Tag / NHL

by Frank Maduri

TV Markets and the Expansion of Sports – Part 4

The demographics of a city or metropolitan area, their media market size, the support of the political leadership in the city and the support of the business community are important aspects in determining the expansion of a professional sports league.

 

In this fourth installment of this series, the focus will be on the National Hockey League (NHL) and the potential expansion opportunities for a league which is rapidly growing in popularity. The NHL has witnessed some outstanding revenue growth in recent years which enabled them to obtain a huge television and media rights deal with Comcast/NBC (www.nbcsports.com).

 

In 2012 and 2013, every playoff game from every series was televised nationally via the Comcast/NBC for the first time in the history of the league (www.nhl.com). The NHL has long been considered the “fourth league” of the “Big 4” professional sports in the United States, but the ratings are growing exponentially.

 

The 2013 Stanley Cup Final between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Boston Bruins was a ratings record breaking series on NBC (www.nbcsports.com). This was in a year where the league had a lockout shortened season over a revenue dispute between the owners and the players union.

 

Realignment

 

The NHL realigned their divisions for the 2013-14 season into two conferences with two divisions in each conference. However, unlike other sports, the conferences are unbalanced.

The Eastern Conference has two divisions of eight teams each for a total of sixteen teams. The Western Conference consists of two divisions of seven teams each for a total of fourteen teams. That brings the total number of teams to 30, but many reports have indicated that this uneven conference split was done with expansion in mind.

 

The most obvious expansion would be by two teams to a total of 32 and have both of those teams be added in the Western Conference to balance the league. Numerous sources close to the league have reported that the increased revenues from two additional future expansion teams via the league entry fee and the entry into two new markets was part of the discussion during the lockout negotiations (www.cbssports.com).

 

The other rumor circulating throughout the media is that the NHL may expand by four franchises in the near future. If those reports are true, that would mean a significant revenue infusion to the league through the expansion franchise entry fees and subsequent introduction into four new marketplaces in North America.

 

The TV market metrics are probably the least important in hockey than in other sports because the average person and the consensus among the casual sports fan is that hockey does not translate well to the medium of television. Now, NBC has tried to enhance the broadcasts to change some of that perception and offers some unique camera angles and outstanding production value to their hockey telecasts.

 

However, the NHL makes their money with the live game experience. Last season, following a protracted labor stoppage, the hockey arenas in the NHL averaged game attendance levels at 95% of capacity (www.nhl.com). The NHL live game experience is, in my opinion, the best sporting event to attend.

 

The NHL executives and franchise owners know that they will get their die-hard fans in the building for the games and they have proven that, in a recession or otherwise, those fans will spend money at the games. So the addition of four potential new franchises could bring in more revenue through in-game expenditures, season ticket sales, luxury suite sales, and merchandise sales.

 

North of the Border

 

It is important to note that unlike the other major sports, Canada is a legitimate expansion area for the NHL, and a likely area of future expansion. The sport of hockey is so well loved and supported in Canada, that the NHL could put a franchise basically almost anywhere in that country and it would be a successful venture.

 

That type of widespread and virtually assured support cannot be found in the U.S. hockey marketplace, but it is surprising how well the NHL has done in cities such as Nashville, Tampa, Dallas, San Jose, and Anaheim.

 

The list below will also demonstrate that the interest for an NHL franchise in some U.S. markets is very high at this point.

 

Potential Expansion Markets

 

The following cities are potential candidates for expansion franchises in the NHL (all TV markets data courtesy of www.stationindex.com – all Fortune 500 company information courtesy of www.money.cnn.com – and all Metro Population data courtesy of www.census.gov ):

 

  • Seattle, WA – Has emerged as a very strong candidate for expansion based on the plans to build a new arena in the downtown area. The location, and population size and demographics make it a good fit for the NHL.

TV Market Rank: 14th

Metro Area Population Rank: 15th

Fortune 500 Company HQ: 4

Synopsis/ Outlook: The Seattle bid gained traction with the league when the Phoenix Coyotes looked as if they may relocate. The NHL quickly lined up Seattle as a potential alternative site to move the franchise. They even had an ownership group lined up. The location is key for this bid because it addresses a region (Pacific Northwest) where the NHL has no current presence other than the Vancouver Canucks. The population and TV Market sizes are very good, and corporate support would be strong. The population is hockey-savvy as they have several youth hockey and minor league hockey teams in the region. The arena situation would be the murkiest part of the bid today. The team may have to play temporarily at the Key Arena, which would be very small for hockey and has a strange configuration for hockey. The new arena being planned (see Part 1 of this series) is primarily for the NBA expansion team. The hockey team is viewed as the second tenant. I do not know if they would build the arena solely for a hockey team with no assurances from the NBA on a future expansion franchise for the city. Overall a very strong bid.

