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If The Yotes Move, Look To Kansas City
by Paul on 06/18/09 at 12:48 PM ET
Comments (8)
from Adam Proteau of The Hockey News,
So if the Yotes aren’t destined to remain in Phoenix and the allure of $400 million expansion fees for future Canadian franchises will prevent them from moving north of the border, let’s return to the question in the opening paragraph – where will they land?
My bet? Kansas City. Kansas City, there they’ll come.
Forget about Las Vegas, Houston and Seattle. For various reasons, none of those towns yet posses the ready-made package of interest and infrastructure the NHL will prefer in a relocation destination.
Kansas City, on the other hand, is about as good as it gets. Its greater metro area has about 2,000,000 people; that may not sound like much in comparison to other NHL cities, but the relatively close proximity K.C. has to St. Louis, Dallas, Detroit, Nashville, Minnesota and Chicago means it would be able to draw from a much larger regional base of hockey fans.
As well, K.C. has The Sprint Center, a new building that (a) has been looking for an anchor tenant for nearly two years; and (b) is run by Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) – a.k.a. a massive jewel in the corporate crown of Philip Anschutz, owner of the L.A. Kings and a significant part of commissioner Gary Bettman’s power base.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Phoenix Coyotes | KK Hockey | Permalink
Comments
Hey, maybe they can just rename the Coyotes ‘Predators’, since they’ll be the exact same team in the exact same situation anyway, right?
Posted by HockeyinHD on 06/18/09 at 01:19 PM ET
Detroit to Kansas City = 643 Miles
Dallas to Kansas City = 453 Miles
Chicago to Kansas City = 512 Miles
St Louis to Kansas City = 240 Miles
Minneapolis to Kansas City = 436 Miles
While not close, I’m guessing some die-hard fans of the coyote franchise might drive out but I can’t see that happening. Sure, they have a brand new arena but so do a lot of other places. Plus, previous poster is right. Let’s draw people away from hockey markets that are working (except maybe Nashville).
Couldn’t that also be a conflict of interest for the owner of one team being the owner of a building for another team? It’s a question… I really don’t know.
Posted by Matt Fry from Winnipeg on 06/18/09 at 01:23 PM ET
I’ve been here in KC going on 10 years. There is nothing about this city that says it SHOULD have an NHL team. The AHL “KC Blades” & IHL “KC Outlaws” were dismal failures (I had season tickets to both teams). Attendance was always dismal at best, a shiny new arena doesn’t mean a city should have a team.
An NHL team would last maybe 5 years here & be right back to the whole relocation fiasco. More people here will watch high school football on Friday nights and the NHL, peroid.
Saying people will travel from well established hockey markets to see the rebadged version of the ‘Yotes in a soft economy is silly. How many people from New Mexico, Oklahoma & Utah (bordering states without NHL presence) made the trek to Phoenix to get their hockey fix?
Anyone think the residents of Topeka, Des Moines, Springfield, Little Rock etc are dying to drive to KC to see a piss poor team? I-70 runs both ways and I know of few KC residents who drive to STL for a game, I’d wager that would be true if KC was to have a team as well. Why drive 3+ hours when you can stay home and see the Blues play at home with in a week?
On a selfish note, I wouldn’t mind as I’d see alot more puck in person and not have to travel around the country.
Posted by MOWingsfan19 on 06/18/09 at 01:29 PM ET
Here’s an update on the ECHL Las Vegas Wranglers: Head Coach/GM Glenn Gulutzan has taken the head coaching position with the AHL’s Texas Stars. Clickety click here. During his tenureship, the Wranglers have been very successful but it ain’t exactly translating into awesome attendance figures.
Now is the real test of the Wranglers’ viability and survival in the desert. I don’t think the Wranglers are going to have a postseason in the ‘09-‘10 season. I expect a long, losing season. I really hope not, however, and I really want to be proven wrong on this.
Having said that, if the Wranglers do indeed struggle on the ice, the already tenuous attendance figures will suffer even worse. And THAT should be something the blind idiots at the NHL front office must pay attention to.
Posted by SYF from a "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" on 06/18/09 at 01:41 PM ET
And THAT should be something the blind idiots at the NHL front office must pay attention to.
Posted by SYF from Las Vegas, NV on 06/18/09 at 02:41 PM ET
Never underestimate the magnitude of their idiocy.
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 06/18/09 at 02:38 PM ET
Every team in the league should be in a very highly populated city. The league should have 12 teams. Maybe 10.
Posted by Predneck from Hicktown on 06/18/09 at 02:59 PM ET
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Is it just me, or does this:
... make it sound as though the Kansas City Coyotes could actually draw fans AWAY from the current teams in those areas?
St. Louis fans are loyal and devoted in spite of recent losing and the team has a long history, Dallas and Detroit are both teams with a history of winning, Chicago is just winning back their devoted fans (if they didn’t jump ship before, they won’t now), Minnesota is incredibly devoted to their team, and Nashville doesn’t have enough fans to spare yet.
Unless he is assuming that the arena will be filled most nights by the visiting fans making road trips - which while it brings in the money, I can’t see as a recipe for long term success.
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 06/18/09 at 01:00 PM ET