Aimez-nous sur Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/TouchbackThe Suivez sur X : https://twitter.com/TouchbackThe Alors que l’Utah Hockey Club célèbre un nouveau nom, un nouveau logo, une mascotte et une nouvelle identité d’équipe, ceux qui vivent dans l’ancienne maison de la franchise n’abandonnent pas le hockey. Au contraire, l’Arizona s’est révélé être un excellent marché pour le hockey une fois exclu le propriétaire radin de l’extérieur de la ville, qui s’est enfui plus vite qu’un coyote après avoir entendu un grand bruit. Malheureusement, cela est passé inaperçu. Alors que les gens veulent se concentrer sur ce qui sera et sur les bavardages inutiles sur l’expansion et les nouvelles arènes, de Tempe à Tucson jusqu’à Flagstaff et partout ailleurs, l’Arizona a montré qu’il s’agissait d’un marché de hockey de ligue majeure sans équipe de ligue majeure. Les Coyotes de l’Arizona sont peut-être partis, mais le hockey reste passionnément soutenu dans le désert. Ne cherchez pas plus loin que le principal locataire de Mullett Arena pour en avoir la preuve. Cette année, les Sun Devils se sont joints à la Conférence nationale du hockey collégial, la meilleure conférence du hockey universitaire. Sept des neuf derniers champions NCAA DI sont originaires du NCHC. Non seulement l’ASU a intensifié son jeu, mais la base de fans locale aussi. La fréquentation moyenne par match à la Mullet Arena cette saison était de 5 074. Il s’agit d’une foule debout uniquement pour chaque match, la fréquentation de la patinoire étant de 5 000 personnes. À Tucson, l’autre équipe de hockey d’Arte Meruelo, les Tucson Roadrunners. Ils ont vécu 12 mois intéressants. Lorsque les Coyotes ont été vendus pour la première fois, Meruelo a tenté de déplacer les Roadrunners au Mullet Arena pendant la moitié de cette saison. Ces plans ont été rapidement abandonnés lorsque les responsables de Tucson, dans le sud de la I-10, ont voté contre de tels projets. Meruelo a ensuite tenté de disputer six matchs, mais cela a été annulé après avoir échoué et quitté la vallée. L’équipe de Tucson aurait en moyenne 4 128 supporters par match pour la saison, mais cela ne raconte qu’une partie de l’histoire. La fin de la saison a vu les Roadrunners attirer des foules exceptionnelles, y compris les deux week-ends les plus fréquentés de l’histoire de la franchise. Selon la direction de Tucson, quatre des cinq plus grandes portes en un seul match de l’histoire de l’équipe ont eu lieu cette saison. À propos de The Touchback #takeitouttothe25 The Touchback est le meilleur site Web sportif et culturel au monde… ou quelque chose comme ça. Soit vous l’aimerez vraiment, soit vous le détesterez vraiment. Mais cela vaut la peine d’être lu de toute façon.
@Coyotes de l'Arizona
48 Comments
The New York City/North New Jersey metro has too many teams! If you want a replacement team Arizona, go steal one of them.
Me personally, the Milwaukee Bucks owners need to be strongarmed into owning a hockey team as Milwaukee has been ignored for too long, and Milwaukee will never root for the Wild and especially the Blackhawks no matter how much those two claim Milwaukee roots for them.
It's not fair that Ryan smith hacked, poached and scammed the coyotes for mega ransom last year.
0:04 all that “jazz” ha ha ha
1:39 5000 is not good enough for NHL you Clown
Thanks for this amazing video and for touching up on the whole point that hockey DOES belong in the desert. The issue had always, ALWAYS been poor management. It’s extremely unfair.
Arizona absolutely deserves a hockey team, Merelo does not
Really hoping for Arizona to have a team again i dont ever want to witness a place lose their team like that again that was so sad
the coyotes former stomping ground is doing fine BTW. AEW is gonna use it later this month.
BRING BACK THE COYOTES!