  • Quebec City – The second most widely regarded bid from NHL insiders is the bid from Quebec, which of course, was home to the Nordiques until they moved to Denver in the mid 1990s. A historic city with a rabid base of hockey fans.

Synopsis/Overview – The TV markets and other data does not apply to this Canadian city. The potential for regaining an NHL franchise is of tremendous importance to this city. The Mayor and the city government in Quebec City approved a new arena without a team or the assurances of an expansion team. In a “if we build it they will come” type of move they are currently in the construction phase of the new arena which is next to the old arena where the Nordiques once played. The NHL was so impressed with the confidence of the government and the people there, that the Quebec bid is thought to be a very strong one among league insiders.

  • Houston, TX – A “dark horse” candidate but a place that has shown interest in the past. It was one of two cities (Hartford was the other) that was used as a bargaining chip by the Penguins ownership to get the new arena in Pittsburgh done.

TV Market Rank: 10th

Metro Population Rank: 5th

Fortune 500 Company HQ: 23

Synopsis/Overview: Houston has some very strong positives for a NHL expansion bid including excellent demographics and TV market rankings. The city has a rapidly growing economy and is home to a whopping 23 Fortune 500 companies – so the right ownership group and strong corporate support would not be an issue. Due to the rapid economic growth the city has a changing population with transplanted residents from across the country. The bid would pitch the fact that the changing demographics mean more hockey fans living within the city metro area. The arena is state of the art and hosts the NBA’s Rockets currently. This bid has potential, and hockey has been successful in Dallas, but the league may be resistant if they are unsure of long term fan support with all the other major sports already having a presence in that market.

  • Markham, Ontario (other Toronto area city) – Toronto is the largest hockey market in the world. It currently has one team, the Maple Leafs, and they have struggled for a long period of time to get back to relevancy.

Synopsis/Overview: Since the other metrics do not apply here in a Canadian market, I will summarize this complicated bid. The issue here is that the league office and ownership had great support behind a bid for a second team in the Toronto market. In the past two years, some of that support has waned. The reports I have read indicate now that the Markham bid, or a bid by another Toronto area city, would very likely not get approved if the league expands by two franchises. It would have a better shot of getting in during the next round of expansion by two teams. The rationale behind this is two-fold: 1. The Maple Leafs are not thrilled about sharing the market with another franchise, especially an expansion franchise that will cut into their revenues directly. 2. The front runners for expansion at this point are not two Western cities which the NHL would need to balance the two conferences. Tim Leiweke who is a top executive with AEG (owner of arenas and sports teams) did a presentation last week and during the Q & A session which followed he stated the second Toronto team may not happen at all. He stated that the meetings he was involved with have Seattle and Quebec as the two front-runners and Kansas City and Las Vegas as very strong contenders for the second round of expansion(www.yahoo.com)  This would make sense because Quebec would bring the Eastern Conference to 17 teams, and Seattle would bring the West to 15 teams, and then the potential additions of two more Western teams would balance the league at 17 teams in each conference (total of 34 teams). Markham just approved financing of $350 million for an NHL caliber arena north of Toronto (www.cbc.ca). It could be very interesting what happens here with this bid. The University of Toronto commissioned a study which was reported by the CBC that the country of Canada could easily support 12 NHL teams (they currently have 9 teams in Canada). However the concentration of wealth in Toronto is what makes that market so attractive to the NHL. It is a risk to build an arena, but Markham decided in a slim margin in their city council vote, that the risk was worth taking.

  • Las Vegas, NV – One of the most popular tourist destinations in the world would provide a very robust stage for the NHL to showcase their international star players.

