The_Admiral

Afraid they won't. The more I've thought about it, I don't trust the lame duck mayor/council not to throw more money at the NHL since they won't have to answer for it.

I don't know what happened, but I'm losing faith that this gets done. I have a bad feeling that they'll pay another $25 million for next year, even though they don't have any money, just because the crowds were semi-decent the last few nights and the team will probably make the playoffs. They'll say "we can't give up now when we're this close" and run up another bill. The NHL has lost so much money on this thing already and they haven't given up. Not sure why they would now. They did say "never say never" about running the team a fourth year. Has a league ever owned a team for four seasons? I think the Expos/Nationals were league-owned from 2003 to the beginning/middle of 2006. That comes close. The difference there is that the league's job was to make the Expos bad so they could move them easily, but then they couldn't find an owner in Washington once they got there. The NHL's job has been to make the Coyotes better so they could be sold locally.

Haha oh man, remember when there was that Mystery Buyer who was going to buy the Thrashers (maybe the whole Atlanta Spirit package), then he turned out to be some goober who was, like, president of Dynamic Church Investments or something? And then it turned out he didn't actually have any money? Nothing's as good as Greg Jamison and/or Garry Jamieson, though.

So the Anaheim Ducks' Goose has been cooked.

Teams are terrible about maintaining the logos of their leaguemates, especially the Montreal Expos, who were terrible at maintaining everything. Look, they've got that weird proto-alternate Marlins logo, too. Wrigley Field still dragged out the navy/gold Houston Astros logo for their on-deck circle well into 2005, perhaps 2006. On one hand, it's kind of a funny little subliminal message that you're not worth the time and money to properly represent, but on the other hand, it looks kind of unprofessional, and having two bad Astros logos in the same camera shot is two too many.

So with the Mayor of Sportytown stepping down, is Glenderp now more or less likely to pay the NHL a third $25 million? Things to consider: CON: they don't have $25 million to pay PRO: hey, they're all gettin' outta here, so they aren't the ones who don't have the money to pay! CON: they don't seem to have a very cordial relationship with Gary Bettman right now PRO: yeah but honestly who does? CON: with elections on the way in their land of far-right gun nuts and gold-hoarders, the city council members are publicly talking about what a bad deal the bailout has been PRO: they do that every year and vote for it anyway. so I dunno guys!

The Canadiens cancelled their preseason game at the Colisee. Another piece of the puzzle. They also fired Pierre Gauthier, and Patrick Roy wants to get back into the NHL. Questionable piece of the puzzle. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/globe-on-hockey/architects-of-glendale-pro-sports-disaster-wont-be-around-for-fallout/article2384632/ I was thinking, "whoa, that's not good," then my eyes caught something on the sidebar:

Considering the Coliseum is only accessible by car, will there still be enough parking available for the old and new buildings to co-exist? Actually, come to think of it, that's precisely why they shouldn't build right next to the existing Coliseum. That you can have that sort of venue in Greater New York with no public transit is stunning. They need to get it right this time and build on the Long Island Rail Road.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/glendale/articles/2012/03/27/20120327glendale-mayor-elaine-scruggs-will-not-seek-6th-term-brk.html The mayor of Glendale is not seeking re-election and the city manager is resigning. Rats on a sinking ship.

"Satisfactory" air quality gives me pause. Hey, if you're going to build a hockey rink, you're going to have some rat feces in there.

It doesn't "belong" to anyone, though the Blackhawks would do well to squat on Milwaukee and Madison as best they can if there's not going to be a team there.

Milwaukee as a hockey farm team for Nashville is the most upside-down affiliation in sports. It'd be like Vancouver sending its prospects to AAA San Diego.

There's a city in Quebec named Asbestos. Such a move wouldn't help them get away from their problem at all! I don't think the Nassau Coliseum is long for this world, but that doesn't mean the Islanders are similarly doomed. They're worth too much where they are.

Kaner!

Yeah they were flying banners over the Dodger's game at Camelback Ranch on Saturday trying to lure some spring training visitors over to the arena after Sunday's games to watch some hockey on Sunday. Found that just funny given that a large number of spring training go'ers aren't locals. The Blackhawks played a road game in Phoenix during spring training the last few years because of all the Cubs/Sox fans that make the visit. I can't confirm that there were Sox fans who rooted for the Coyotes because too many Cubs fans like the Blackhawks, but I can't confirm there weren't, either.

Comping playoff tickets doesn't seem very wise when you're already giving the parking away for free, but we might be in lame duck territory with today's news, anyway.

