On the fly
Seattle joins Coyotes mix, while Roenick group eyes pitch to keep team in Phoenix,
Hot talk of a new arena in Seattle has taken on the tone of a Coyote call.
Recently revealed plans by a hedge fund tycoon to build a new sports palace there have sparked speculation that it could be a future den for the woebegone Phoenix Coyotes franchise.
While San Francisco money manager Christopher Hansen’s main interest in building a new Seattle stadium is to bring an NBA team back to his hometown, hockey would obviously make the venture more viable.
The Seattle Times reported last week that Hansen has been in advanced talks with city officials about building the arena and luring an NBA team such as the Sacramento Kings to the U.S. northwest.
Sacramento is under a March 1 deadline to come up with a viable proposal to build an arena for the Kings.
The Seattle news story has unleashed a flurry of speculation that the Coyotes would also be migrating there.
The troubled franchise is currently the property of the NHL and the league would doubtlessly love to dump that burden in a big-market town with more northerly climes and sports tastes.
“National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman has expressed a strong interest in placing a team in Seattle, leading to widespread speculation that the financially struggling Phoenix Coyotes could be moved here,” the paper reported Saturday.
All is not lost for Phoenix, though, as former star Jeremy Roenick and San Jose Sharks CEO Greg Jamison have discussed forming a group to buy the team and keep in Scottsdale, the Arizona Republic reported.
If not, Seattle isn’t the only city where new or planned arenas would beckon:
QUEBEC CITY
With Winnipeg luring the Jets back to the prairies, the Quebec capital has been on fire to replace their long-lost Nordiques.
And with an 18,000-seat arena due to open there in 2015, the hockeymad town would be a safe bet for an NHL franchise. The $400 million facility — funded half and half by the province and city — will be built with or without the promise of a team. But it will be a big and embarrassing white elephant if one doesn’t materialize.
KANSAS CITY
Opened in 2007, the city’s glittering Sprint Center holds 19,000 spectators. But those seats sit empty most nights with the Arena Football League’s Command its only permanent tenant. K.C. has been in active negotiations with the NBA and NHL to bring teams to a town that has not seen big-time hockey since 1976 when the Scouts moved on to Colora-
do after a dismal two-year-run there.
LAS VEGAS
If the NHL wants to roll the dice once more on a southern U.S. city, then Vegas is planning a 20,000-seat home for it. Though no groundbreaking date has been set, the city seems determined to build the facility. But hockey is likely to be a bad bet in Vegas, which is hard-pressed to fill a third of the seats in the 9,500-capacity Orleans Arena, home of the successful AHL Wranglers franchise.
HAMILTON
The city opened Copps Coliseum in 1985, offering a 17,000-seat venue to an NHL franchise. That never came, of course. And the arena would need a major revamping to house a modern hockey team. RIM founder Jim Balsillie made a big pitch to bring Phoenix to Hamilton in 2009, but that bid was rejected like the Blackberry Torch.
MARKHAM
The quiet suburb north of Toronto made noise last year about building a 19,500-seat facility to lure a second NHL franchise to the GTA. The league didn’t seem to be listening, however.