OT: Arizona Coyotes officially moving to Utah
https://kslsports.com/514977/arizona-coyotes-players-informed-relocation-utah/
Been a rocky road for the Coyotes for nearly 30 years, and it's finally coming to an end after sharing a 5,000 seat arena with Arizona State this year. They made one good decision in that time though, their cachina coyote logo and uniform is low-key one of the best in sports, and hopefully they keep it.
Utah’s the “Beehive State.”.
Rebrand as the Killer Bees, modify the Wu-Tang “W” into a “U” for the logo, and go with a black/yellow/white template.
And as an added bonus, the Bruins will lose their f’n minds (again), since they think they have an NHL monopoly on the colors of black and yellow. For “reasons.”
April 13th, 2024 at 11:05 AM ^
It looks like if they move they will be renamed. The current Coyotes owner is apparently "first in line to purchase an NHL expansion team should the league decide to return to Arizona" if they move out right now, once he can build a new arena. So he wants to retain the branding and naming rights to the Coyotes franchise:
April 12th, 2024 at 10:37 PM ^
... for now.
April 12th, 2024 at 10:45 PM ^
Salt Lake Magic Underpants
April 12th, 2024 at 10:53 PM ^
Gnomes
?
Profit
April 13th, 2024 at 12:09 AM ^
SLC Soakers
IYKYK
🤣 just woke up the bride laughing at this. Perfect!
I believe you are referring to the “garments of the holy priesthood” that most members wear as a reminder of the covenants they have made to god in his holy temple and which is promised to be a “shield and protection” to them if they are faithful :)
We will need to work on the messaging of that for general consumption. But +1 for informative.
April 13th, 2024 at 11:47 AM ^
Yes, the magic underwear that protects them from evil. It’s very rational.
April 12th, 2024 at 10:50 PM ^
I just appreciate them for keeping Logan Cooley off of this year's Gophers team.
April 12th, 2024 at 11:07 PM ^
Ogle-torp.
April 13th, 2024 at 12:46 AM ^
Oggy Ogle-torp??
April 12th, 2024 at 10:52 PM ^
🎶String beans to Utah
Deliver string beans to Utah tonight
Donny ‘n Marie can both take a bite 🎶
April 12th, 2024 at 10:55 PM ^
The move of the Coyotes to Arizona is almost 30 years old and never been anything but a colossal failure.
I've read this article detailing the meltdown of their relationship with Whatever-it's-now-called Arena in Glendale and it still makes no sense. The arena would still be the ninth newest arena in the NHL if they were still playing there, and they couldn't even make that work. They tried everything. They sank and lost hundreds of millions of dollars. The NHL did not work in Arizona.
It is in its essense a tribute to massive hubris, and another black mark on the ink-stained ledger of the mad fool Gary Bettman.
April 12th, 2024 at 11:33 PM ^
Hey! The Coyotes weren't always a failure, they made a Western Conference Finals once!
(yes ..... that's actually true. I have no memory of it, apparently they played the Kings, but it happend once. Their one and only time they advanced beyond the conference QF.)
The Coyotes AHL affiliate was also nicknamed the Roadrunners. That fun Coyotes/Roadrunners link will likely go away.
April 13th, 2024 at 10:45 AM ^
”The Coyotes AHL affiliate was also nicknamed the Roadrunners. That fun Coyotes/Roadrunners link will likely go away.”
The Roadrunners came first, so I don’t know that I would come to that conclusion.
April 12th, 2024 at 11:38 PM ^
Their arena was on the other side of town than their fan base in a town with bad traffic. In a town with a ton of transplants that did not grow up with the team, it was a bad combo. Personally, I wouldn't go to games regularly if it required a one-way commute of 60 or 90 minutes. They have developed the infrastructure to have a team on the ground level, but it never worked out due to horrible management (see youth hockey, ASU having a college team, etc.).
SLC makes since since they have a young owner with stupid money to burn, but I wish they went to Austin, personally.
Yeah, it sounds like it would have been like the Red Wings moving to Pontiac or Auburn Hills from downtown
Because the Wings' fans are from the city of Detroit? If anything, they'd have probably done even better in Oakland County.
These are excuses. Phoenix is just not a hockey city.
It would be like them moving to Flat Rock. Pontiac and Auburn Hills are pretty close to the corporate HQs of Oakland County who buy the season tickets that fund the team.
April 13th, 2024 at 12:27 PM ^
I have no argument that they made bad choices. That’s part of the point; there have been multiple owners and multiple failures, and the one common theme has been the NHL doggedly determined that the NHL will work there without considering that it might not. And, if necessary, mitigating the challenges.
Instead, hubris.
April 12th, 2024 at 11:16 PM ^
I think SLC will be a good fit, though my preference would be to revive The Whale.