The NHL posted this and then deleted it. Predicting that they'd take it down, I cleverly screencapped it. I'd like to congratulate Quebec City on its forthcoming "NHL-style arena." I'm going to bake them a batch of chocolate chip-style cookies.

I'm sure someone will ask Peladeau and the mayor about the Coyotes, and then one of them will force "oh we wouldn't know a thing about that" through an array of snorts and giggles while the other elbows him in the side saying "shut uuup" (all this in French, of course). On the whole, the Quebecois seem to lack the discipline and stoicism of their prairie brethren, from what I've seen.

Would a few seasons there be worth it over remaining in Nassau while trying to figure out their situation? Seeing as Nassau is literally falling apart (the roof is leaking, they have to strip the asbestos out), I'd say they could do a couple years in Brooklyn between the end of their ironclad Nassau lease and the completion of a new arena. I wouldn't make it permanent; it really doesn't seem like a very good hockey rink at all. Question for Gothamite: with the renaissance of Brooklyn, is suburban Long Island, in some sense, dying? All I read is that the high taxes and NIMBYism/BANANAism are sending everyone out of there. I mean, it's not that people won't live there anymore, just that maybe there won't be that sort of enormous middle class that would justify building a 17,000-seat arena outside of New York City. Anyway, this press conference is probably just to say they have the arena stuff figured out, finally. I doubt they're going to come right out and say "nous avons acheté les Coyotes," because that would make the NHL very mad. I guess Quebecor people are gonna be there, though.

Hmm, press conference in two hours regarding the new QC arena. That was...sudden. Who calls a presser on a Sunday afternoon, really.

Your timeline is messed up. Isles were '72, Scouts moved to Denver in '76 (and then the Meadowlands in '82). I don't doubt that the NHL has wanted to get in on Seattle for a long time, but that failed Seattle/Denver expansion was well after they set up shop on/squatted on Long Island, so it's not really a matter of them "coming home." Isles aren't leaving the region, though. They'll play in the Barclays if they have to between the Nassau Coliseum and a new arena. Bruce Ratner was on during intermission of a game I watched last week, wildly gesticulating about how much he wanted to help keep the team around. I'm sure the team's various ownership/broadcast overlords wouldn't have him on TV for nothing.

You know, Seattle would've been a fine place for the NHL to go. Unfortunately, the old owner of the Supersonics led an expansion bid just so he could sabotage it at the last minute (Miami or Anaheim got it instead) and keep the Sonics from having competition. Then he had the Seattle Center Coliseum renovated to be basketball-specific so that an NHL counterpart would be untenable. And you know where he is now? Dead! There was also supposed to be a Seattle/Denver expansion in the '70s, but it was cancelled because the Scouts moved to Denver instead. Poor Seattle.

But there's not really money in US TV revenue. NBC just locked up the NHL at a good but not great price for the next ten years, so you're not really making any fast money by replacing Phoenix with Kansas City or Seattle. Meanwhile, the Canadian broadcast rights--which are distributed among all 30 teams--are up for renewal. It's sort of like the NHL signed its own salary-cap-circumventing contract, except having themselves locked in at what seems like a good rate now will bite them in the ass later when it turns out to be well below market value. One of the dumber canards going, and not that you personally said it but plenty of people do, is that Canada doesn't need more teams because they'll always watch hockey on TV but American interest is dependent on the markets involved. Again: not the NFL. Hockey is not first and foremost a TV show; it remains a gate-driven league. You have to make your money by selling tickets, beer, and parking spaces; local broadcast rights are a secondary concern; national rights highly tertiary. If there are hockey tickets in Phoenix that people can buy and don't while there are hypothetical tickets in Quebec City that people can't buy but would, then you have not properly allocated your resources in a gate-driven league. And as far as media goes, secondary as it may be, it can't hurt that the Nordiques would be an arm of a huge media conglomerate.

I don't think there's an argument about Ottawa. I'd expect that QC's anglophone coverage would be the same sort of perfunctory nod that Ottawa's francophone coverage is. Incidentally, I think the Senateurs games are on TVA Sport, where the Nords would be. I wonder if they'll get bumped off.

Ehh, I'm not crazy about that Citadelles package. Too St. Louis Rams-y for me. I think the Nordiques, like the Jets, will need their identity spruced up (I gave it a whirl with a "coat of arms" logo and crenelated striping), but the name and the fleur-de-lis need to be a part of whatever they go forth with.