Kukla's Korner Hockey

Category: Phoenix-Coyotes

Calm, Calm, Then Boom

by Paul on 11/20/09 at 01:10 PM ET
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Dave Mishkin of the Lightning Radio Network with the call.

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Phoenix Winning But Losing Money

by Paul on 11/20/09 at 08:06 AM ET
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from Paul Waldie of the Globe and Mail,

The club is 12-9-0 as of yesterday, but it lost $5-million (all currency U.S.) in October, the first full month of the NHL season, according to documents filed in an Arizona bankruptcy court this week.

So far this fiscal year, which began July 1, the Coyotes have lost $15.9-million, the filings show. If that pace continues, the Coyotes could lose close to $50-million this season.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly isn’t fazed by the reported losses and said they won’t impact the league’s efforts to sell the club.

“I don’t expect that publicly reported loss numbers will have any impact whatsoever on our ability to sell the club,” Daly said in an e-mail yesterday. The “losses in the short term don’t seem to be factoring into the interest of potential buyers. They have much bigger, longer-term vision of the investment.” Daly added the league has fielded a number of inquiries about the club. “Lots of calls and discussions [i.e., more than six]. Not sure I would classify them all as interested bidders.”

read on

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Trying To Sell The Coyotes

by Paul on 11/18/09 at 07:35 AM ET
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from David Shoalts of the Globe and Mail,

Gary Bettman was in Phoenix the other day, spinning a few tales about the impending sale of the Coyotes.

Well, impending may be stretching things a tad, as the NHL commissioner is now saying he expects the sale to be completed by the end of the hockey season. And local fans shouldn’t worry about that Dec. 31 deadline the league established to give priority to buyers who will keep the team in its suburban Glendale arena. As Bettman told the Arizona Republic, “I’m not concerned about Dec. 31 or Jan. 1.”

Besides, the commish said, he has six potential buyers on the line. But as anyone selling real estate knows, a potential buyer is anyone who stops in front of your For Sale sign.

continued

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Can The NHL Get The Coyotes A New Lease?

by Paul on 11/10/09 at 07:39 PM ET
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from the CP via TSN,

The NHL is thinking about trying to renegotiate the contentions lease agreement between the Phoenix Coyotes and the city of Glendale.

The league recently paid US$140 million to purchase the team out of bankruptcy and is currently looking for a new buyer. The Coyotes have a 30-year lease with Glendale—the suburban city where Jobing.com Arena is located—that potential bidders will likely find troubling.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly says the league is considering trying to negotiate a better lease to make the team more attractive.

“It’s one possibility of moving toward resolution whereas now all of the potential purchasers have this big elephant in the room,” said Daly. “What’s the lease going to look like?”

continued

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Will Gretzky Show For The HHOF Inductions?

by Paul on 11/08/09 at 08:49 AM ET
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via Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,

If Wayne Gretzky, the single greatest attraction in hockey history, chooses to pass on tomorrow night’s Hockey Hall of Fame induction ceremony, what an embarrassment that will be for NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and his fellow owners.

And what an indictment of the damage remaining from the attempt to salvage the Phoenix Coyotes.

The very fact that the NHL has cut a deal to buy the Coyotes, which has basically excluded Gretzky and the money owed him, may save them a few million dollars in the process but won’t be worth the alienation created with the most important player the game has known. The relationship between Gretzky and the league is the worst it has ever been no matter what rhetoric is spread.

Of all that Bettman has bungled over the years, this may be his largest gaffe from a public relations point of view. Hockey is a hard enough sell in the United States and selling out Gretzky will end up costing them more in the long run than it would have cost them to pay The Great One what he was owed.

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Would A Minor League Team Do Better In Phoenix?

by Paul on 11/06/09 at 05:08 PM ET
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from Mark Sunnucks of Phoenix Business Journal,

Some sports business experts and Coyotes fans believe Phoenix is less of an NHL market and more of a minor-league hockey market in terms of fans’ demand for tickets and interest in the sport.

The American Hockey League is hockey’s equivalent to AAA baseball. AHL teams serves as feeders to NHL parents. The league has teams in some larger cities such as Houston, Toronto and Milwaukee, and in some smaller markets including Syracuse, N.Y., Hershey, Pa., and Austin.

AHL ticket prices are lower than the NHL’s. Coyotes tickets run from $15 to $100. Lower-level seats with extra perks, including club and suite benefits, run $180 to $330.

