Colangelo called Ziegler and was told fuhgeddaboudit so the downtown arena was built for basketball.
The same thing happened in Brooklyn
Barclay's was an economic reason. It was being built during the financial recession. Original plans included having the arena up to NHL standards, but due to finances they opted to scale it back by $200 million and redesign the arena. Unfortunately, the final costs with the re-design ended up costing what the original design was estimated to cost.
Seattle was the same way. NHL hockey could have been in Seattle way back in the late 90's expansion if the city would have built a brand new arena instead of renovating what is now KeyArena. Plan was that if they got an expansion team (during the TB/Ott round), that they would build a new arena. Due to Seattle not getting an expansion team, due to backstabbing by the NBA owner who was part of the Seattle bid, there was only renovations to the Key. Unfortunately, those renos only held up for like 16 years before the Sonics left town.
But, that's where I see failure on the NHL's part. If they were forward thinking, they would have gone to the city of Seattle and told them that they would have more expansion later on and that they want to be in Seattle. Not sure if that would have been enough to convince the city of Seattle, but once a city commits to spend money on a basketball only facility, there's not going to be more money a few years later to build another one for hockey.
There are a few Basketball only arenas in the USA. Even the one in Carolina was supposed to only be for basketball for the NC State Wolf Pack, but then PK negotiated the move from Hartford, so it was redesigned to include hockey.
Who has watched basketball game in a basketball specific arena and one that accommodates NHL hockey? Is there that significant a difference in the viewing experience between a basketball specific and duo arena for sight lines? On the outside, it seems like a waste that a city wouldn't give itself the opportunity to one day have an NHL team or even host some hockey. Thinking the larger markets. Indiana Pacers, it's understandable that they went basketball only for their arena.
With the way sports has gone, arena deals are more and more important. It's either 1 owner owns both teams in order for them to share the revenues, or the 2 separate teams have to negotiate the arena deal with the city together like in Dallas where the Mavs and Stars have different owners. Basically, you need to have a seat at the table. That's the only shot that the Coyotes have of returning to downtown Phoenix. They need the Suns to be ok with sharing. Which, from the Suns POV, sharing a new facility isn't as lucrative as being the primary tenant of a renovated TSRA.
" or " we will only allow a select few to take a peek...we nominate Tyndal as your rep to see the numbers"
