NHL Anti-Thread: Bad Business Decision Aggregator

[Digby]

20 minutes ago, spartacat_12 said:

So you acknowledge that it’s possible for Sun Belt franchises to turn things around, but somehow think it’s impossible for Arizona to do it? You said it yourself, there was a time when Nashville couldn’t draw fans and was on the verge of relocation. You also left out the fact that Tampa was a disaster before Vinik bought the team and resuscitated the organization.  

 

Nashville had nine years of sub-16k attendance figures, but none in the past 15 years or so. Arizona has had every year of their 25 year existence at sub-16k. Every team has fallow periods of a few years; that's not the same as a team having a fallow period of its entire generation-long existence.

 

22 minutes ago, spartacat_12 said:

For all the complaining people do about tax payer money going towards pro sports stadiums, no one seems to mention that the Tempe citizens are getting a much better deal than the residents of Calgary got for their new building. 

 

Better to have one black eye than two, it's true.

 

3 hours ago, kiwi_canadian said:

Had a conversation with a guy after rugby practice with a few beverages the other night and he seems to think that Quebec will never get a team because of the high taxes we pay in Canada. When you have places like Nevada who don't have a luxury tax or Florida who has a flat rate for taxes, why would they come to Canada? I see his point, but at the end of the day, if they can bring in more revenue, then I don't think it really matters. I also think the only way Quebec is going to get a team again is expansion (and only if they can add another team in the west) or relocation of a struggling Eastern Conference and Atlantic Division team (I think in this scenario, the Panthers would fit the bill the best, but even that's a long shot).

 

If taxes meant anything then the Blue Jackets and Pacers would have hall-of-famer stacked rosters, and Boston and Los Angeles wouldn't have sucked up so many collective championships this millennium. That's always been a nonsense argument proffered by people with ulterior motives.

[IceCap]

1 hour ago, spartacat_12 said:

So you acknowledge that it’s possible for Sun Belt franchises to turn things around, but somehow think it’s impossible for Arizona to do it?

If we were five, maybe even ten, years in sure. But it's been thirty years. 

 

Thirty. 

 

G-ddamn.

 

Years. 

 

1 hour ago, spartacat_12 said:

For all the complaining people do about tax payer money going towards pro sports stadiums, no one seems to mention that the Tempe citizens are getting a much better deal than the residents of Calgary got for their new building. 

The difference is that at the very least Calgary is a proven market where fans will pay for tickets and show up to games. It's been thirty years in Arizona and that's yet to be established. 

[gosioux76]

1 hour ago, spartacat_12 said:

For all the complaining people do about tax payer money going towards pro sports stadiums, no one seems to mention that the Tempe citizens are getting a much better deal than the residents of Calgary got for their new building. 

 

You're right, but that doesn't mean the absence of complaints means people are OK with the use of taxpayer funds in one place, but not in another.  And it's not even a double standard. It's just that in Tempe, even a more favorable deal still feels like throwing good money after bad. 

[The_Admiral]

5 hours ago, Digby said:

If taxes meant anything then the Blue Jackets and Pacers would have hall-of-famer stacked rosters, and Boston and Los Angeles wouldn't have sucked up so many collective championships this millennium. That's always been a nonsense argument proffered by people with ulterior motives.

 

I think it does play a part (that's how the Bolts have been able to get so many deals done for so long), but even bigger than that is how many hockey players want to play life on easy mode in Raleigh or Nashville. They want to make $6 million a year but never be recognized in public. Heart Of A Champion Shane Doan spent his whole career on bad teams so he could chill out on a horse farm and get a break on his taxes.

[IceCap]

6 hours ago, gosioux76 said:

 

You're right, but that doesn't mean the absence of complaints means people are OK with the use of taxpayer funds in one place, but not in another.  And it's not even a double standard. It's just that in Tempe, even a more favorable deal still feels like throwing good money after bad. 

My point is this... public money for pro sports is always dubious but at least the Flames as a team are supported and make money. In the grand scheme of things at least that money is going to something that is successful as far as being a business goes. 

