Utah announces training facility and team office building

[LadyStanley]

Sounds like they'll be nomads for one more season.

Click to read more...

 

[SImpelton]

The Utah Nomads. I mean.. I've heard worse.

 

[TheLegend]

Sounds like they'll be nomads for one more season.

They’ll do what the Coyotes did for years.

Practice in the arena itself.

 

[LadyStanley]

Except when there is a set up for something else

 

[TheLegend]

Except when there is a set up for something else

Which is nothing new.

Makes you start wondering how prepared Ryan Smith really was for this.

This is Phoenix 1995 all over again without the Olympics as a carrot.

 

[aqib]

Which is nothing new.

Makes you start wondering how prepared Ryan Smith really was for this.

This is Phoenix 1995 all over again without the Olympics as a carrot.

He indicated they would have preferred expansion to have a 2 year runway. So clearly he's playing catch-up. It just makes you wonder why they picked Utah over Houston.

 

[Barclay Donaldson]

He indicated they would have preferred expansion to have a 2 year runway. So clearly he's playing catch-up. It just makes you wonder why they picked Utah over Houston.

The only reason Houston does not have an NHL franchise is because the only feasible owner, Tilman Fertitta, does not want to pay the going rate for a NHL team. He actually stepped on some toes by going public essentially stating he was unwilling to pay the price. He is the only feasible owner because he is the operator of the arena and any secondary tenant in that arena and market is not likely to be put in a situation to succeed.

Ryan Smith did pay the going rate for a NHL team. So he goes to the front of the line. It is as simple as that.

 

[SImpelton]

It just makes you wonder why they picked Utah over Houston.

The ownership situation is way better in SLC. You know as well as any of the rest of us just how crippling terrible ownership can be.

Teams in nontraditional markets need to be willing to play ball and lose money now to make money later. Smith was ready to play ball now, the Houston guy had terms and conditions. It's as simple as that.

 

[aqib]

The only reason Houston does not have an NHL franchise is because the only feasible owner, Tilman Fertitta, does not want to pay the going rate for a NHL team. He actually stepped on some toes by going public essentially stating he was unwilling to pay the price. He is the only feasible owner because he is the operator of the arena and any secondary tenant in that arena and market is not likely to be put in a situation to succeed.

Ryan Smith did pay the going rate for a NHL team. So he goes to the front of the line. It is as simple as that.

I'm sure that's the case but people keep bringing up Houston as an expansion candidate. This would have been the perfect opportunity if that was the case.

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

I'm sure that's the case but people keep bringing up Houston as an expansion candidate. This would have been the perfect opportunity if that was the case.

Utah has zero to do w/ Houston... the League brokered the deal....

 

[aqib]

Utah has zero to do w/ Houston... the League brokered the deal....

Right but the league decided to broker a deal to Utah, not Houston. Bettman said the reasons for Utah was that the geography fit so that they didn't have to realign the divisions or make drastic changes to the schedule and they had an arena that had good bones and could be adapted to hockey. Houston fits the geography just as well and their arena is more ready.

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

Right but the league decided to broker a deal to Utah, not Houston. Bettman said the reasons for Utah was that the geography fit so that they didn't have to realign the divisions or make drastic changes to the schedule and they had an arena that had good bones and could be adapted to hockey. Houston fits the geography just as well and their arena is more ready.

stay on Utah, not Houston...

 

[aqib]

stay on Utah, not Houston...

You're missing my point. I am just saying that the fact that the team was steered to Utah instead of Houston is a sign that Houston isn't really an expansion candidate.

 

[Barclay Donaldson]

I'm sure that's the case but people keep bringing up Houston as an expansion candidate. This would have been the perfect opportunity if that was the case.

People on here are idiots. Hence why they're posting about imminent NHL expansion to Houston on HFB and why they're not NHL insiders

 

[TheLegend]

You're missing my point. I am just saying that the fact that the team was steered to Utah instead of Houston is a sign that Houston isn't really an expansion candidate.

No..... it means Fertitta is/was too cheap to pay what the league wants.

 

[aqib]

No..... it means Fertitta is/was too cheap to pay what the league wants.

Which makes Houston unviable.

 

[Ernie]

The only reason Houston does not have an NHL franchise is because the only feasible owner, Tilman Fertitta, does not want to pay the going rate for a NHL team. He actually stepped on some toes by going public essentially stating he was unwilling to pay the price. He is the only feasible owner because he is the operator of the arena and any secondary tenant in that arena and market is not likely to be put in a situation to succeed.

Ryan Smith did pay the going rate for a NHL team. So he goes to the front of the line. It is as simple as that.

Well, the economics work for him. He's using the team as leverage to get $$$ for a new "downtown district."

Fertitta doesn't get those perks and would lose out on the revenue from other events in the arena would be filled by NHL dates.

