Confirmed with Link: All-Purpose "Days of Our Meruelo" Talk

[SR]

having just driven a loop Dallas -> Oklahoma City -> Arkansas to see the eclipse (which, as implied elsewhere, was on my birthday), I can confirm that a lot of Oklahoma is a lot like a lot of Texas. Except for the lack of actual Texans.

Man, you really went full nerd for the eclipse eh, DOM?

 

[GhostofTommyBolin]

Funny that he says what you're saying and that one of the slim options is moving the team "temporarily" until the arena is built. That this is even an option no matter how small with an NHL arena sitting empty is hilarious. Like everything they've done, they f***ed this up about as bad as it could be.

Moving the team temporarily while the arena is built is nothing more than Gambo running his mouth. That's not a possibility, nor has anyone involved even suggested that be attempted.

 

[GhostofTommyBolin]

They get to make that trade and then fast track a double expansion to major media markets in ATL and HOU and Phoenix won’t look like such a loss all the sudden. Easy peapeasy.

Yessir. You nailed it. I'm honestly shocked that Bettman is this shrewd, but at the same time impressed at how he's worked it out to happen this way.

 

[Mosby]

Utah ECHL team draws about 6,000 in a 10,000 seat rink

ECHL 2023-24 team attendance at hockeydb.com

Attendance for the ECHL for the 2023-24 season

www.hockeydb.com

 

[rt]

Yessir. You nailed it. I'm honestly shocked that Bettman is this shrewd, but at the same time impressed at how he's worked it out to happen this way.

And to think. They could’ve just traded PHX for QC a decade ago and missed out on all this cash.

 

[TheLegend]

While hearing the tea will be healthy for all of us, I'm going to be pissed for a while at Morgan for withholding this in favor of providing a paper covering and pro-Meruelo point of view this whole time. You sit on this shit like that, and you are no longer a journalist, you're a patsy.

You have to admit though journalists often have to walk that line so that they can keep their contacts.

Otherwise Craig's becomes no different than the other schmos who have shit on this franchise from day 1.

It sucks..... but it's the nature of the beast.

That said.... I was reading rt's post on the stuff Seravalli's saying today about the hotels etc..... At this point you HAVE to consider there's a massive infowar underway to make sure this gets done the way the league wants it.

 

[TheLegend]

It's annoying how all this stuff always come out at the end. Then Morgan goes into hiding yesterday and turns off comments on everything after the fact.

If you were in his position you might want to do the same thing. You've seen that for weeks he's been growing tired of dealing with all the drama.

 

[rt]

Morgan is losing his career. I’ll cut him some slack.

 

[Mosby]

I want Celebrini gift wrapped to us after all this bullshit.

 

[DustyDangler]

Morgan also hinted in the podcast yesterday that he’s got some stuff he knows about that he’ll be able to discuss after all is said and done. We’re gonna see a lot of shit come out that’s gonna make all of us that trusted Meruelo look like f***ing fools.

Imagine the Chayka grin right now.

 

[DustyDangler]

The absolute worst part of all of this is that I have had to admit that Katie Strang, Frank Seravalli, and John f***ing Gambadoro were all right.

Katie Strang remains a liar and amongst the architects that torpedoed Bauers career.

Seravelli still has a Swiss cheese track record of being right/wrong.

Gambo…whatever.

 

[TheLegend]

Their tone is meaningless. The fact that their reportage ended up being correct is what counts. Strang might be best pals with Meagan Chayka but she also apparently had the real goods about Meruelo. And Seravalli... goddammit... if it wasn't for that fat bastard, we'd have been utterly blindsided by this next week.

You know I think I have to admit I'm guilty of looking at what people other than Frank was saying and let it cloud my judgement a little. When he first was reporting on this, he clearly worded it like he was giving a logical opinion based on what he was hearing. Other people were jumping on it as absolute confirmed facts and that skewed my judgment on it.

My only criticism of Strang was she took a one sided approach to it all. Claimed she talked to at least 50 people but only selected the negative comments without clarifying that all of them were negative.

 

[TheLegend]

Imagine the Chayka grin right now.

And still nobody's giving him a job.

 

[Coyotedroppings]

In a roundabout way that could actually help Meruelo.

If his hot Latino blood gets the better of him, he could sue the league claiming they interfered with his ability to fix a problem they originally created.

I'd prefer the NHL does nothing at this point and this all dies down, until the auction is won, or lost. But, after the way the NHL did the COG, I'm hoping for the hot Latino blood, should the former not come to fruition.

 

[TheLegend]

Moving the team temporarily while the arena is built is nothing more than Gambo running his mouth. That's not a possibility, nor has anyone involved even suggested that be attempted.

Oh he's been playing the "I really don't want the Coyotes to leave" card on social media, yet for years he dumped on them at every turn after Shane Doan was gone..

