The Coyotes Announce That They Have ANOTHER Plan To Keep The Franchise In Arizona

4th time is the charm I guess. The Coyotes are looking settle into their fourth location in Arizona since moving there in the mid 1990s. This was part of the report that came out last night

We've heard this from the Coyotes ownership before. They were going to build that massive complex in Tempe. They promised everything. They delivered nothing after failing to get it through legislation. This feels like plan 17 in Arizona. I hope it works. Genuinely. The Coyotes are a joke and it's been a disaster for the league in Arizona basically from the start. I also think that the Yotes do have some real fans and those real fans deserve better than playing in a 6000 seat arena and constantly being told that their team is going to move. It's impossible to build a real fan base if you're constantly at the bottom of the league, criss-crossing the state looking for new arenas, and the threat of relocation to a different market constantly looming. It hasn't worked in Arizona, but I do believe that a competent ownership group could make it work there. Nashville was looking like a failure for their first 15 years or so before it stabilized and it's now become one of the jewels of the NHL. Florida was abysmal also until the Viola group came in and fixed that franchise. It could be done in Arizona if the right leadership gets in there and gets them a real home and a future. 

I think the league is obviously rooting for Arizona to work as well. I am sure they'd like to keep expanding and it's more profitable for the NHL if the Coyotes stay put and then Utah and Atlanta pay billion dollar expansion fees. Selfishly...I want Utah and Arizona in the league because that could push the Blackhawks into the Eastern Conference with Detroit, Toronto, Montreal, Boston, and New York. I hate being in the Western Conference and only playing those teams once at home per year. It's not right. 

I do think the future of the league is going to 36 teams. Utah, Atlanta, Houston, and who knows...maybe Portland, OKC (they've got sneaky a lot of corporate money there), or a 2nd Toronto team. The new expansion draft model has allowed Seattle and Vegas to not have to absolutely suck for a decade the way the previous expansion teams had to suffer. It changes the equation and mitigates risk. 

Either way...the first domino on all of this is the Yotes. Their future in the state will determine what happens in Atlanta, Utah, and Houston. Nobody is going to make a move until the league and the Coyotes have their future settled. Let's hope we know by June 27. My gut says that if this one falls through the rest of the NHL owners will force a sale to a new market because they are tired of subsidizing one of their partners.