TV Markets Rank: 42nd

Metro Area Population Rank: 31st

Fortune 500 Company HQ: 4

Synopsis/Overview: The Las Vegas bid is considered within many circles close to the NHL to be a very strong potential contender for a franchise. The TV market ranking is a little low (Buffalo has an NHL team and is 51st) and the TV market as I stated earlier is not looked at in hockey as crucially as it is for other sports. The population is low too, but the league has several current franchises in smaller metro areas currently. The three biggest issues with a potential Las Vegas expansion bid are: the selection of a stable ownership group, the ability of the metro area population to support a team for the long term, and the arena. The NHL offices have expressed issues with the arena situation there numerous times in the past through various media reports. The largest arena in the city, The Thomas & Mack Center, does not have an ice sheet. That means that the temporary home for the team would have to be the MGM Grand Garden Arena which seats about 16,000 for hockey which is small (www.cbssports.com). However, MGM and the before mentioned AEG group recently announced a joint partnership on a brand new 20,000 seat arena to be built between the Monte Carlo and the New York, New York Casino Hotels (www.finance.yahoo.com). Just last week, the first renderings of the new Vegas arena went public. It will immediately be able to host an NBA or NHL team. The project is slated to begin in April 2014 and be finished in 2016. This project addresses the key issue the league had with Las Vegas. The NHL has always talked about wanting to be the first professional league to tap the Vegas market, and one final note, Jerry Bruckheimer is very close with the top executives at AEG. He has openly discussed wanting to own an NHL team in Las Vegas. A very strong bid made stronger by the new arena project.

  • Kansas City, MO – An interesting bid it would open up that part of the Midwest to the NHL and create an instant rivalry with the St. Louis Blues.

TV Markets Rank: 31st

Metro Population Rank: 30th

Fortune 500 Company HQ: 2

Synopsis/ Overview: Kansas City was also included in the NBA potential expansion bids. The strength of the bid is still the arena, Sprint Center, which is world class and has no permanent tenant. The taxpayers want a team for the building since they approved tax money to build it. The political goodwill is very strong here, and the corporate base would be supportive of an NHL team, though that support could be better in other cities with less sports teams already (Kansas City has the Chiefs in the NFL, and the Royals of MLB) and the other issue that may or may not be a mitigating one (depends on what reports you read) is that the NHL was already in Kansas City (the Scouts) and it lasted only a couple of years and the team struggled to get attendance and fans, so they moved to Colorado and rebranded as the Rockies. The Rockies eventually moved to New Jersey and became known as the Devils (www.nhl.com). So much has changed economically and demographically since the time of the Scouts that I think it is an unfair comparison to hold against Kansas City at this point. This city has a solid bid and the NHL brass will have to determine if it is worthy of a team when comparing all the variables as compared to the rest of the cities on this list.

 

The Future

 

The unique aspect about the NHL part of this series on sports expansion is that the league intends to expand. The other leagues talk about expansion as an eventual thing if all goes well, other leagues like the NBA only want to expand by one or two teams to avoid splitting revenue dollars further.

 

The NHL is fairly aggressive in their expansion goals. They have talked at media events in the past about expanding within certain time frames. This list is a very viable list of cities that could very well be hosting an NHL team in the next three to five years.

 

In the event that the reports are true and Seattle and Quebec City are the front runners for the two expansion spots, that would probably create a second round of expansion because of the geography and politics involved.

 

The entry of Quebec into the Eastern Conference would still leave the East with more teams, so the NHL would have to add two more teams in the Western Conference to balance the league. The relocation of one of the current teams in the East being sent to the Western Conference would be highly problematic from a political point of view.

The owners of the Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets fought for years to get moved into the Eastern Conference, and now that they have moved East, then the league will be reticent about moving one of them back to balance the conference sizes.

 

If you are a hockey fan, that is exciting news, and if you are not a hockey fan, but you are a sports fan; then it could give you something else to do while on a long weekend in Las Vegas in the future.

 

The final part of my series will be up next and that is the future expansion of MLS (Major League Soccer).

by Frank Maduri

Phoenix Coyotes Update: Team Staying in the Desert

In a follow up to an earlier entry about the Phoenix Coyotes hockey team, it was announced late last night that the City of Glendale voted to accept the arena management deal with the new Coyotes ownership group. This all but seals the future of the team in the Valley of the Sun, for at least the next five years.

 

The NHL will sell the Coyotes franchise to Renaissance Sports & Entertainment (RSE) shortly now that the lease agreement has been ratified, according to ESPN and other sports sources.

 

The RSE group will purchase the Coyotes, a moribund franchise which the NHL had to take control of during the bankruptcy of former owner Jerry Moyes in 2009.

 

The vote was very close though in the Glendale City Council meeting last night 4-3 in favor of ratification of the arena lease deal (www.espn.com) with the dissenting members of the council having misgivings about the length of the deal and the money the City is putting toward an arena and a hockey team. One city council member quoted by ESPN said that she would have rather had this money go toward education improvements.

