Moving teams NHL teams from Canada, a place where hockey is religion, to the US a place where Hockey is on the mind of youngsters in maybe 5 or 6 states, has never made any sense to me. At least in some cases, like moving the Nordiques to Colorado, the environment was a wintry one. One where theoretical kids could grow up playing hockey in their back yard and grow up loving hockey. But moving a team to the Desert? Ya that never made any sense.
Now more than a decade later the mistake is obvious, the Phoenix Coyotes have filed for bankruptcy. What the hell did you really expect? Who the hell plays hockey in Arizona? Who the hell grew up a big time hockey fan in Arizona? And its not like Arizona is a big time market for other sports to begin with, half the people are transplanted retirees, just like Florida, and even the Cardinals struggled selling tickets before their shiny new stadium. So why would anyone think that in an environment with no hockey background and a mediocre market that a hockey team would succeed? And so it didn't and now its time to crawl back to Canada.
Now more than a decade later the mistake is obvious, the Phoenix Coyotes have filed for bankruptcy. What the hell did you really expect? Who the hell plays hockey in Arizona? Who the hell grew up a big time hockey fan in Arizona? And its not like Arizona is a big time market for other sports to begin with, half the people are transplanted retirees, just like Florida, and even the Cardinals struggled selling tickets before their shiny new stadium. So why would anyone think that in an environment with no hockey background and a mediocre market that a hockey team would succeed? And so it didn't and now its time to crawl back to Canada.
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