And now people are thinking there are a couple of white knights waiting to jump in.
I think that the only white knight that makes any sense at all is Ishbia. Renovate Footprint and get 44 more dates a year. Not only does that dramatically dilute costs but it adds revenue streams from TV and ticket salesAnd now people are thinking there are a couple of white knights waiting to jump in.
This is the ONLY path forward. Footprint would be a bridge to a new arena for a few years.
Meh, what's in a name? I think the curse of the Avco Cup followed hockey ops., not the naming rights.
Ishbia doesn't feel his portfolio needs an NHL team, nor does he want to engage in any refurb on Footprint to accommodate one.
My secret hope before Meruelo f***ed us was Ishiba buying the team directly from him, sticking them back in Glendale on a short term 5 to 10ish year lease and leverage both teams to get a new building built. I don't see anything with Ishiba happening now. I just hope I actually care by the time a new team comes here if it ever does. These days I'm as disappointed in professional sports as I am with the economy and political atmosphere. Maybe pessimistic is the better word.
Agree with this post. Bettman mentioned how the political situation in Phoenix isn't conducive to building an arena at this time. My sense is as long as Footprint is a modern viable arena, there's no chance of building another arena anywhere in Phoenix. I suppose when Footprint reaches its expiration date in 10-15 years, there may be talk of another renovation or a new arena. Until then it's not happening in Phoenix.
AM was not perfect, but he was in no way a doofus like many think. He may sound that way though. Listen to GB talk about AM stepping away. He stated that with the political climate currently the way it is in Arizona, and he doesn't see anything changing is the near future, it will be a long time before the NHL returns. Until we get people in office that actually know how to run a State and/or city, nothing will change. The NHL is in the drivers seat now, and they can wait as long as they want. All you AM haters might understand after it finally sinks in that there is no white knight as Morgan and others have stated coming to the rescue.
Ishbia will be like Tillman in Houston and want a deal on the franchise, which won't happen. Ishbia has his own business problems with that class action suit that no one is talking about.
Guys, Listen to GB. He knew damn well there would be problems going forward. He's been dealing with our pea brain politicians for years. All of you can stop dreaming about another team, not happening.
You blame and believe who and what you want. End result, we don't have a team, and won't have a team for years and years and years. Ask the Dbacks how much fun they are having with the State.
The only way Glendale would be considered as a long term solution is if the Go Daddy guy that owns Westgate partnered with the arena management company that is probably going to buy the arena for $1 after the current renovations are complete. That would put Westgate back together again which was the point of the project and the development deal every owner has wanted a new arena built for. If either of those two wanted to own the team, I think we would have at least heard whispers over the last 5 to 10 years. As far as I know, neither has shown interest. But I agree with you about not getting another arena built at least in the next decade +. It's just not going to happen which means no hockey in the state. Sad part is very few people seem to even care. I think the decades long drama (horrible teams, consistent relocation rumors, bankruptcy, grifter owner carrousel, consistent shitting on the city, state and fans) soured too many people into indifference.
Glendale will never be considered ever...it was a mistake from the beginning and I'm not 'dumping' on the West side.
Gary made it clear about Glendale not being an option years ago. Recently he said that a new arena in the central valley is required before the NHL looks at this market again.
The NHL does not want Glendale. The NHL are in the drivers seat now and can just wait, and wait, and wait. Any new arena will have to come with tax breaks. Arizona blew it, big time.
Which is the reason we don't have hockey now and probably won't in our lifetimes. It all goes back to money. If they can't make a huge profit off of a project that includes lots of taxpayer funded subsidies/tax abatements, they'd rather not own the team. We never got the owner that was from here, had ties here and was rich enough to own the team here. All the NHL could come up with was grifter after grifter until one finally figured out how to get the relocation sale that doubled his money. Always follow the money for the truth.