He's a pure ratings whore.

 

[Hockeyville USA]

What if the Coyotes won the McDavid lottery, or just picked Marner instead of Strome? What if they won the Matthews lottery? What if they didn't win a bunch of games to end 2017 and put themselves in worse lottery position, end up with 7th, and trade it for Stepan? (could have had Makar, Heiskanen, Pettersson) What if they stayed last all year and won the Dahlin lottery? Hell, they could have won the Ovechkin, Crosby, and Kane lotteries too.

Maybe Glendale is packed with more star power. Maybe the Coyotes' profile is re-elevated and the support comes earlier for an East Valley arena, and they play in Glendale until TED (or SED) is built.

But the Coyotes haven't drafted very well over their history for the most part regardless, it's sad. I still think what if anything of those things happened.

 

[TheLegend]

I'd prefer the NHL does nothing at this point and this all dies down, until the auction is won, or lost. But, after the way the NHL did the COG, I'm hoping for the hot Latino blood, should the former not come to fruition.

I can buy the theory that this obviously was the contingency plan the league had been crafting and was all supposed to be kept quiet until the auction. But someone inside the league leaked it out and that's forcing everyone's hand.... especially Meruelo's.

Meruelo's cornered right now. Yeah Junior's social media escapades are NOT helping matters here but what are they supposed to do? They obiously has this rollout of renderings ready for some time but the state controlled that process. And the league might have been also advising him to keep quiet in general.

 

[archangel2]

Utah ECHL team draws about 6,000 in a 10,000 seat rink

ECHL 2023-24 team attendance at hockeydb.com

Attendance for the ECHL for the 2023-24 season

www.hockeydb.com

I find it more interesting there is so much hockey in Florida.

 

[TheLegend]

If the notion is the players are all upset playing at Mullett. You couldn't tell from this....




Johnston: Coyotes players faced with 'mental warfare,' uncertainty as potential relocation looms

The weight of that had already been crashing down on players over the past several months, according to former teammate Matt Dumba, who was traded from the Coyotes to the Tampa Bay Lightning on March 8.

“It’s definitely being felt,” Dumba told The Athletic. “It’s being felt every day you step into the Mullett (Arena). It’s not easy for those guys. I feel for them. The uncertainty of what’s going to happen ahead — I mean, it can just linger, you know? When stuff doesn’t go good, it’s a little more prevalent.

“It’s a bit of mental warfare for those guys.”

The Coyotes’ future still hasn’t been settled — players have been told they could remain at the 4,600-seat Mullett Arena in Tempe next season if the current talks about relocating to Utah break down, according to multiple sources close to the situation — and so it couldn’t have been easy for them to take the ice in Vancouver on Wednesday night with the topic now an open public conversation.

 

[The Feckless Puck]

Utah ECHL team draws about 6,000 in a 10,000 seat rink

ECHL 2023-24 team attendance at hockeydb.com

Attendance for the ECHL for the 2023-24 season

www.hockeydb.com

Ironically enough, the Maverik Center with 10,000 seats would be way better than the Delta Center with 11-12,000 seats. The Maverik Center is newer and has better ice and sightlines.

 

[rt]

Interesting nugget. Smith is co-owner of the MLS Real Salt Lake team with David Blitzer. Who apart from being a Blackstone exec is also co-owner of the NBA 76ers and the NJ Devils in the NHL.

When John Chayka attempted his pre-playoff bubble skedaddle, it was to join up with the Blitzer Group in a cross-sport role for that organization. The fallout with the Coyotes and the NHL cost Chayka that job.

 

[rt]

Ironically enough, the Maverik Center with 10,000 seats would be way better than the Delta Center with 11-12,000 seats. The Maverik Center is newer and has better ice and sightlines.

Hockey will NEVER work in the West Valley!!!

 

[bobbop]

This.

Winning the land auction is relatively small potatoes compared to the $3 Billion figure now being kicked around as the development cost. There is no infrastructure whatsoever on the site, other than the nearby freeway. That’s a huge upfront cost with no offsetting revenue in the near term. Money is expensive right now. The cost of construction in Arizona is through the roof.

I’d like to see the team stay in town but getting this deal done and paid for in three years just seems highly unrealistic. The league may be willing to guarantee a future franchise and make Meruelo whole in exchange for solving a today problem.

One additional point…the land is still a good investment no matter what happens with the Coyotes. It a prime piece of real estate adjacent to a major, highly traveled freeway. There’s not a lot of locations like that available in metro Phoenix. Like they say, there’s no more land being made.

 

[LittlePipes]

Call em the Utah "Jacks"

 

[bobbop]

The absolute worst part of all of this is that I have had to admit that Katie Strang, Frank Seravalli, and John f***ing Gambadoro were all right.

Katie Strang was very accurate and in fact she could have had much more if she dug deeper.