Relocation
With plenty of cities wanting a franchise now it does remain a possibility. Assuming Seattle does get the expansion team then Houston, Quebec and Hartford will all still want a team, leaving the only realistic option in relocating one of several teams currently suffering Arena issues. Failure to see these teams secure new long-term deals could see one of the waiting cities to pounce.
Phoenix - As of 2015, the leading candidate for relocation was the Phoenix Coyotes. The team has been unprofitable since its relocation to the Phoenix metropolitan area in 1996, and went bankrupt in the late 2000s. The league actively resisted selling the team to interests that would have relocated the team out of Arizona, and made numerous efforts to sell the team to owners that had intended to keep it in the state. The league convinced the eventual owners of the Winnipeg Jets to buy the Atlanta Thrashers instead of returning the Coyotes to their original home in Winnipeg.
None of the numerous prospective owners the league had hoped would buy the team, and keep it in Arizona, followed through on their sale until 2013, when IceArizona (a group led by George Gosbee) purchased the team. Within a year of that sale, IceArizona spun off the team to hedge fund manager Andrew Barroway. The Coyotes' lease on Gila River Arena was revoked in June 2015 due to concerns the lease was illegal under conflict of interest laws. The Coyotes intended to fight the revocation in court. The team had indicated that if it cannot stay at the Gila River Arena, it could move back to downtown Phoenix and the Talking Stick Resort Arena. On July 24, 2015, the Coyotes announced that Glendale City Council had enacted an agreement allowing the Coyotes to stay in the Gila River Arena for the next two seasons. With the arrival of the Vegas Golden Knights, the Coyotes will have a geographic rival within the Pacific Division and is believed will help the Coyotes long-term viability much like the Anaheim Ducks helped the Los Angeles Kings long-term.
Discussions of relocating the Coyotes haven’t ceased despite the league’s insistence the team is staying put.
None of the numerous prospective owners the league had hoped would buy the team, and keep it in Arizona, followed through on their sale until 2013, when IceArizona (a group led by George Gosbee) purchased the team. Within a year of that sale, IceArizona spun off the team to hedge fund manager Andrew Barroway. The Coyotes' lease on Gila River Arena was revoked in June 2015 due to concerns the lease was illegal under conflict of interest laws. The Coyotes intended to fight the revocation in court. The team had indicated that if it cannot stay at the Gila River Arena, it could move back to downtown Phoenix and the Talking Stick Resort Arena. On July 24, 2015, the Coyotes announced that Glendale City Council had enacted an agreement allowing the Coyotes to stay in the Gila River Arena for the next two seasons. With the arrival of the Vegas Golden Knights, the Coyotes will have a geographic rival within the Pacific Division and is believed will help the Coyotes long-term viability much like the Anaheim Ducks helped the Los Angeles Kings long-term.
Discussions of relocating the Coyotes haven’t ceased despite the league’s insistence the team is staying put.
New York Islanders - Whose three-way split of a single metropolitan market with the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers is unique among the major sports leagues in the United States and Canada. The Islanders' move from Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum to Barclays Center in 2015 failed to increase attendance, which dropped 11 percent from the previous season. As Barclays Center was not originally constructed to accommodate an NHL team, its capacity of 15,700 seats is low for the league, and 1,500 seats have an obstructed view. In addition to the attendance woes, the team's television ratings are also the lowest of the three New York metropolitan area teams and are in steep decline. The Islanders' new owners, who took over operations in July 2016, are initially seeking an in-market move, hoping to build a new arena adjacent to Belmont Park Racetrack in Elmont, New York with cooperation from the New York Mets and funding from the owners of their rivals, the Rangers.
If that fails to come into fruition, and seemingly the Barclay’s Center being inappropriate for hockey the Islanders will be left with two options; move back to the refurbished Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, or find a new city (See the Hartford section above).
According to the CBC website, A new $555 million arena has been proposed, but an argument between the CEO of the Flames and Mayor Naheed Nenshi after the City’s offer left the NHL side paying ‘120%’ of the project. Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corp. also announced they were no longer in talks with the city regarding an arena.
Nenshi said the city offered to divide the cost of building a new arena — in the Victoria Park neighbourhood in the east end near the existing Saddledome — three ways with the Flames and with arena users through a "fee/ticket surcharge."
The development favoured by the Flames — a proposed CalgaryNext complex on the west end of downtown that would have included a public fieldhouse and CFL stadium — was effectively killed by city council in favour of building a "Plan B" arena in Victoria Park.
The city released this diagram outlining its arena proposal. (City of Calgary)
Nenshi said that the new arena to replace the aging Saddledome, seen here, would cost the city an estimated $185 million in direct costs and another $150 million in indirect costs. (CBC)
Council disagreed with the CalgaryNext price tag, saying the project would cost approximately $1.3 billion when cleanup of creosote-soaked soil was included.
The Flames' proposed CalgaryNext, as pictured in this diagram, would have included a new arena, a public fieldhouse and CFL stadium in the West Village. (Calgary Flames)
Personally, I can’t see the Flames leaving Calgary and some sort of a deal/compromise will be reached keeping the team on Canadian Ice.
