Globe and Mail reports that NHL may be loaning money to Phoenix Coyotes

[Bob Cook]

The Devils lost $20 million during the regular season with the league advancing the team $10 million. $80 million loan due July 1.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nhl/story/Los-Angeles-Kings-New-Jersey-Devils-Stanley-Cup-finalists-for-sale-AEG-Corporation-Staples-Center-Jeffrey-Vanderbeek-053012

And people say Phoenix isn't a good hockey market.

The issue isn't so much attendance -- which has never been spectacular -- but the crushing debt the owners took on to take over the team and build the new arena.

How does attendance compare at the Rock compared to the Meadowlands? Does having three teams in metro New York hurt? The Devils have been one of the most successful franchises in the past decade, can't be a good sign for other struggling teams.

It doesn't seem to have made a big difference. The worry was -- and it might be true -- that there are white suburbanites who went to the Meadowlands who want no part of being in Newark after 10 p.m.

The thing is, the Devils aren't even the biggest basket case in the Tri-State area. That would go to the Islanders.

No, that would go to this guy.

Aweseome. Maybe he can make the Islanders a Hattrickinator.

 

[Stitch]

The Devils lost $20 million during the regular season with the league advancing the team $10 million. $80 million loan due July 1.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nhl/story/Los-Angeles-Kings-New-Jersey-Devils-Stanley-Cup-finalists-for-sale-AEG-Corporation-Staples-Center-Jeffrey-Vanderbeek-053012

And people say Phoenix isn't a good hockey market.

The issue isn't so much attendance -- which has never been spectacular -- but the crushing debt the owners took on to take over the team and build the new arena.

How does attendance compare at the Rock compared to the Meadowlands? Does having three teams in metro New York hurt? The Devils have been one of the most successful franchises in the past decade, can't be a good sign for other struggling teams.

It doesn't seem to have made a big difference. The worry was -- and it might be true -- that there are white suburbanites who went to the Meadowlands who want no part of being in Newark after 10 p.m.

The thing is, the Devils aren't even the biggest basket case in the Tri-State area. That would go to the Islanders.

No, that would go to this guy.

Aweseome. Maybe he can make the Islanders a Hattrickinator.

I'm sure Perry the Platypus is a Rangers fan.

 

[Double J]

The Devils lost $20 million during the regular season with the league advancing the team $10 million. $80 million loan due July 1.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nhl/story/Los-Angeles-Kings-New-Jersey-Devils-Stanley-Cup-finalists-for-sale-AEG-Corporation-Staples-Center-Jeffrey-Vanderbeek-053012

And people say Phoenix isn't a good hockey market.

The issue isn't so much attendance -- which has never been spectacular -- but the crushing debt the owners took on to take over the team and build the new arena.

How does attendance compare at the Rock compared to the Meadowlands? Does having three teams in metro New York hurt? The Devils have been one of the most successful franchises in the past decade, can't be a good sign for other struggling teams.

It doesn't seem to have made a big difference. The worry was -- and it might be true -- that there are white suburbanites who went to the Meadowlands who want no part of being in Newark after 10 p.m.

The thing is, the Devils aren't even the biggest basket case in the Tri-State area. That would go to the Islanders.

No, that would go to this guy.

Aweseome. Maybe he can make the Islanders a Hattrickinator.

I'm sure Perry the Platypus is a Rangers fan.

Both of you rock.

 

[Bubbler]

That show forking rules.

 

[Stitch]

The end of the saga hopefully is near as a referendum drive to overturn the lease agreement with Jamison fell short on signatures and were late according to city officials.

The number of signatures is a hurdle opponents probably can't overcome as cities are given the power by the state constitution to define how to calculate the percentage of voters needed to get a referendum on the ballot.

 

[crimsonace]

They're also building a new barn in Markham, just north of Toronto. Second team in the GTA in the next five years?

Never, it would not help NBC any.

Given NBC seems to think the NHL is a five-team league, I'm not sure how Phoenix moving to Toronto would affect them in any way

Number of times the Yotes have been on the big network in the regular season since NBC got the contract: zero. Same as at least half the U.S.-based franchises, including just about all of them in the Mountain and Pacific time zones, so I'm not 100% sure what dog NBC has in this fight.

Even NBCSN tends to give us a steady diet of DET-NYR-WAS-PHI-PIT with a little bit of Chicago & Boston thrown in for good measure, and a lot of Buffalo on the cable.

 

[JC]

They're also building a new barn in Markham, just north of Toronto. Second team in the GTA in the next five years?

Never, it would not help NBC any.

Given NBC seems to think the NHL is a five-team league, I'm not sure how Phoenix moving to Toronto would affect them in any way

Number of times the Yotes have been on the big network in the regular season since NBC got the contract: zero. Same as at least half the U.S.-based franchises, including just about all of them in the Mountain and Pacific time zones, so I'm not 100% sure what dog NBC has in this fight.