 

But in nearly thirty years the Coyotes have never once made a profit and have routinely been at the bottom or near the bottom of the NHL's attendance list. 

Thirty years. Not a dime made. No one there actually cares. 

 

@spartacat_12 seemed upset I admitted Nashville could turn it around but still deemed Arizona a failure but like... Nashville hadn't been a failure for an entire generation. Things were bad, yeah, but it wasn't three decades of failure.

 

Like... three decades. Millions of dollars in taxpayer money paid to them already. All for nothing. Nothing that indicates the market is working. Thirty years. How many more years, and how much more money, has to be wasted before we reach his threshold for enough being enough? 

 

It's absurd because if the Tempe vote fails like some think it will they'll have to move somewhere. And if that happens you'll have a certain type of person going "they never got a fair chance in Arizona."

 

After thirty years of government subsided failure as a business. They'll say they never got a fair shot. Utterly ing delusional. 

 

[sky1324]

I'm personally in favor of ending the Coyotes experiment but I do think that had there been ideal conditions (downtown, quality stadium, competitive team) Arizona could've just as easily been a Sun Belt success. Of course, that's not at all what happened and now I'm afraid the NHL well is poisoned when it comes to the Phoenix market. Just call it quits and stop losing money. Houston for the easy move, Quebec City if you want a guaranteed success.

[rainmaker17]

Idiot Houston fans would only care about beating Dallas.  They probably wouldn't know or care who the other divisional teams are.

[VampyrRabbit]

For the yotes, getting booted out of Glendale should have been enough to have NHL finally know when to fold and move the franchise to someplace else. If the Coyotes continue to be a dumpster fire, then new digs in Tempe will just be kicking the can down the road.

[Unocal]

If you're Gary Bettman, how do you feel about the prospect of a Stanley Cup Final in Sunrise?

[habsfan1]

1 hour ago, Unocal said:

If you're Gary Bettman, how do you feel about the prospect of a Stanley Cup Final in Sunrise?

 

I could imagine how over the moon he would be, if we got a Florida/Vegas Stanley Cup Final. The only other thing that would make him even happier is more digital ads that replace the Cup Final logo on the ice.

[who do you think]

8 hours ago, Unocal said:

If you're Gary Bettman, how do you feel about the prospect of a Stanley Cup Final in Sunrise?

 

Giddy, and then upset in a few years when I'm having trouble getting a good US media deal again and can't understand why.

 

Which reminds me, I can still hear the bleach fizzing from when the ESPN bigwigs had a few shots after the Bruins and Rangers both choked.

[Digby]

Well, still a decent chance of a Boston/Denver final somewhere, at least.

[tigerslionspistonshabs]

If Houston gets a franchise one way or another, would they share the Toyota Center, or build a new arena?

[VampyrRabbit]

3 hours ago, tigerslionspistonshabs said:

If Houston gets a franchise one way or another, would they share the Toyota Center, or build a new arena?

Ask the city to build them a new Arena.

[Lights Out]

On 5/5/2023 at 2:27 AM, rainmaker17 said:

Idiot Houston fans would only care about beating Dallas.  They probably wouldn't know or care who the other divisional teams are.

 

That's already more passion than the Coyotes have ever inspired for anything.

[SCMODS]

The guy that owns the Rockets, Tillman Fertitta, would probably own an NHL team in Houston. 

[Dilbert]

I mean there is this pretty cool venue in Houston that some call the Eighth Wonder of the World they could use. Its just sitting collecting dust..... and mold..... and vermin

[Unocal]

On 5/5/2023 at 3:46 PM, habsfan1 said:

 

I could imagine how over the moon he would be, if we got a Florida/Vegas Stanley Cup Final. The only other thing that would make him even happier is more digital ads that replace the Cup Final logo on the ice.

 

Now he's REALLY over the moon.

[tigerslionspistonshabs]

[SCMODS]

Bettman begrudgingly allows the Coyotes to relocate to Houston and a few years later, out of spite, he gets the owners to approve the Jets relocation to Kansas City.