Back In The Game?

[crashcarson15]

So, since the home opener is past, what are some of the Coyotes' attendance figures for right now?

Well with the current average of 12,215 after two games, apparently around 7,000 attended the Coyotes second home game.

Linkage

[Sodboy13]

Ouch.

[SenatorJake]

Jerry Moyes has sold the bankrupt Coyotes to the NHL. Bill Daly has stated that the league willl try to sell the team ASAP. Could the return of the Jets be in the works? (Remember that leaked e-mail)

Link

[Lee.]

Although I am consistently on record as saying Winnipeg doesn't deserve a team again, I can see Bettman and the league moving the 'Yotes back to Manitoba PURELY to stick it to Balsillie and to protect the Leafs' "interests."

[The_Admiral]

That's just the kind of spite the NHL operates with, though unlike you I'm in favor of putting Winnipeg back on the map. DUnno why. I've never even been there. How bad can it be? It seems like a second-rate Minneapolis: cold and bleak with a surprisingly vibrant artistic community what with it being so cold and bleak with nothing better to do.

[Lee.]

That's just the kind of spite the NHL operates with, though unlike you I'm in favor of putting Winnipeg back on the map. DUnno why. I've never even been there. How bad can it be? It seems like a second-rate Minneapolis: cold and bleak with a surprisingly vibrant artistic community what with it being so cold and bleak with nothing better to do.

It's more of a second-rate Chicago, what with the packing plants and the Ukrainians and the architecture downtown.

It's really not a bad place to be, it's still my hometown, and I'll defend it till I'm blue in the face like a displaced Detroiter would do. I just know its limitations.

[The_Admiral]

Okay, I could see that. I was also going to say something about the Weakerthans and Neil Young being Winnipeg's answer to the Replacements and Bob Dylan but I didn't want to get carried away.

So Daly says they're committed to staying in greater Phoenix. For Phoenicians' sake I really don't want to see them sell to Reinsdorf, whose whole plan is

1) fine I guess I could buy it

2) but I'm not paying up front

3) if I ever do at all

4) because I'm going to make taxpayers cover it

5) but I might move anyway

I know there are like 5,000 people who love the Phoenix Coyotes with all their sandy little hearts, but his whole plan really seems to dick the community at large.

[DustDevil61]

Here's the link mentioning the sell:

Moyes sells 'Yotes to NHL

All I can say is that I'm glad I'm not a Coyotes fan from Arizona (a.k.a., wanting the team to stay there), 'cause the team's future there is still clear as mud.

Then again, the NHL could say that they'll sell the team ASAP, then rig some games' outcomes in favor of the Coyotes. This would then bolster the franchise's value (somehow more than Balsille's bid), then sell it, getting maximum return while sticking it to Jimmy. Ah, the entertainment that a good 'ole conspiracy theory can provide.

[DustDevil61]

Also, there's this article from Yahoo! Sports that mentions the Coyotes' attendance issues:

Stunning Numbers, Attendance and Scoring-Wise...

[Sodboy13]

Well, here we go again.

I'll just sit back and watch the ignorant Canadian feeding frenzy over this drop of blood in the water.

[Gothamite]

So wait - how many NHL teams are not losing money?

Tell me again what a brilliant steward of his sport this Bettman is.

[DustDevil61]

According to ESPN attendance numbers for 2010 (2009-10), (though not entirely accurate), the Coyotes are dead last, not even drawing 10,000. It's more around 9500. How is the NHL supposed to work in Phoenix now?

Bettman and the BOG need to think ouside their little box if they want to improve their image and the league. However, this is Gary Bettman and the NHL's Board of Governers that we're talking about, so that may be impossible.

[ElwoodCuse]

So wait - how many NHL teams are not losing money?

Tell me again what a brilliant steward of his sport this Bettman is.

From the article:

"He says in the report the Blue Jackets are at a disadvantage to other NHL teams for reasons including that the team must pay $5 million a year to use the arena, incur costs of managing the arena year round and have no access to parking revenue or payments for arena naming rights."

Yep, all Gary Bettman's fault.

[IceCap]

The problem is that Bettman and the BoGs think they are, or can be, on the same level as the NFL, MLB, and the NBA. Truth be told they're no where near their closest competition, the NBA, when you factor in tv ratings, merchandise sales, and the like.

That's ultimately what this "lets grow the game" talk was all about. The NHL saw it as its ticket to becoming a big time player in the American sports landscape by increasing its footprint with teams in southern Florida and Arizona. The problem is that hockey will never be as big as the Big Three in the US. Hockey, and by extension the NHL, is a huge niche sport/league south of the border. Yes, it's niche is bigger then that of say, MLS, but it's still just a blip on the radar to the vast majority of American sports fans.

As long as the NHL overextends itself in a desperate attempt to pretend it's on the same level as the NFL, MLB, and the NBA they're going to be faced with a multitude of financial difficulties. Bettman's talking about expanding to 32 teams to mimic the NFL's alignment system, and while that's great on paper it's just not possible.

I used to think that the problem was simply market-based, and that the NHL could fix some of these woes by pulling out of the failed markets like south Florida and Phoenix and relocating then to, say, KC and Hamilton (maybe QC if they get that new arena up). The problem is that it doesn't seem that simple, because this Blue Jackets news comes way out of left field. Anyone who looked at the situation even a few years ago could see that Phoenix was a mistake, but Columbus? That always seemed like a solid expansion choice. Plus the news coming out of Columbus was always that they were well supported. So either I've been mislead regarding the Blue Jackets' level of support or the NHL is in worse shape then I thought.