By comparison, tickets for the San Antonio Rampage (the Coyotes’ AHL feeder) range from $10 to $40. The AHL’s Houston Aeros price their tickets between $13 and $70, and the Texas Stars charge $9 to $65.

Rich Ettenson, a business professor and sports marketing expert at the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, said AHL teams do not have the cost pressures of player salaries that hit NHL team’s bottom lines.

“They don’t need to fill a stadium of 15,000 or so to make it a go,” said Ettenson, adding there can be enough loyal hockey fans to support a AAA team.

more

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Not Surviving In Phoenix

by Paul on 11/03/09 at 08:26 AM ET
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from Damien Cox of the Spin at the Toronto Star,

First, it sure looks like this team is moving somewhere at the end of the season. When the NHL governors convene in December, Gary Bettman will deliver a status report on trying to find local buyers, and this time around the questions are going to be tougher when he tries the “all is well” speech.

Second, any sex appeal this team had is gone because Wayne Gretzky is gone. Dave Tippet’s a heck of a good hockey coach but he’s not Gretzky and the media interest there once was in the Coyotes because of Gretzky is now gone.

The team is 9-5-0 despite last night’s loss, a terrific start by all measures. But the Coyotes play in a tough division and a playoff berth seems unlikely.

more

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The News OF The Day From Phoenix

by Paul on 11/02/09 at 05:10 PM ET
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NEW YORK (November 2, 2009)—Bill Daly, Deputy Commissioner of the National Hockey League, released the following statement today regarding the U. S. Bankruptcy Court Order approving the purchase of the Phoenix Coyotes by the NHL:

“We are pleased and very encouraged by today’s developments in court. Now that approval of the proposed sale has been entered by the Court, the National Hockey League will work to close the transaction quickly and assume full control of the Coyotes’ business operations. The League also will engage immediately in a process to identify—and expedite sale of the franchise to—new ownership that is committed to the Club’s long-term success in the Phoenix/Glendale area. We do not intend to comment publicly on that process.

“The NHL thanks Coyotes fans for their continued support of the franchise and hopes that today’s developments will provide fans further reason to embrace the Coyotes in order to ensure the team’s long-term future in Arizona.”

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Pay Wayne

by Paul on 11/01/09 at 08:36 AM ET
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from Larry Brooks of the NY Post,

...the NHL does seem to be offering words in support of Gretzky, even if action speaks louder. The league at this point appears to be offering talk, which obviously is much cheaper than $8.2 million.

“The decision was made this summer when the League decided to make a bid to purchase that it couldn’t assume Wayne’s contract. That was discussed with Wayne and his people before we filed our bid and they understood the rationale,” deputy commissioner Bill Daly wrote in an e-mail to Slap Shots on Friday night.

“That doesn’t mean he has to go it alone. We committed to him that we would do everything possible to get him paid outside the bankruptcy process,” Daly added. “We have suggested our willingness to pursue claims on his behalf and assist him in pursuing his own claims. And he remains able to seek recovery out of the pot of money that will be paid to the bankrupt estate.”

So the NHL claims it will assist the greatest assist man who ever has laced up a pair of skates but it will not guarantee he will get his money even after all of the untold revenue he produced for the league both directly and indirectly in the form of expansion fees from warm-weather markets made possible by Gretzky’s success in Los Angeles.

more

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Paying Gretzky

by Paul on 10/30/09 at 11:16 PM ET
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from Elliotte Friedman of CBC,

Right now, the NHL’s bid provides for between $11-$12 million to three potential creditors – Gretzky, Moyes and the city of Glendale. Gretzky isn’t thrilled that there is no certainty of collecting. Apparently, he is not asking for all of the money up front or in some lump payment, but an acknowledgement that, at some point, he will collect.

One league source says that will happen.

“We recognize that a lot of us have jobs because of what he’s done for a long time. What has happened this summer has been totally unfair to him, but, because he’s Wayne Gretzky, it all ends up on him ...This is important, and we realize it is important.”

That is 100 per cent the proper philosophy. But, there is one concern.

At this time, it was not possible to get the board of governors to vote on raising the purchase price from $140 million to $148 million. And, there may be slight resistance to doing so. Some of the governors are apparently unhappy with Gretzky’s public disappointment, and could let that affect their decision.

That is a ridiculous attitude.

more

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