 

Sticky Situation

 

The City of Glendale though was in a sticky situation because they chose to build the arena with the intent of the Coyotes being the anchor tenant. According to ESPN and other sources, the arena cost $220 million to build in 2003 of which the city put in $180 million from tax revenue. The arena would have almost certainly failed without the anchor tenant, the Coyotes, taking 41 dates per year for hockey games.

 

The arena management deal is for 15 years and Glendale will pay RSE $225 million to manage the operations of the arena. That was seen by the City Council as a huge expenditure of funds without any insulation for losses if the team leaves.

 

The other big issue is that the team can still leave, there is an out clause in the deal that allows RSE to relocate the team after 5 years or if the group takes $50 million in losses on the team. Either scenario is possible given, as I detailed in my earlier coverage of this situation, the fact that the Coyotes are dead last in attendance in the NHL.

 

The City of Glendale essentially built their own out clause in the deal which has RSE paying the city for any losses in revenue above $6 million if the team should relocate at any point in the course of the deal (www.espn.com).

 

The Key for RSE

 

Many reporters and others who have followed this story closely believe that the announcement by RSE that they had agreed to a partnership deal with Global Spectrum, the huge arena and stadium management company, was the key for them winning the vote last night.

 

Global Spectrum is a respected company with a reputation in the industry for successful management of sports and entertainment facilities.

 

It was widely reported yesterday that Global Spectrum is familiar with the market there in Phoenix because they manage the events at the University of Phoenix Stadium across the street from the arena in Glendale (www.espn.com).

 

The help of Global Spectrum gave RSE the confidence to project $8.5 to $11 million in revenue for the City of Glendale as part of the better management of the arena, this is also according to ESPN.

 

Westgate and the Future

 

The reports I read detailed a scene where several people watched on closed circuit TV in overflow areas around the Glendale City Hall building last night for the vote on the future of the team.

 

According to those same reports, some people cheered and others booed as the news came in of the vote to ratify the arena management deal with RSE. It is clearly a divisive issue for the people in the Phoenix area.

 

I also read reports that the city council was being pressured to ratify by the small business owners in Westgate, which is the area of Glendale developed right around the football stadium and the arena. The city had sunk money into developing Westgate, and many small business owners were certain that without the Coyotes the arena would probably close.

 

The ripple effect being that the arena closure would dramatically impact their businesses in Westgate, and mean potential lost jobs and further lost tax revenue.

 

The future of the Coyotes gained some certainty with last night’s vote but it remains to be seen whether RSE can make a very difficult situation work: hockey in the desert. Other owners have tried and failed. I detailed the issues with the location of the arena and the traffic to get to weekday games in rush hour.

 

I also do not think many people care about the team there, I never thought it was a good fit for Phoenix or the NHL. The other big factor there that is not present in many other NHL cities is that the weather in Phoenix is actually really nice during January, February, and March. In many other places the weather is lousy so people go to indoor events like an NHL hockey game.

 

Meanwhile, the saga of the Coyotes is over for now at least, and the media and fans there can move on to the non-business related aspects like talking about the players and the team as they prepare to play a truly “new” season in the history of that franchise.

 

by Frank Maduri

The New Jersey Devils Sign Dainus Zubrus

The New Jersey Devils had big news today: the team agreed to terms with Dainus Zubrus on a new contract. The news was broken by www.nbcsports.com and the deal according to their report, is a 3 year deal worth $3 million per year.

On a personal level, I am very excited about this move because Zubrus is a fan favorite on the Devils roster. I really enjoy watching him play, and I am glad he did not leave via free agency. He has played for 6 years for the Devils and his original deal paid him at a rate of $3.4 million per year (www.nbcsports.com).

A Pay Cut – no big deal

The media has spun the fact that Zubrus took a pay cut today, but he had played overseas for years before joining the Devils. So he is now 35 years old and coming off a bad season in 2013. He had 2 goals and 9 total points in 22 games in 2013 (www.nhl.com) and he also had wrist surgery last season, which I think contributed to the poor performance. A player like Zubrus gets a lot of velocity on his shot and the torque on his passes from his wrists. When that area is injured, then a player can have difficulty adjusting their game.

