The Arizona Coyotes relocation to Salt Lake City, Utah seems imminent so we’re joined by PHNX Coyotes reporter Craig Morgan to break down why the Yotes failed in Arizona.
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49 Comments
Por ownership and the move to Glendale, If this team moves and Meruelo is involved in the future I am done
11,000 is significantly more than 4,000….
“Salt lake won’t have time to get ready for next season”. A couple sentences later: “why couldn’t they just wait a few months to see what happens?”
Do you guys see how silly that is?
Sports have gotten idiotic. Massive bonds to secure public funded arenas. Expensive tickets to attend the event at a publicly funded arena. A winner or a loser, in most Arizona sports teams cases, a loser. See yah NHL. Salt Lake City, enjoy those taxes and ticket prices for a non competitive franchise.
Craig Morgan didn't know anything….I was telling him and PHNX SPORTS you're spreading misinformation….here we are I WAS RIGHT
CRAIG WAS WRONG, Craig was paid to shill for the Coyotes
How the fuck is that journalism?
"none of it was expected"
I literally said May 15 2023 COYOTES ARE MOVING TO UTAH
HOW ARE YOU A JOURNALIST???
The site next to Scottsdale Road is the middle of nowhere. New arenas outside of the downtown core in a city like Phoenix are not a good proposition. Ask Florida, Ottawa or Carolina.
Clueless ownership and commissioner! The Suns arena was not built for hockey and there were not plans to build a hockey arena. Yet, the Jets were allowed to move!! Then 5 to 7 years later, and arena plan and funding finally came about. But, the arena was away from the population base and season-ticket holder base! Then the NHL had a clown car of owners!
Then this final clown, didn’t pay his bills and got kicked out of the Glendale! Now there are stories that he hasn’t paid the teams hotel bills!
That is logistical things. The teams hasn’t had any type of long-term success. I’d rather they have only three or four 40 wins seasons. No conf championship final series & obviously no Stanley Cup final series.
If there was an owner, who actually paid his bills, they would still be in Glendale. Right now, they have an empty arena for that the coyotes would have been there.
It won't take 10 years for Salt Lake City to build an arena for the Jazz and the relocated Coyotes.
10 years for a new arena in SLC? State of Utah has already allocated 900 million for the construction of a new arena. When it comes to projects like this, things in Utah go very fast.
Players actually do want to play there lol but keep coping losers
pussmorgan and his 2 puppets
Why do it now? Because now is the time the new ownership team in Utah needs to make the move to SLC happen by the start of next season. The NHL cannot ask them to expend all the time and money necessary to be ready for the move without committing to the change in ownership. If you were Ryan Smith, would you spend a few million planning for the move if there were a good chance the NHL would back out if the Coyotes win the land auction June 27? No, you'd wait to see how the auction turns out before doing any real work. But, then, there wouldn't be enough time to make the move by the beginning of the season.
Bottom line: The Coyotes had (have) less than a 50% chance of winning the land auction and getting a new arena ready in five years. SLC offers a great owner, an 11,000 seat arena, and $900 million in state money to build a new state-of-the-art arena (which will most likely be built in less than five years). By opting to move the team to SLC, the NHL gets a better owner and better arena and still has the option of putting an expansion team in Arizona if current ownership pulls off a minor miracle and builds an arena in the next five years. If current ownership can't pull off that miracle, the team would have had to move anyway. The deal on the table stops the bleeding while still preserving the upside of a possible new arena in Arizona. That's why the NHL is not waiting.
Coyotes were evicted from Glendale because they couldn't pay the bills and if this is a big market in Arizona why were people not coming to the games then.
The Coyotes should have from the very beginning renovated the Footprint Center and make it suitable for hockey and not move out to Glendale
..During the depression in the 1930s, Conn Smythe built Maple Leafs Gardens in six–6 months…
Phoenix does not deserve a team!
Finally this poverty franchise has hit the end of the road.
and you wonder why…just read on sportskeeda that merlo has not been paying his hotel bills for the team…anyone else see that????
