Gary Bettman makes an absolutely untrue comment to justify keeping the Coyotes in Arizona
If there's one thing you can expect from Gary Bettman, it's that he will not let the Arizona Coyotes fold. For decades now the team has been fighting for its life, dealing with multiple owners, at one point not having an owner, bad arena deals, and the struggles of not being in a traditional market. However there was a time when the Arizona Coyotes seemed like they were on the right track, but that was over ten years ago.
The Coyotes have only won one playoff series in the entire existence. That was in 2012 when they made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals. Since then the Coyotes have missed the playoffs 9 out of the last 10 seasons. It's hard to grow a fan base for a team when they are consistently at the bottom of the league and showing no signs of improving. The fan base for the team has actually shrunk and fan attendance has consistently been the worst in the league year after year.
Bettman went as far as to call this decision "not unprecedented" which is absolutely untrue. Bettman also refuses to acknowledge he forced the Thrashers to move after they requested to play in a 12,000 seat arena.
The Coyotes lost their arena and are now going to share one with the Arizona State University hockey team. It will only have a 5,000 seat capacity. The next smallest arena in the league would be the Winnipeg Jets at 15,321. But Gary Bettman is confident the small arena in Tempe, AZ will work.
The main reason Bettman wants to keep a team in Phoenix is because he believes it has potential. The Phoenix metropolitan area is the 11th largest in the United States. It is also another team in the Pacific time zone, which makes it attractive for national television rights deals. The big worry is if you move the team out of Arizona, you're showing potential television partners and sponsors that hockey is a regional game. You need the broad area coverage to make the league look attractive. But when year after year the Coyotes are consistently missing the playoffs, why would anyone cheer for them?
| POLL | ||
Should they move the Arizona Coyotes to a new market? | ||
| No, need to build the game all over | 42 | 8.8 % |
| Yes, to Houston | 98 | 20.5 % |
| Yes, to Quebec City | 337 | 70.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
