of millions of dollars from Glendale, the NHL and Coyotes ownership are asking a much larger group of Arizona taxpayers for $225 million in public funding for another new arena. It’s the only way to make hockey work in Arizona, they tell us (again). This is the only solution, they say; this is what will make hockey thrive.

They say a lot of things.

The truth is that the Coyotes have a world-class, taxpayer-funded arena that is designed for hockey and is only 12 years old. They have a City Council and City Manager ready to work with them to achieve an equitable long-term lease.

This will be the fifth consecutive year that the Arizona Coyotes will have missed the playoffs and have been at the bottom of the league in attendance. Bettman, Barroway and LeBlanc would have you believe that arena location is to blame while ignoring that the team continually fails to invest in its on-ice product and properly market itself.

Rejecting SB1149 means rejecting twisted logic and excuses devoid of reason, and letting Bettman, Barroway and LeBlanc know that Arizonans are smarter than they think we are.

Very truly yours,

Hon. Elaine M. Scruggs Mayor (Ret.), 1993-2013 Glendale, Arizona

http://archive.azcentral.com/persistent/icimages/politics/Scruggs_Letter03092017.pdf

 

[dash]

Thanks for posting that BBB - I think Elaine Scruggs views Gary Bettman as Lyle Lanley and the Phoenix area doesn't need another monorail.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Thanks for posting that BBB - I think Elaine Scruggs views Gary Bettman as Lyle Lanley and the Phoenix area doesn't need another monorail.

If they had a monorail, maybe people wouldn't bitch so much about driving to Glendale?

 

[forty_three]

If they had a monorail, maybe people wouldn't bitch so much about driving to Glendale?

Is it possible to even reach Glendale from Phoenix without using the Concorde?

 

[wazzu31]

Why is everyone talking about Glendale as if it is some major city? Calling it a suburb of Phoneix is a disrespect to suburbs. Anyone with a brain knows Glendale is a horrible location for any fan outside the retired folks. Look at Cardinals attendance during the couple of Thursday night games they have had since the stadium opened. Coyotes are more than welcomed in Seattle if the owners want to move them.

 

[puckhead]

Let's not be completely negative on Glendale.
They do have an In'n'Out Burger!

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

What a veteran leader that Doan is, checking his own young teammates from behind and then just skating off! So much leader!