Je sais que c’est à la mode de faire des sacs sur la patinoire des Coyotes… Mais j’ai vu les Raptors de Toronto jouer dans cette configuration de basket ridicule au Skydome avant la construction du Centre Air Canada. Qui ne préférerait pas voir un match de hockey professionnel dans une salle confortable à 3 000 places plutôt que ce non-sens ?
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bdart1980
26 Comments
Lightning played in Tropicana Field (Thunder Dome) before the Ice Palace was built, I’ve seen worse.
That was kinda a fad in the 90’s. San Antonio, Seattle and Toronto all did it.
You should see what the Jay’s had to play in.
I don’t really get these comparisons. Both are shit and if this was the Raptors current setup they’d also be mocked in r/nba.
this is a totally valid argument if your only point is that it doesnt matter how shitty a pro league team’s facilities are. because for a professional league’s team, its embarrassing. i cant believe we’re at the point of people defending these really low quality results from organizations that rake in way too much money comparatively
A key point is that the Raps weren’t playing here in part due to not paying their bills.
I saw baseball in BC place stadium. Idk what the configuration was like. I was just a boy. I think it was the Rockies first year
Lightning played their first 3 seasons in Tropicana Field. A friggin baseball stadium.
The Sharks played their first 2 seasons at the Cow Palace
The Ottawa Senators played their first 4 seasons in the Ottawa Civic Center (the current home of the OHL Ottawa 67’s).
And that’s just the NHL
The San Diego Chargers played for 3 seasons at the home stadium of the MLS Los Angeles Galaxy.
NYCFC are STILL playing soccer in Yankee Stadium
Basketball was big on cordoned off football stadiums for a while:
Toronto in the Skydome as you mention here.
Seattle played a few seasons in both the Kingdome and Tacoma Dome.
Atlanta played a few seasons in the Georgia Dome while their new arena was being built.
Detroit played a few seasons in the Silverdome until the Palace was built.
San Antonio played for several years in the Alamodome.
I keep having to say: These seasons at Mullet Arena will be no big deal AS LONG AS they get the Tempe Arena done. If that goes through, and they build the team right over the new few years, they could be like Vegas when they finally open the shiny new arena.
Honestly I think the vibe in a 3000 person college arena would be a lot more entertaining (drunk) than a lot of these more corporate megadomes. Being half a mile up and not seeing shit while the front rows sit empty is not the move.
Clearly the Raptors never worked out and were relocated to a real basketball city like Wood Buffalo
There’s difference between starting from scratch as a newborn team vs a team that has been born over 2 decades ago and can’t configure home at their own home.
Thats not far off from what Syracuse does
I saw a Lightning game at the baseball stadium that would become the Trop. That would have been during the 1993-94 season. It was pretty wild because they hoisted up a massive curtain to partition the stadium. Trippy as fuck, I wish I had pictures.
Why didn’t they play at maple leaf gardens instead of sky dome? 40 yo me doesn’t remember anymore!
So here is my issue with what you are saying. The Raps at the time and Bolts as well were not in the league for 20+ years.
The fact that Arixona was playing in a real rink last season and now is not is part of what makes it so messed.
It is not the issue of this arena alone.
The reason that Arizona has been a punching bag is just a seemingly unending parade of bush league BS. Since the nhl took them over there has barely been a season where there has not been huge questions surrounding this franchise.
One of the biggest probems here is the fact that some people are ignoring 1 glaring thing. The simple and undeniable fact that the Coyotes soap opera makes the league look so fucking amateurish. And it is 10000000% avoidable and has 0 indication of ever not being a joke.
Thats what makes this case worse.
There has always been franchises where things were have been embarassing. But they evolve from them.
weird strawman
Actually…
I went to a game there. The sightlines were good. The crowd was noisy. All in, it wasn’t bad at all.
It is NOT the same as a pro team playing in an amateur facility. Not even close.
One of the ideas that was floated for the Coyotes was to play in Chase Field, home of the Diamondbacks. The tiny hockey arena is much better than a baseball stadium.
The Coyotes have been trying in Arizona for 26 years the Raptors only did this the first few seasons, imagine the Raptors were so irrelevant they went to play at the Olympium in Etobicoke last season.
So teams have on occasion played in bad arenas, so let’s not care that Arizona will play for 3 whole seasons in a community college gymnasium?
Nice try Mr. Bettman
The Coyotes arena isn’t actually bad for the fans who show up. Right now, it’s a bit of a joke that they have had to work around a university team and have such unprofessional team amenities, but it sounds like the team is working on that anyways.
Overall, though, if the team doesn’t draw well, having a smaller arena is far superior to having empty seats.
It’s wild to me that you could sit in a seat behind the seating they set up for the basketball game. Like… you’d think they would have those sections roped off or something. Reminds me of the local minor league baseball team stadium, in which there are apartments that have a view. Feels like your looking into a game that’s happening, instead of at the game.
I’m in PHX and adopted the Yotes because they’re the home team and I didn’t have any allegiances before moving here. I just like hockey and my kid is playing now so the Coyotes give us a chance to go see NHL games together, which is great. So I hope the Coyotes succeed. I come in more as a hockey fan and impartial observer on this team though. I’ll admit to being embarrassed by this situation. It may be a good / unique fan experience, but It’s not a good look for the team or the league. Being in Glendale wasn’t a great situation either but I think it still would have been better than this until they got their own arena. And it was a situation of their own making. A lot of fans and people with the team like to play the victim and say it was all big bad Glendale, but the team screwed over a lot of parties, including the city, over the years. I know that’s an unpopular opinion among Coyotes fans. At one point, Glendale had to raid department funds and furlough employees to pay the NHL to keep them in town after previous ownership put the team into bankruptcy to force a sale to Jim Balsilie who was going to move them to Hamilton. Bad ownership and management has screwed this team over the years. The jury is still out for me on the current group, but I hope they turn it around. I want the Yotes to succeed but I don’t have the rose colored glasses some do.
nah this goes fucking hard
That was for an expansion team, not a team that has existed for over 20 years and has never been remotely successful financially.
It would be sick if the Leafs played a winter classic/stadium series game at the skydome