Arizona is an awful hockey market. Spent two months there this past winter and there is absolutely no interest in hockey.
If the NHL were to expand to 36 teams the four cities that should get a team are Portland for the Pacific Division, Houston and Milwaukee for the Central Division (We would move Nashville to the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference), and Quebec in the Atlantic Division. Now many of you will argue that Atlanta should get a team but since they lost two teams in the modern era to Canada I don’t think they should get a third chance.
I can see the coyotes returning in the next couple of years….they are considered an inactive franchise at the moment, so if they can find a place to build a stadium, they can return
This is revisionist history. The NHL bent over backwards to keep a team in Arizona, and they were given far more chances to stay in place than teams in more traditional hockey markets. It was a gongshow for their last 20 years (spanning multiple owners and varying degrees of success); saying people didn't support the team because their was "talk of the team moving" is putting the cart before the horse.
Atlanta and Quebec as well
Media markets: Phoenix #12; SLC #33
While the Coyotes are gone from Arizona, hockey is still a thing in the form of Tucson Roadrunners & ASU Sun Devils.
Arizona sports fan I want my hockey team back. They were going to build a new stadium 20 minutes next to my house I’ve been so down for that
Should of moved em to Winnipeg instead of the Thrashers.
Arizona is still a big hockey market
We need a professional hockey team back the only thing that surviving here is the roadrunners
The problem with choosing Glendale in the first place, is that the west valley isn’t where youth hockey/fan bases resides. This is all points east/southeast of Phoenix. When the opportunity for the arena on Scottsdale/McDowell (just north of ASU-Tempe campus) didn’t come to fruition from the beginning, purgatory for the team started. It’s one thing for the Cardinals to be out there, but that’s only 8-9 regular season games a year, not 41. The younger-aged snowbirds or traveling fans are staying in Scottsdale/Paradise Valley/Tempe/Mesa/Chandler, not Glendale/Peoria/Avondale.
7:31 I get trying to blame the layout of the city to dispute the “Glendale is a bad location” argument, but realize that most of your hockey fans live on the opposite of DTPHX, and most games happen on weekdays…. Meaning you’d have to run out of work early, to sit in traffic for an hour and a half to trek through DT to Glendale for a game.
The site is fine for the Cardinals because their games are on weekends. That’s why you don’t hear the same complaint.
Also, the PHX area was never supposed to be as populated as it is. It was designed widespread because it was 60% farm land, and building commuter trains for isolated areas (when you already have freight trains and a small population) made absolutely no sense.
Quebec would be sold out for at least a decade. Arizona could only dream of such support.
Bring back the Yotes AZ!!!
Arizona didn't support the team in a college arena that seated 4600 fans, and was no more than 25 minutes away from downtown PHX. Give it up. Nobody wants this again.
Why is it called desert hockey in relation to Arizona? I don’t hear that about Las Vegas, but it doesn’t rain much there either. With the Golden Knights existing, it doesn’t feel like it’s that special a distinction
Using an AHL team as a toy and bargaining chip is a shortsighted and irresponsible gamble. Most AHL teams while minor league are not cheap. AHL clubs values now reach anywhere from what 5 million dollars to upwards of almost 8 million. Operating costs are still quite substantial as well.
The worst thing an NHL team or independent ownership can do is use an AHL team to play in multiple home cities. This in effect kills the main home market fanbase. The Devils organization found this out the hard way in the mid 2000 teens years. The Devils had their AHL Albany Devils play a bunch of games each year in Atlantic City and is just killed fan support in Albany. Support was already struggling due to mistrust in the Devils organization then they pulled that move to test the water…The Devils organization killed support for AHL hockey in the Albany NY area. At least now ECHL and D1 college hockey is well supported.