However, I think Zubrus is going to bounce back and have a very solid year for the Devils in 2013-14. I think he is capable of producing goals for this offensively starved team. I think he wanted to come back to the Devils, and he also knew that other teams probably would not offer him more than a 1 year deal coming off that poor season in 2013. He has been loyal to the Devils, and they showed faith in him by giving him a 3 year deal at 35 years old.

I also do not think it is a big deal that he took a pay cut, he is also thinking about the entire team concept. The Devils have to negotiate with several free agents this offseason including Patrick Elias and David Clarkson.

The NBC Sports.com article I read also mentioned that the timing on the Zubrus deal was deliberate to help persuade David Clarkson that the Devils were willing to bring back veteran players to make a serious playoff run. I also think the timing was deliberate with the Draft approaching this weekend, the Devils wanted to make sure that they had one of their top forwards signed in case they do not get the player they want in the first round.

Impact on the Draft

I still think that the Devils can obtain a top offensive prospect in the Draft, but this pick is a big one for the organization because the Devils do not have a 1st round pick next year. They are forfeiting their first round selection next year as part of the penalty for the Ilya Kovalchuk contract, where the NHL charged the Devils with attempting to circumvent the salary cap.

The signing of Zubrus I think takes the pressure off the Devils front office of having to get an “NHL ready” player in the first round. They could take a guy like Bo Horvat, who is a center that needs more minor league preparation time before making the jump to the NHL.

Fan Favorite – Zubrus

The Devils fan base is loyal to their players, especially guys who came into the league with the team. Zubrus is one of those guys who endeared himself to Devils fans because he is a grinder, he gets in there as a forward and is not afraid to do the dirty work. He can make hits along the boards, and he forechecks well. He is a hard nosed, tough player and Devils fans love that because it embodies New Jersey: strong, tough, resilient, and hard working people.

That is why myself and the many fans in the Devils Army are so happy today. I am thrilled to be able to watch Dainus Zubrus continue his Devils career and I wish him all the success in the world in his new contract.

 

by Frank Maduri

The NHL in Seattle – the Future of the Coyotes Franchise

I have been reading reports all over the internet sports news sites this week regarding the future of the Phoenix Coyotes franchise. In order to fill in any gaps for readers who are not familiar with the saga of the hockey team in Phoenix let me summarize:

  • The NHL took over ownership of the Coyotes in 2009 when the ownership group of the team basically went bankrupt. The league took over the franchise which essentially was on the verge of collapsing into insolvency.
  • The NHL has poured millions of dollars into keeping the team in the desert and is still in financial ownership of the team today
  • The NHL has tried with obviously no success to sell the team to a number of investors, most of them from outside Phoenix who stipulated that they would keep the team in Phoenix as a contingency of the sale.
  • Those deals have all fallen through because the franchise is in such bad financial shape that in order for the operation of the Coyotes from a business perspective to have a chance at “breaking even” the potential future owners need a favorable lease on the arena in Glendale, AZ known as the Jobing.com Arena.
  • The Arena deal essentially consists of the City of Glendale (which owns the arena and used tax money to construct it) to make payments to the future owners of the Coyotes for “arena operational costs”. So the owners of the Coyotes would run all the day to day operations of the arena and manage the upkeep on the arena using payments from the City of Glendale.
  • The NHL had an offer back a couple of years ago from an investment group to buy the team and relocate it to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The NHL offices blocked the move because they wanted to keep the team in Phoenix.
  • The NHL has now made it clear that it no longer can afford to dump money into the Coyotes and that they must sell the team as soon as possible. The NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has stated that if a deal cannot be reached they would even consider the highly unusual step of suspending the operations of the team and putting the Coyotes “on hiatus” for the upcoming NHL season.
  • The current group interested in buying the team has a deal to keep the team in Phoenix for 4 years, if at the end of that time period the team is still losing money, then the group is allowed to relocate the team or to sell the team to a group which will relocate the team to another city.
  • This current potential ownership group has asked the City of Glendale for $15 million per year to operate the Glendale Arena. The City Council has until next Friday, June 28th to decide whether those terms are agreeable.

 

The Current Issue in Glendale

 

The current issue in Glendale, according to media reports, is that the city is broke. Now, they have to decide whether they can afford to pay the new ownership of the Coyotes the money to operate the arena.

 

In the event that they decide that they cannot afford to pay the Coyotes group then they risk losing the main tenant of the arena: the hockey team. The arena was built in Glendale right across the street from where the Arizona Cardinals NFL team plays football.

 

The arena in downtown Phoenix, the US Airways Center, which is home to the NBA’s Phoenix Suns, had an odd configuration for ice hockey, and the fans disliked it because the sight lines were terrible.