The full CBC article can be read here:
Carolina – The Canes were being rumoured to relocate to Houston just a few weeks ago, whilst Quebec seemed interesting in purchasing the team too, not to mention Hartford bringing the team back home to where it belongs. That all sounded great in theory but in practice we saw Tom Dundon, a Dallas businessman, buy a controlling interest in the team from Peter Karmanos Jr. who has owned the franchise since 1994, and is remaining as a minority owner.
In an interview with TSN after the meeting, Karmanos stressed that the team would remain in Raleigh and that it had been a condition of a sale. Karmanos said he will remain a part-owner in a team he brought to North Carolina in 1997.
“It was never really a consideration,” Karmanos said. “The league is not amenable to moving franchises at all.”
Asked by TSN why he had an interest in the Hurricanes, Dundon said, “Pete and I built a relationship. We want to work together, so we’re thinking about it.”
Karmanos joined his former business partner, the late Thomas Thewes, in buying the Harford Whalers in 1994 – former general manager Jim Rutherford also had a share of the team – and relocated the franchise to Raleigh in 1997. Renamed the Carolina Hurricanes, the team moved into PNC Arena in 1999, reached the Stanley Cup final in 2002 and won the Stanley Cup in 2006.
In recent years, Karmanos first looked to add investors in the Canes, then to sell a controlling interest in the team. A group headed by sports attorney Chuck Greenberg put together a term sheet that had Karmanos’ approval, but Greenberg had trouble lining up enough investors to meet Karmanos’ selling price –between $450 million and $500 million, Karmanos said.
Dundon, a billionaire, served as CEO and president of Santander Consumer USA, one of the nation’s largest subprime auto lenders, until July 2015. It was reported by Auto Finance News this month that Santander Consumer, which Dundon founded in 1995, agreed to pay Dundon more than $700 million in an exit deal.
Dundon is managing partner at Dundon Capital Partners LLC and CEO and president of Dundon Capital Acquisition Corp. in Dallas.
Dundon was one of the developers in the creation of Trinity Forest Golf Club in southeast Dallas. The course was designed by Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore, who oversaw the many changes to Pinehurst No. 2 before the 2014 U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open.
In an interview with TSN after the meeting, Karmanos stressed that the team would remain in Raleigh and that it had been a condition of a sale. Karmanos said he will remain a part-owner in a team he brought to North Carolina in 1997.
“It was never really a consideration,” Karmanos said. “The league is not amenable to moving franchises at all.”
Asked by TSN why he had an interest in the Hurricanes, Dundon said, “Pete and I built a relationship. We want to work together, so we’re thinking about it.”
Karmanos joined his former business partner, the late Thomas Thewes, in buying the Harford Whalers in 1994 – former general manager Jim Rutherford also had a share of the team – and relocated the franchise to Raleigh in 1997. Renamed the Carolina Hurricanes, the team moved into PNC Arena in 1999, reached the Stanley Cup final in 2002 and won the Stanley Cup in 2006.
In recent years, Karmanos first looked to add investors in the Canes, then to sell a controlling interest in the team. A group headed by sports attorney Chuck Greenberg put together a term sheet that had Karmanos’ approval, but Greenberg had trouble lining up enough investors to meet Karmanos’ selling price –between $450 million and $500 million, Karmanos said.
Dundon, a billionaire, served as CEO and president of Santander Consumer USA, one of the nation’s largest subprime auto lenders, until July 2015. It was reported by Auto Finance News this month that Santander Consumer, which Dundon founded in 1995, agreed to pay Dundon more than $700 million in an exit deal.
Dundon is managing partner at Dundon Capital Partners LLC and CEO and president of Dundon Capital Acquisition Corp. in Dallas.
Dundon was one of the developers in the creation of Trinity Forest Golf Club in southeast Dallas. The course was designed by Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore, who oversaw the many changes to Pinehurst No. 2 before the 2014 U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open.
Being from Texas may have leant some more weight behind a move to Houston but for now the team is sadly staying where it is.
Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson seems in favor of a new Senators arena at LeBreton Flats, copying the idea Edmonton used when moving into their new facility recently.
The city of Edmonton committed more than $300 million to partner with Oilers' owner Daryl Katz, who last year sold his Rexall chain for $3 billion, to fund a new arena and downtown development.
But at least Edmonton has a scheme to recoup some of that money from increased property taxes. Quebec City split the $400-million cost of the Centre Vidéotron with the province, in order to lure the Nordiques back to town. Instead, the latest NHL expansion team was awarded to Las Vegas.
There are a few instances where NHL arenas were funded privately, but they are in markets much larger — and more lucrative — than Ottawa's. Think New York City or Toronto — although even Air Canada Centre got millions worth of public infrastructure financing and federal land at well below market value.
Economist Glen Hodgson said:
Is it a price that the people of Ottawa are willing to pay to have an arena downtown?
Whatever happens at LeBreton will have a major impact on the city, whether it's operating public amenities or making changes to the LRT station. Most people, even if they aren't ardent Sens fans, understand why a downtown arena located on rapid transit makes sense for both the franchise's success and for city building.
To read more on the Ottawa arena debate check out this article by CBC:
And the Ottawa Citizen:
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