 

[TheLegend]

Which makes Houston unviable.

No…. It make Fertitta unviable.

 

[aqib]

No…. It make Fertitta unviable.

The road for the NHL in Houston runs through Fertitta. All the speculation about future NHL expansion includes Houston. If Houston wasn't considered for Coyotes then we can move on from thinking that its a real candidate for an expansion team as long as Fertitta is around.

 

[TheLegend]

The road for the NHL in Houston runs through Fertitta. All the speculation about future NHL expansion includes Houston. If Houston wasn't considered for Coyotes then we can move on from thinking that its a real candidate for an expansion team as long as Fertitta is around.

You realize, of course, Fertitta wasn’t even in the equation when Ryan Smith came onto the scene.

So you can chalk Feritta (and Houston for now) as a “me too” thing.

 

[aqib]

You realize, of course, Fertitta wasn’t even in the equation when Ryan Smith came onto the scene.

So you can chalk Feritta (and Houston for now) as a “me too” thing.

I mean Bettman could have called any of the cities that he said has reached out to him expressing interest in having a team. If the criteria (as he said) was a city that wouldn't require realignment and a significant change in schedule, then both Houston and Utah fit. Then you add to that one has an arena that can host NHL as is and another that needs renovation over 2 off-seasons it's a fair question to ask why they picked the second. If they had gone to Houston and decided to do expansion to Atlanta and Utah, Smith would have been fine with that. So it's fair to question if Houston is actually a real expansion candidate.

 

[TheLegend]

I mean Bettman could have called any of the cities that he said has reached out to him expressing interest in having a team. If the criteria (as he said) was a city that wouldn't require realignment and a significant change in schedule, then both Houston and Utah fit. Then you add to that one has an arena that can host NHL as is and another that needs renovation over 2 off-seasons it's a fair question to ask why they picked the second. If they had gone to Houston and decided to do expansion to Atlanta and Utah, Smith would have been fine with that. So it's fair to question if Houston is actually a real expansion candidate.

There was nothing..... absolutely not a peep out of Houston until the Atlanta and Utah bids were well underway. So there is absolutely no way you can bend this into Houston being an option.

Ryan Smith was committed to paying an expansion price no matter how it went down.

If Meruelo reactivates the Coyotes in Arizona the league will get that billion dollars Smith put up. If not the next group wanting the go into Arizona will pay it.

In the end the league will still net the expansion money for a team 33..... solve an HRR problem. And come out looking like geniuses.

 

[aqib]

There was nothing..... absolutely not a peep out of Houston until the Atlanta and Utah bids were well underway. So there is absolutely no way you can bend this into Houston being an option.

Ryan Smith was committed to paying an expansion price no matter how it went down.

If Meruelo reactivates the Coyotes in Arizona the league will get that billion dollars Smith put up. If not the next group wanting the go into Arizona will pay it.

In the end the league will still net the expansion money for a team 33..... solve an HRR problem. And come out looking like geniuses.

There were articles like this earlier this year: Tilman Fertitta reportedly in talks with NHL about bringing hockey team to Houston | Houston Public Media

Then you had Bettman listing Houston as one of the cities that was inquiring.

My point is that if Houston is a legitimate candidate for a team in the near future then it would have been a logical candidate for the Coyotes.

 

[rojac]

There were articles like this earlier this year: Tilman Fertitta reportedly in talks with NHL about bringing hockey team to Houston | Houston Public Media

Then you had Bettman listing Houston as one of the cities that was inquiring.

My point is that if Houston is a legitimate candidate for a team in the near future then it would have been a logical candidate for the Coyotes.

Ryan Smith's interest in an NHL team became public over a year ago and according to Bettman, he and Smith first talked about a team in Utsah two years ago. Talk about the South Forsyth project in Atlanta dates back to mid-April last year. The Houston stuff came out around the all-#tar game this year.

What if the NHL decided to give Utah first crack at Coyotes because they had been talking to Ryan Smith the longest? What if, from their talks with Fertitta, it was clear he didn't want to do a relocation on a short time table? I just don't see how you can conclusively say that Houston not being a Coyotes rules them out as an expansion candidate in the near future.

 

[sneakytitz]

There were articles like this earlier this year: Tilman Fertitta reportedly in talks with NHL about bringing hockey team to Houston | Houston Public Media

Then you had Bettman listing Houston as one of the cities that was inquiring.

My point is that if Houston is a legitimate candidate for a team in the near future then it would have been a logical candidate for the Coyotes.

Fertitta and Krause (Atlanta) were in NYC at NHL HQ two days before the Utah news broke. There was speculation/rumors of what was about to happen but nothing definitive.

Ryan Smith was way, way, way far ahead of anyone else, which is why he got the Coyotes. He was ready to spend the money, had an NHL ready arena, and is working on either a new arena or major renovations to the Delta Center. He checked all the boxes.