 

The arena in Glendale was built specifically for hockey and for the Coyotes to call their home. However, the distance from the downtown center of Phoenix to Glendale made for a brutal trip with traffic patterns in the now bustling and ever expanding Phoenix metro area. So it took fans over an hour in traffic to go a short distance and that turned many people off from going to the games in Glendale.

 

The Coyotes have one of the worst attendance figures in the league. That unfortunate statistic puts greater emphasis on the arena deal than in other sports franchise purchases because the compensation from the city (in this case from Glendale) is needed to offset the loss in attendance revenues.

 

The Coyotes are a good solid playoff caliber team which went deep into the playoffs in 2012 and they still did not sell out the arena in Glendale for those playoff games. The rest of the NHL teams’ average very high in person attendance figures with arenas averaging about 90% of capacity for the season.

 

It has been widely reported that the City of Glendale has some reservations about the potential new ownership group. In particular, the fact that they put down a very low percentage of the actual purchase price to buy the team from the NHL, and are borrowing the rest of the money involved in the transaction. The City Council may think the $15 million per year is too steep a price, and they may risk losing the Coyotes and move forward with a different arena management company to hold other events at the arena.

 

The Backup Plan – Seattle

 

Earlier this week, according to CBS Sports.com who broke the story, the NHL league offices leaked the backup plan in case the Glendale City Council does not agree to the terms of the arena management deal and lease.

 

This same report states that the NHL has been in constant back channel communications with an ownership group that is prepared to pay $220 million for the Coyotes to relocate them to Seattle in time for the upcoming 2013-14 season (www.cbssports.com).  The Mayor of Seattle also confirmed having a conversation with the NHL Commissioner about this relocation of the Coyotes.

 

Seattle is an intriguing market for hockey. In fact this story gained traction when the Vancouver Canucks inquired about relocating their minor league affiliate to Seattle. The Canucks officials were told that the Key Arena in Seattle was already reserved and was not available for the duration of the hockey season.

 

That response prompted media inquiries into what the Key Arena was going to be used for during that time. The Key Arena, as most sports fans know, is a very small venue by today’s professional sports standards. The lack of the city to commit to a new arena was the chief reason that the Supersonics NBA team moved from Seattle to Oklahoma City in 2008.

 

The issue with Key Arena for ice hockey is that the configuration is going to be very odd, and will force some sections of the lower level to be closed off to spectators. The arena in that layout will seat only 10,000 fans, which will be the smallest building in the league.

 

The league sources who leaked the story to CBS Sports.com state that the discussions between Seattle and the NHL office are for the team to be relocated immediately if the Glendale council votes down the arena management deal. The team would play in Key Arena for 3 seasons before moving into a new arena.

 

Now, other people on the sports blogs in Seattle, which I read recently, feel that the NHL is using Seattle and leaked the story to apply pressure to Glendale to approve the deal for the Coyotes to stay in Phoenix because the NHL has spent millions of dollars trying to keep the team in the desert. That could be true, but I think the NHL realizes it is not tenable to continue to own and fund a team which inherently loses money and is ready to “cut bait” on Phoenix.

 

The new arena is of course the project that the other investment group in Seattle has spearheaded to get an NBA team back in the city to be the second version of the Supersonics. They almost had a deal to purchase the Sacramento Kings but the deal fell apart and the team remained in Northern California. The NBA has said it would consider expansion to Seattle once the new TV contracts are negotiated and they have a better idea of the revenue structure moving forward.

 

Seattle and the NHL a good potential fit

 

I think that the move to Seattle would be a good fit for the NHL, it is a big media market they are not yet in, and the people there love sports. The weather there favors indoor activities, so that is a good fit. The team also would have an immediate regional rival with the Vancouver Canucks, which would be great for the NHL.

 

In the case of the Phoenix Coyotes, if the City of Glendale approves the arena deal and the sale moves forward and they remain in the desert, I think the NHL should consider Seattle as an expansion destination in the near future.  The NHL is in need of markets in the West, as I have written about in the past with realignment next year and the unequal balance of the two conferences.

 

In the end, the only component of this messy situation that has any clarity is that the NHL is going to sell the Coyotes franchise to someone in the next two weeks. It will either remain in Phoenix or be relocating to Seattle, either way it will be resolved, and hockey fans will have to stay tuned to see how this unbelievable saga finally concludes.