The franchise with nine lives. Couldn't make it work even with Bettman in your corner.
This 10 year wait for a new SLC arena is misinformation. Where are people getting this? The Olympic bid is for 2034, not the timeline for when a new arena will be completed by. This is being spread as fact. Where's the supporting data? The Utah Legislature already approved 900 million in public funding. Do you think waiting into the 2030's to start construction is going to make building This type of thing cheaper? Obviously it will be more expensive. In the meantime you risk the Legislature backtracking on the commitment etc. You got to check your guests when they make obviously incorrect statements.
Screw arizona, dont give them another franchise to f-up. Try a new market. Arizona has never worked, like Atlanta.
Teams moving cities is never a good thing in any sport for a team, players or fan base. But please know your facts about SLC and the new ownerships building plans for the new arena. It is not going to take 10 years. They already have the land and the financial backing from the city and are shovel ready. They will only be playing at the Delta Center for 2 to 3 years at the most. Sure some current Coyotes players are probably upset that they have to move themselves and their families but I can guarantee once the dust settles and Ryan Smith meets with them and they have their tour of SLC those players will head home with a lot better mindsets about the move.
They failed because the NHL insists on putting hockey teams in fucking desert's expecting people to like the sport.
Salt Lake City already has the Delta Center, so housing the Coyotes won't be a problem. I feel so bad for Coyotes fans, but 20 + yrs of failure in Arizona is enough. Salt Lake City and the Rocky mountain region will support hockey. And the State of Utah has already set aside 900 million in public money, so things will happen very fast in Salt Lake City. It will be a positive for this franchise….Salt Lake City, all of Utah, not to mention hockey fans in Wyoming and Idaho will embrace this team. This is hockey country…..
The Utah Jazz have a horrible time getting players to go there because it is well known throughout the NBA that the Jazz have extremely racist fans. I feel sorry for the first black player that signs there. I guess that's to be expected when over half the population of that city thinks that black skin is a curse from god.
As for cities that got an NHL team back quickly, Minnesota comes to mind, but the North Stars played in Bloomington and the Wild played in St. Paul. That is the closest comparable to this situation I can think of. The North Stars relocate to Dallas in 1993 and the Wild expand in Minnesota in 2000. That was seven years, but it is roughly the same timeline as the five year window Arizona has.
no expansion
The city politicians of Phoenix seemed to just be sabotaging them at any turn they could
How long did the Coyotes play at America West before getting the Gila River Arena? 6 years? That wasn't an ideal location for hockey…. Especially when one end section hung over the glass by about a foot, and that same section you couldn't see anything from the blue line in? Utah already has laid out $900 million in public funding for a new arena? Plus they are going to do some work to the Delta Center to fix the sightlines and increase the amount of seats. And 11,000 seated comfortably is still more than the 5,000 for Mullett?
Trust me Utah has plans for new Arena ready to go
PHNX have been absolute clowns about this story. First…Delta Center (though is closer to 14k for hockey) with "11,000 comfortably for hockey" is already 2 1/2 times better than 4600 at Mullet Arena. Second….10 years for a new arena? It's already funded. 4 seasons max would be my bet….more likely 3.
Craig Morgan sounds so certain that the Coyotes owner Muerelo had the money to build a new stadium in Scotsdale.
Come on who is he kidding. Muerelo is only worth 2 billion with a simple google search.
No way he was going to build the stadium all by himself. Like he was claiming.
Get real Criag. Muerelo just wants the land. The League knew it was total BS. Thats why they are moving the team to Utah.
Phoenix is a 3 sport town, NFL, NBA, and MLB. There's no shame in that, enjoy it.