If it's the latter then a combination of relocation and contraction may be needed to cut the losses. Either way, it's high time Mr. Bettman and the BoGs realize that the NHL's not going to be the major player in the United States they think it can be and reevaluate what the league's priorities are.

[Gothamite]

So wait - how many NHL teams are not losing money?

Tell me again what a brilliant steward of his sport this Bettman is.

From the article:

"He says in the report the Blue Jackets are at a disadvantage to other NHL teams for reasons including that the team must pay $5 million a year to use the arena, incur costs of managing the arena year round and have no access to parking revenue or payments for arena naming rights."

Yep, all Gary Bettman's fault.

The League awarded Columbus a franchise after the privately-financed stadium was announced. They knew full well what the score was.

Wait, who was the NHL's commissioner back in 1997?

[ElwoodCuse]

The League awarded Columbus a franchise after the privately-financed stadium was announced. They knew full well what the score was.

Wait, who was the NHL's commissioner back in 1997?

Yes. Gary Bettman put a franchise in Columbus, despite knowing that they would get an unfavorable lease and that a huge economic downturn would cripple entertainment entities a decade into the future. It's all part of his diabolical scheme to ruin the NHL forever.

Sports commissioners have nowhere near the power you think they do. You cannot simply blame Gary Bettman for all of the NHL's problems.

[IceCap]

The League awarded Columbus a franchise after the privately-financed stadium was announced. They knew full well what the score was.

Wait, who was the NHL's commissioner back in 1997?

Yes. Gary Bettman put a franchise in Columbus, despite knowing that they would get an unfavorable lease and that a huge economic downturn would cripple entertainment entities a decade into the future. It's all part of his diabolical scheme to ruin the NHL forever.

Sports commissioners have nowhere near the power you think they do. You cannot simply blame Gary Bettman for all of the NHL's problems.

To put this simply, when things go wrong it's the guy on top who shoulders the blame.

[STL FANATIC]

The League awarded Columbus a franchise after the privately-financed stadium was announced. They knew full well what the score was.

Wait, who was the NHL's commissioner back in 1997?

Yes. Gary Bettman put a franchise in Columbus, despite knowing that they would get an unfavorable lease and that a huge economic downturn would cripple entertainment entities a decade into the future. It's all part of his diabolical scheme to ruin the NHL forever.

Sports commissioners have nowhere near the power you think they do. You cannot simply blame Gary Bettman for all of the NHL's problems.

To put this simply, when things go wrong it's the guy on top who shoulders the blame.

But it shouldn't be. We all understand that as a whole people are overly brash in their judgement. But when you have every opportunity to know better, that's not an excuse.

[Saintsfan]

The League awarded Columbus a franchise after the privately-financed stadium was announced. They knew full well what the score was.

Wait, who was the NHL's commissioner back in 1997?

Yes. Gary Bettman put a franchise in Columbus, despite knowing that they would get an unfavorable lease and that a huge economic downturn would cripple entertainment entities a decade into the future. It's all part of his diabolical scheme to ruin the NHL forever.

Sports commissioners have nowhere near the power you think they do. You cannot simply blame Gary Bettman for all of the NHL's problems.

To put this simply, when things go wrong it's the guy on top who shoulders the blame.

But it shouldn't be. We all understand that as a whole people are overly brash in their judgement. But when you have every opportunity to know better, that's not an excuse.

'The Buck stops here', Harry S Truman.

Yes I am saying the failure of the NHL is all down to Harry Truman.

Actually no, I am saying that Betman has to take responsibility, whether or not his actions actively were at fault.

[IceCap]

The League awarded Columbus a franchise after the privately-financed stadium was announced. They knew full well what the score was.

Wait, who was the NHL's commissioner back in 1997?

Yes. Gary Bettman put a franchise in Columbus, despite knowing that they would get an unfavorable lease and that a huge economic downturn would cripple entertainment entities a decade into the future. It's all part of his diabolical scheme to ruin the NHL forever.

Sports commissioners have nowhere near the power you think they do. You cannot simply blame Gary Bettman for all of the NHL's problems.

To put this simply, when things go wrong it's the guy on top who shoulders the blame.

But it shouldn't be. We all understand that as a whole people are overly brash in their judgement. But when you have every opportunity to know better, that's not an excuse.

'The Buck stops here', Harry S Truman.

Yes I am saying the failure of the NHL is all down to Harry Truman.

Actually no, I am saying that Betman has to take responsibility, whether or not his actions actively were at fault.

Exactly. I mean hey, the current economic recession actually wasn't the fault of the GOP and George W, but hey, they were in charge when it happened, so they had to take responsibility for it. It's one of the pratfalls of being in a position of leadership. When things go south on your watch, even if you had no direct control over it, you still need to accept responsibility and go about correcting it if you can or step aside if you can't.

It's also interesting to note that the general consensus seems to be that the commissioners of the NBA, NFL, and MLB all have considerable influence. Not outright dictatorial power, but a strong influence non-the-less. Yet Mr. Bettman's defenders, when things go wrong, insist he's just a powerless puppet for the owners and BoGs.

So either the NHL's power structure is radically different from that of other professional leagues or some people underestimate the amount of influence his office posses.