So here we are again. Coyotes season is over, relocation rumors abound. The difference between now and last year is that the gigantic public subsidies are no longer on the table and the new Glendale city council is subsidy-averse. Greg Jamison couldn't find a group to purchase the team locally despite the old Glendale city council in essence offering to gift him enough money to buy the team and sustain 150 million dollars worth of losses. The only way they stay in Phoenix is if the league is willing to eat another 30 million in losses until Seattle gets its ducks in a row for the 2014-15 season. Otherwise it looks like Quebec City is the only option. (And apparently both PKP and the mayor of QC have both been barely able to contain their glee this week in interviews with local media.)
Looks like things have changed quite a bit since the last post. The City of Glendale is offering a $6 million subsidy, while the potential owners of the Coyotes want a $15 million subsidy. The City and owners have a meeting next week to discuss bridging the gap and it does sound like they are close to doing so.. However, if they don't come to an agreement, then the Coyotes will be sold to an ownership group that will move them to Seattle next season to play in KeyArena. http://nhltoseattle.com/2013/06/18/...oyotes-a-crazy-5-days-in-nhl-to-seattle-news/ That seems like a colossally bad idea unless the new owners are able to convince the city and Chris Hansen to build the south Seattle (SoDo) arena without there being a NBA team. I think Seattle will be a pretty good NHL market, but without the SoDo arena, it will be a huge money loser as KeyArena is a horrible venue for the NHL. When KeyArena was last renovated the owner of the NBA team wanted to prevent a NHL team from being moved to Seattle, so he had the stadium designed to limit the capacity of the hockey layout to such a low level that a NHL team wouldn't move there.. As a result the maximum capacity is about 11,000 and the sight lines are pretty bad in a number of seats. That might work short term, but long term?
