“Make it Seven”, A Canadian’s Fight for the Phoenix Coyotes
Adam Steevens is a student, author and blogger who has semi-coherent thoughts about the NHL
The extended legal battle over the Phoenix Coyotes has become the story of the off-season; the franchise is hemorrhaging money and is on the verge of relocation. Jim Balsillie has relentlessly tried to purchase the team with the intention of moving the team to Canada; with all other potential buyers backing out (excluding the NHL itself), the future of the Coyotes in Phoenix looks bleak.Balsillie has even softened his pitch the to NHL this week – offering to keep the club in Phoenix for the remainder of this season. It’s time for the NHL to move on – and to let Balsillie move this team back up north by 2011.
Listen, I feel for the fans of the Coyotes; I can’t imagine my team getting relocated, and you have to feel sorry for the season ticket holders, and even the families of the organization and everyone involved. The move is looking more and more imminent by the day, and if you are a Coyotes fan, you have my sincerest sympathy. But what the league needs now is not hardline-Coyotes fans, but fans who care about the sport itself. Fans who care more about the welfare of the game rather than their favorite team.
Populist homer-ism is harmful to the game itself; as much as it may hurt to see the team go, the fans in Phoenix have to understand that this team will do much better up north – and another fiscally successful franchise in this economy will benefit the league immensely. You may be a Coyotes fan, but you should be a hockey fan first. I can’t stand the Coyotes fans who make martyrs out themselves and their team; the entire reason Phoenix has a organization at all is because it was torn away from Winnipeg in the first place.
Don’t cry foul when relocation comes up – you’re biting the hand that fed you the team in the first place.
Lots of different numbers have been thrown around in an attempt to gauge the profitability of a team in Hamilton; yearly estimates range from $12-90 million extra a year (over current yearly profit in Phoenix). Most arguments regarding the relocation revolve around the accuracy of these numbers, but one thing is clear; a team in Hamilton is going to be profitable and draw a consistent fan-base, something Phoenix has proven itself incapable of.
At the end of the day, NHL franchises are a business like any other, and decisions should be made for the greater good of the league, not individual teams. Sure, the NHL could carry this club on its back, but why should they when there are clearly more receptive markets? Canada deserves another NHL team, and it’s time for the league to stop delaying the inevitable and let the process take its course.
Let’s make it seven. It’s the best decision for the league, and for our sport as a whole.
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