April 12th, 2024 at 11:34 PM ^
all I remember about the franchise apart from the great logo was that their rink was attached to a mall
April 12th, 2024 at 11:41 PM ^
I used to goto games in Hartford when I was in middle school. I just remember a really dim arena with a sedate crowd. I grew up going to games in Philly and it was such a different experience.
April 12th, 2024 at 11:42 PM ^
They also had the greatest goal song, Brass Bonanza. And they beat Vancouver once, maybe twice, in a lifetime.
April 12th, 2024 at 11:35 PM ^
revive the Whale
Sounds like a dirty euphemism.
April 13th, 2024 at 12:07 AM ^
My buddy was their team Dr and said the most prescribed two drugs were Viagra and Doxycycline
April 13th, 2024 at 12:15 AM ^
Preventing malaria is very important in Arizona.
April 13th, 2024 at 12:19 AM ^
Doxy's Midnight Runners?
So will they be the Utah Coyotes?
Too bad they can’t be the Wiley Coyotes
They could be the Sandy Coyotes, with mascot Sand E. Coyote.
SLC is a less than exciting place to be. And their airport is way too big.
Anyone going to pull a Homer Simpson and go on a hunger strike to stop the move?
I’m not a huge hockey fan, but I usually go to one or two in person games a year and when the Sabres or Wings are in the playoffs I watch on TV. I did not know there was a Team called the Arizona Coyotes. Not only can I no longer tell you who is on what team, I can no longer tell you which cities have teams or what their names are. FWIW I only know who the host of SNL is half the time and I never know who the heck the musical guest is.
Makes sense. If you only watch when the Sabres or Wings are in the playoffs, you haven't had a chance to see much hockey recently.
Also, nothing about modern SNL is worth knowing.
April 13th, 2024 at 10:12 AM ^
They've been the "Arizona Coyotes" since 2014 and "Phoenix" from 1996 but then again, the Sabres haven't made the playoffs since 2011 so it all checks out!
Too bad they have to move and couldn’t stay in Tempe. “Mullet Arena” seems like a huge marketing opportunity missed.
April 13th, 2024 at 10:41 AM ^
Some non-traditional markets work -- Vegas and Tampa for whatever reason seem to -- but Phoenix was a failure from the start and only Bettman's intransigence prevented this from happening 15 years ago. I personally would have preferred either something in hockey's homeland (Quebec City ideally), but just cutting bait on Arizona is good progress for the league.
April 13th, 2024 at 11:17 AM ^
Surprised nobody brought up the real reason for the move - not enough water to freeze in the rink. /s
That said, I did also just read an article on my news feed this morning about the great salt lake drying up, so....
April 13th, 2024 at 11:32 AM ^
I recognize the /s there, but this (ie water) truly is going to be a catastrophe for people living in that area. Quite literally, they are going to be screwed.
April 13th, 2024 at 11:34 AM ^
Yeah, it was a "joking, but not really" sort of comment. The water crisis out west is real.
April 13th, 2024 at 11:39 AM ^
Not likely to reach a true moment of catastrophe - more probable that the cost of living/business for those there will gradually rise to adjust for the strain upon the local resources. As it begins to become prohibitive, those people and businesses will just relocate to a different relatively unpopulated rural area that be developed to attract visitors from around the country.
Placing a metropolis in the middle of a desert was never going to be long term sustainable.
April 13th, 2024 at 12:10 PM ^
No, and not to sound alarmist, because I sure recognize it sounds that way, it will be. More financially, than anything (which I think we are saying the same thing about). Vegas is going to have the same problem. It’s not just that it’s a desert, but a function of how western water rights work. Which then raises the “to where” question. I do think you’re right about being cost prohibitive, but that’s ultimately the point. That WILL be a financial catastrophe when the moment finally comes and everyone needs to get out.
Despite multiple failures, I fully expect Phoenix and Atlanta to both get teams within the decade once the NGL does their final major expansion.
The population of Utah has doubled since 1990, almost 3.5MM now. We visited SLC for vacation in 2011, also driving and spending some time at national parks in WY and ID. Was a very nice town and quite scenic when you drive up to where Utah's CFB stadium is located.
If they kept the Jazz name from NOLA, then no reason not to keep the Coyotes.
I wonder if a high scoring Auston Matthew’s could have helped them sell tickets if he came home
They were dead the moment they put that team in Glendale. Nothing against Glendale, but the majority of the population of Phoenix was (and is) pretty far east of that. Going to Cardinals games on Sunday is one thing, trying to get there on a Tuesday evening is another issue entirely. Its a shame too because the area around the arena has really developed into a pretty decent entertainment district.
As an Idaho resident, I conditionally support this move. We're already (somehow) subject to Seattle, Denver and occasional Vegas coverage blackouts. If they want to blackout Yotes games, that's fine cause they suck, just release the other markets please. K thanks.