Comments on: The Money and Relocation Situation http://onefansperspective.com/2008/06/03/the-money-and-relocation-situation/ One fan's perspective on the Phoenix Coyotes, the NHL, and the Sports Industry Sat, 24 Apr 2010 11:08:03 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Richard http://onefansperspective.com/2008/06/03/the-money-and-relocation-situation/comment-page-1/#comment-416 Richard Wed, 04 Jun 2008 20:09:00 +0000 http://pbcoyotes.wordpress.com/2008/06/03/the-money-and-relocation-situation/#comment-416 Excellent point on the "billion dollar" buyout. It will not happen -- the City of Glendale covered themselves very well for just this type of scenario.<br/><br/>Bettman is correct is in his assumption that to get the big TV bucks (like the NBA) they need teams in major US markets. His problem has been the way they have tried to sell the game to Americans. Televising them on obscure cable networks (Versus) is not going to help. They need the games on ESPN (or at least ESPN2) and they need to be in HD. High definition makes the games much more TV-friendly.<br/><br/>In Phoenix the answer is simply winning. Phoenix fans show-up for winners. Steady winning like the Suns have done is rewarded with season-long sell-outs. The wrong path is that of the Diamondbacks who won it all in 2001 and had great attendance for a couple of years. But they bottomed out and the fans left. Now they have to win them back but this time they have a young team and are trying to do it the right way. I would also like to see the Coyotes more involved in the community with youth hockey and off-season appearances. I would like the games on a radio station that reaches ALL of the valley and I would like to see a weekly show dedicated to the Coyotes and hockey on FSN or even better, one of the network stations. We are still growing the roots of hockey in the valley and it will take a lot of preaching to convert the sun-worshipers into puck-heads. Excellent point on the “billion dollar” buyout. It will not happen — the City of Glendale covered themselves very well for just this type of scenario.

Bettman is correct is in his assumption that to get the big TV bucks (like the NBA) they need teams in major US markets. His problem has been the way they have tried to sell the game to Americans. Televising them on obscure cable networks (Versus) is not going to help. They need the games on ESPN (or at least ESPN2) and they need to be in HD. High definition makes the games much more TV-friendly.

In Phoenix the answer is simply winning. Phoenix fans show-up for winners. Steady winning like the Suns have done is rewarded with season-long sell-outs. The wrong path is that of the Diamondbacks who won it all in 2001 and had great attendance for a couple of years. But they bottomed out and the fans left. Now they have to win them back but this time they have a young team and are trying to do it the right way. I would also like to see the Coyotes more involved in the community with youth hockey and off-season appearances. I would like the games on a radio station that reaches ALL of the valley and I would like to see a weekly show dedicated to the Coyotes and hockey on FSN or even better, one of the network stations. We are still growing the roots of hockey in the valley and it will take a lot of preaching to convert the sun-worshipers into puck-heads.

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