You guys are a bunch of salty homers! It won't take more than 3 years to get an arena in Salt Lake City, the City is preparing for the Olympics and has set aside $900,000,000 for a new stadium and has a spot which both parties have agreed where it can be. I highly doubt the players are that mad about moving to Salt Lake City especially after all the crap Arizona has given the team, and how Utah will welcome them with open arms and enthusiasm
This guy really doesn’t like SLC and is trashing every part of it to the point where it’s more than sour grapes. Do you really think players will avoid SLC en masse and that the area won’t support hockey? Come on do better! The reality is that the NHL will likely be a nice success story there.
The Valley can make it work and it can be successful…..but right now they can’t even pay their hotel bills!!! After almost 25 years of horrible ownership, mismanagement, uncooperative politicians, and overall mismanagement it’s time. It’s obvious to anyone from the outside.
To Arizonans….its not your fault. Regroup. Get a quality owner with money. Build a beautiful facility as close to downtown Phoenix as possible. After that please come back and let the Coyotes 2.0 be the success story you know you can be.
The delta center is the largest arena in a 5 state radius, and also probably the most high tech. The place doesn't took like much it's a hell of an arena, the yotes will integrate just fine.
The yotes will have a new arena at very most in 5 years. One of the big reasons why the NHL wants them to come here is because Utah might hold the Olympics again at which point a new ice arena would be needed.
Why did it fail in Arizona? Cause about 30 years ago a team called the Winnipeg Jets moved to Phoenix and it never worked there. If you can't build an arena, pay your bills and then end up in a 5000 seat arena after 3 decades, yeah you don't deserve an NHL team. I don't think you deserve an AHL team with a 5000 seat arena let alone an NHL team. Phoenix will never support a team, been to many games down there and the arena was half full at Jobing Arena so I don't understand why now after 30 years these guys are crying about it. Where were all your fans for all those years? That's ultimately why your team is leaving.
10 years? This guy is a clown, Utah is a republican state they won't fool around for 10 years, they make things happen in that state.
People who become sports owners are usually very astute business people. Looking at this from Canada it seems possible the land auction media releases were put out there to expedite the sale for a great price (700 million profit) and great terms from the league for future expansion. Even if the Coyotes are able to acquire land it will still take several years to get the project built. Salt Lake and the State of Utah will have a new rink much sooner. Coyotes owners capitalized on this situation.
How do we know the owner of Arizona would have tried that hard to win the auction, especially after not being able to pay bills in the past. so much mistrust all around.
Minnesota come back 5 years
Morgan is a veteran reporter on this situation but his tendency to throw on homer lenses comes through with his comments on Salt Lake City. He'd be the first to tell us how unfair and mean it'd be if a Winnipeger made similar comments about the AZ market/arena situation…..but suddenly he wants to bag on the Utah situation (and take a dig at Winnipeg on the way out too).
Also the idea that all the players will be unhappy…..that's what 90% of players say when a team leaves. They get over it the moment they get to the new place. Everyone wants to indulge in this fantasy that "every athlete loves my city and they're sad to go anywhere else because anywhere else is a hellhole." But actually 90% of players just want a chance to win, the check to clear and will live wherever the hell they want once they retire.
I don't trust anything Craig Morgan or the Podcast he hosts says/reports.
He talks like the NHL chose to put a new team in SLC over Phoenix and goes out of his way to say "it's not that nice in SLC".. Craig, this is going to blow your mind, SLC may be everything that you're saying and it's still be better than what's in Arizona. You cheered for one of the saddest poorly run organizations in sports that did not care about winning, I hope you enjoyed cheering for that truly terrible product.
I am a Hockey Fan from Utah. I truely don't think the Arizona Coyotes failed their fans, I think the ownership of the franchise failed BIG TIME, and they, not the hockey team, owe the people of Phoenix/Scottsdale area an apology!
you chucks have no idea what you're talking bout. delete channel and get real jobs
What cope. The Delta center is already better. Also excellent gaslighting. The Phoenix market had 27 years and about 8 ownership groups. At what point do you have to be honest and just say that the market sucks. Its such a bad look.
This did not age well after the welcome party we had for them last night. This guy is a moron.
I can’t take you guys seriously like do research before you talk about this smh