Even NBCSN tends to give us a steady diet of DET-NYR-WAS-PHI-PIT with a little bit of Chicago & Boston thrown in for good measure, and a lot of Buffalo on the cable.

Sarcasm, it was in response to Marks usual idiocy.

 

[Football_Bat]

And who can predict the future of that?

The oil sands, which is driving Canadian currency at this point, aren't drying up anytime soon.

Pay TV has changed the nature of the business as well. When the Nordiques moved, pay TV in Canada (like the U.S.) didn't have as large of a role in sports as it does now. Quebecor would be the likely owners of a new Nordiques team, which means the Nordiques would be great content for the cable company Quebecor owns.

I'll admit the Coyotes would make more money in Quebec City, but as a former resident of Glendale (with my parents and siblings still living there), an empty arena would destroy Westgate. Plus, it's been rumored NBC/Comcast wants Phoenix to be in the league. Who knows if there are clauses that would trigger a lower national rights fee if another team moves to Canada.

Oh, I'm sure NBC and Comcast would prefer Phoenix to Quebec City. While ratings/advertising/rights fees may not be much in Phoenix compared to, say, Boston or Detroit, at least they have potential there. If a team moves to Quebec City, what does that get them (considering the larger section of the population is francophone)?

The old chasing the fictional corporate dollar in the US myth. How has that worked the last 50 years?

People should read this. Michael Grange on what a sham this new arrangement in Glendale is. The people of Glendale have been thoroughly screwed in this.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/2012/05/07/phoenix_coyotes_sale_glendale_bettman/

Sorry, but if you've followed the issue closely, that column is crap.

Any column discussing the Coyotes and the arena that does not bring up the Westgate problem is either (a) hopelessly slanted or (b) is written by someone who doesn't know the issues well enough to write about them.

If it made financial sense to let the team go, they would have let the team go. This isn't an issue of the council trying to look like heroes for saving the team. Going strictly by political expediency, the popular move would have been to cut bait.

It's been depressing reading the Canadian press write about this for the past couple of years. Jesus, you want the team in Canada. We get it. You can still report honestly on it. Columns like this are worthless.

No doubt.

The problem for the NHL is this -- OK, say the team goes to Quebec. Fine. But what about all the other troubled teams? Where are they going to go? Kansas City and Milwaukee are nonstarters. Houston? Maybe, but the dwindling interest in Dallas doesn't portend well.

It's dwindled in Dallas only because Dallas is the biggest frontrunning town in North America and the Stars have missed the playoffs four years running. If and when they do start to win again, the fans will be back.

 

[crimsonace]

I'll be honest: I don't have a dog in this fight other than thinking the Jets should never have moved to PHX in the first place, but the monolithic Canadian storyline of "the NHL hates us, see how many of our deserving towns are being denied their right to the NHL by these crappy Sun Belt cities" is also getting a bit old.

I understand that some Canadians determine their national sovereignty from hockey -- whether it's participation in the Olympics, number of NHL franchises, et al.

But the whole notion of Canada being offended as a whole because Phoenix, Nashville and Miami have NHL teams, while Quebec City and Saskatoon don't is fairly weak. There is not a grand conspiracy to deny Canadians their rightful place in the game (and to be honest, the moves of WPG/QUE/HFD had more to do with either a weak Canadian dollar and awful ownership and an anti-WHA bias than some sort of anti-traditional market one).

Quebec and either Hamilton or a second Toronto team might be the only viable Canadian markets that are currently untapped. Hamilton is awfully close to both Buffalo and Toronto, and so there's a chance of oversaturating that area to begin with.

Then again, the NYC market doesn't really support 2/3 of its teams. Moving teams out of oversaturated markets might be a better solution than trying to pry the Coyotes out of Phoenix, which is a pretty important market in the Southwest due to the presence of corporate HQ (sponsor dollars), et al.

 

[JC]

When the players are locked out this winter it will because of a handful of dreadful hockey markets. For me, it is not about Canadian markets as it is about hockey markets. There is simply not enough good hockey markets in North America. Quebec and and another team in Southern Ontairio area bout the last ones left. There is not one rational Canadian hockey fan that believes Saskatoon is an NHL market, neither is Phoenix or Miami.

 

[Johnny Chase]

Even if Jamison is able to buy the Coyotes, does anyone really believe that they'll be successful long term? Phoenix isn't the best sports town as it is. And how many of these southern markets could even be considered a success?

Should the NHL be able to give the Yotes to Jamison, I could easily see the league talking about relocation five years down the road.

 

[Stitch]

Even if Jamison is able to buy the Coyotes, does anyone really believe that they'll be successful long term? Phoenix isn't the best sports town as it is. And how many of these southern markets could even be considered a success?

Should the NHL be able to give the Yotes to Jamison, I could easily see the league talking about relocation five years down the road.

There are two markets likely better than Phoenix -- another team in the GTA and Quebec City.