Vegas Golden Knights Could Push NHL Out Of Arizona

The addition of the Vegas Golden Knights to the NHL could finally push the league out of Arizona.

Making professional hockey succeed in the state of Arizona has been near the top of the NHL’s priority list for quite some time.

The NHL first came to Arizona as part of the NHL’s expansion to the sun belt in the early 1990s. Cities like Miami, Tampa, and Anaheim had been awarded expansion franchises in the early part of the decade. Dallas, Texas had received a franchise via relocation.

Expanding the game of hockey into untraditional hockey markets was thought to be integral to the NHL’s future success in the early 1990s, which is one of the many reasons why the Winnipeg Jets relocated to Phoenix, Arizona in 1996.

At the time, the move made sense. A weak Canadian dollar combined with Phoenix’s metropolitan population made the city a perfect destination for an NHL franchise. Its location in the sun belt was just a bonus.

It seemed as though an NHL franchise in Phoenix was primed for success. It wasn’t.

Cracks first began to show in the early 2000s. A troublesome lease with the then-named America West Arena forced the team to move out of downtown Phoenix and into nearby Glendale, Arizona midway through the 2003-04 season.

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Now playing nearly 30 minutes away from downtown Phoenix, losses continued to pile up for the Coyotes. At one point, the team was losing nearly $40 million annually. The team eventually filed for bankruptcy in 2009 before being sold to the league after a proposed sale to Hamilton-based billionaire Jim Balsillie fell through in court.

Fast forward to today, and despite the NHL’s consistent attempts, professional hockey still isn’t working in the desert. Since 2009, the team has been sold and renamed, but that hasn’t helped poor attendance and annual losses.

In a letter released to the public last Monday, majority owner Andrew Barroway admitted that the team “cannot survive in Glendale.” Barroway later went onto say that the club will continue to look for a home in Arizona, but if that too is unattainable, they will look for a home elsewhere.

The letter comes just weeks after a $400 million arena deal in Tempe, Arizona fell through.

Now, you’re probably thinking, what role do the Vegas Golden Knights play in this fiasco? Well, a bigger role than you may think.

A major reason why the Coyotes have stayed in central Arizona for as long as they have is its location. Arizona is located in the sun belt, an area the NHL has been attempting to establish itself in for decades.

For years, the Coyotes were the only team in their general location. The closest team to the Coyotes, geographically speaking, was the Anaheim Ducks, who play five and one half hours away in Anaheim, California.

Now, from a geographical standpoint, the Golden Knights are the Coyotes’ closest rivals. Las Vegas is located just four and one half hours away from Phoenix, an easy day trip.

In many ways, Las Vegas is now a more attractive market for the NHL than Phoenix. While Phoenix’s population is larger than Vegas’, their tourism numbers aren’t even comparable. Over 36,000,000 people visit the Sin City annually, many of whom visit from traditional hockey markets. If even a small percentage of tourists take in a Golden Knights’ hockey game, Vegas’ attendance numbers will be greater than those in Arizona.

In many ways, Las Vegas has become the market the NHL originally wanted Phoenix to be. The Vegas Golden Knights have strong and committed ownership, something the Coyotes haven’t had until recently. The Golden Knights also have a brand new, state of the art arena that the Coyotes have wanted in Arizona for years.

Las Vegas’ location is perhaps the icing on the cake for the league. The city is located in the sun belt, and could potentially become the hockey hotbed in the desert that central Arizona has failed to become.

The NHL has done everything possible to make hockey succeed in Arizona, even going as far as to own the team for a period of time. With another team in the desert, the league may not go through as many measures to keep the team in Arizona. Barroway’s recent letter proves this.

The Arizona Coyotes could call a new city home in the coming years. Quebec City is a possible destination, as the 18,000 seat Centre Videotron  isn’t even two years old. The city is also hungry for an NHL team, as Quebec City applied for an expansion franchise along with Las Vegas.

Portland and Seattle are also options. In fact, recent rumors report that the Coyotes toured arenas in both Pacific Northwest cities.

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Las Vegas has become everything the league wanted Phoenix to be. As a result, hockey in Arizona has been dying for quite some time, and it could be the Vegas Golden Knights that deliver the fatal blow.