Going Shopping…
If I had loads of cash, or knew close friends that could spare some, I would buy a hockey team. I wouldn’t be like that guy Daniel Snyder, who a) thinks he’s never wrong and b) manages his team like some fantasy league. No, I would hire people who know what they are doing and let them do it.
We all know that the NHL owns the Phoenix Coyotes and is trying to sell them (hopefully to the most competent owner(s) that has/have a large sum of cash). Since they hadn’t hit up Craig’s List yet, I’m sure those that want to buy the team can.
First up, the second most talked about group (I would say that the Jerry Reinsdorf plan was the first), has been Ice Edge holdings. According to Sportsnet, they meet with the NHL on Monday. The Ice Edge group has had interviews with many different media outlets. The one group that impressed me was their interview/story found on NPR. One of my colleagues at work heard that story on her way to work and since I’m all about the hockeys, she asked me about it. I quickly filled her in – she had no idea that happened (of course, she doesn’t fall sports at all but that’s the take of the general person out here and I would guess everywhere with those that aren’t sports fans like us).
Anyway, my favorite quote is from Darryl Jones, the COO of Ice Edge.
“Four and a half million people? Yeah, it doesn’t take too many hockey fans of that four and a half million to make the team succeed.”
I’m still not sure how the idea of playing assorted games in Canada would go over here with the current fan base given the vitriolic nature of certain Canadian fans who troll message boards of AZCentral (and elsewhere) showing their worst side of themselves. They say they are committed though to keeping the team out here for the long term.
Next up, a recent development regarding a Montreal citizen wanting to buy the Coyotes appeared in my RSS reader two days or so ago. It turns out that the storied franchise of the Montreal Canadiens were up for sale in 2000. Steve Stotland thought he had them and lost the purchase to George Gillett.
Here’s the salient point of the article, according to Stotland:
“They were losing $14 million, the arena was at 70-per-cent capacity, the team was in fifth or sixth place, not competitive, and the dollar was at $1.60. Everybody initially said: ‘Aw, here comes the cowboy.’ But look at what (Gillett) did. Isn’t this a similar situation? This team, nobody wants it. But I want it.”
Which brings up another point for me. When people up there talk about how hockey works perfectly in their neck of the woods, that we here in the Valley just don’t get it, people don’t care about the team or the games, the storied franchise of the Montreal Canadiens had the same problems filling the arena as we supposedly do. They were losing money (compare the economies and I wonder if it’s at the same rate?), and the team was just downright awful.
Yes, the Montreal-freaking-Canadiens. When the Green Bay Packers blew chunks in the 1980s, they still sold out Lambeau Field every game.
Apples and Oranges? Perhaps.
I’ve long since written that teams that lose, lose their fan base. The casual fan in a new market with many choices won’t go to see a loser. What’s worse, it turns out that the Coyotes have had inept leadership at the very top, losing more money on bad decisions.
Other Canadian teams in dire financial straits? Greg Wyshynski over at Puck Daddy reminds us that the Ottawa Senators had similar difficulties. (Scroll down a bit though, he catalogs the top 10 stories of the decade as well – it’s a good read.)
The point? I’m confident that the Coyotes will be sold to an ownership group that is committed to making this thing work. Attendance is improving, considering the bad economy out here, and the Coyotes will stay put. During the darkest hours of the summer, I had my doubts, but now it looks like it just might get done.
Go Coyotes, beat the Ducks. Keep your heads up (literally…seriously…elbows fly over there). Win more games.