AZ loves sports
Coyotes has to return
As someone who lives and breathes hockey and went to 30 Coyotes games at the Mullett, I dont see it happening…unless you are at a rink here, nobody is talking hockey or about the Coyotes 2.0 return…you NEVER see people wearing hockey merch, its ALL Dbacks, Cards and Suns…their isnt enough diehard hockey fans here to support the HOME team and not 60-90% oppositions fans like it was at the Mullett…nobody wants hockey here more than I do but as a realistic option, I font see it…
Arizona is an amazing hockey market but they will not get another NHL team
I loved the Coyotes, I have Khabibulin and Doan sweaters but I'm still angry they're gone and have zero desire to see the NHL return. That may change over time but I've gone out of my way to avoid hockey this season
Bettman is at fault too…poor vetting of owners…..look at this and John spano
I still wish the Arizona Coyotes come back
Im here in Phoenix, 15 minutes from ASU and NOBODY outside of a hockey rink is anyone talking hockey…at all….no less the Coyotes…I cover this story closely and more people (by far) follow ASU hockey than anyone is about a team coming back…zero hockey merch seen in this city its all Suns Cards n Dbacks…
Lowkey the only difference between the Coyotes and the Golden Knights is that the VGK ownership actually gaver a shit about the team and worked hard to win the hearts of the local community. Most of the fans are opposing teams, but they also draw plenty of people who just want to be entertained. I'm certain that if new ownership that actually cares about hockey, cares about the valley, and most importantly, cares about it's fans, then an NHL can absolutely thrive here in the valley.
"The NHL abandoned Arizona" I'm sorry but the NHL did everything they could for decades to KEEP hockey in the desert. Your hot take with that statement doesn't align with what actually happened. How many times did the NHL have to step up and either take control of the team or do their diligence in finding new owners. Bettman was not going to easily accept a failure in Arizona
every seat in that little Tucson arena is good. I've sat in a bunch of places up high and down low. it's a fun, cheap place to watch hockey.
Glendale sucks because they refuse to expand public transit to the area, not to mention the money and people are in the east valley not the west valley.
Arizona is a huge hockey place. My brother played for the Jr.Coyotes youth team for a while now and two years ago his team won nationals
The Roadrunners is definitely a fun time. Good looking women all over the place, local beers for sale and tons of good merch. And this is in a stadium with lousy, thin seats. Plus you forgot to mention the University of Arizona had a very good club hockey team for a long time, led by Leo Golembiewski (who looks exactly how his name sounds, hehe). I doubt Matt Ishbia is the answer but I’m sure someone has to step up
Chicago is an original 6 team that hadn't play well for a long time during that period, with an owner who supported tv blackouts. It's not comparable. Build a downtown arena with the Suns and you'll get a team.
The NHL doesn't belong in Arizona despite Gary Bettman's stubborn insistence. The Coyotes have been a failure since the NHL made the mistake of taking the Jets away from hockey mad Winnipeg and moving them to the desert where they didn't belong. Nothing but first round exits and non playoff seasons. The only aberration was in 2012 when they went to the conference finals, only to regress back to mediocrity for the rest of their stay in Arizona. In their near 30 years in the Valley the Coyotes failed to build a sizable fanbase. Going to a Coyotes game was like going to a Chargers home game at SoFi Stadium. Most hockey fans living there are transplants who only rooted for their home team and not the Coyotes. So no, it didn't work and never will.
My heart goes out to Arizona and their coyotes. Good job covering, and presenting history, and the part of community with ASU
That Super Star Billy Graham impression had me dying
Arizona will absolutely be successful with a good owner. As an Utah fan I feel lingering sadness over how we ended up with a team even though I am so happy they are here. Arizona got screwed for decades with terrible ownership.
The two biggest obstacles will be finding an ownership group with the capital needed and with a grasp of professional sportrs. The second thing we need is the political will. Politics out here can get divisive with different agendas and activist groups can become obstacles. There is a market for hockey out here. During their early years in downtown Phoenix they had some decent teams and people enjoyed going to their games. Problem is they never had stability.
The part you are missing is that the Coyotes were all but giving their tickets away. It was a standing joke in every big market NHL city that it was cheaper to fly ti Phoenix and buy lower bowl seats than get lousy seats for a home game