A tale of two desert teams, the Vegas Golden Knights and Arizona Coyotes

The Arizona Coyotes had another misstep for their hopes of bringing hockey back to Phoenix. How did the Vegas Golden Knights make desert hockey work?

Vegas Golden Knights v Arizona Coyotes
Vegas Golden Knights v Arizona Coyotes | Zac BonDurant/GettyImages
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The Arizona Coyotes had careless ownership

Bill Foley has made a strong commitment to making the Vegas Golden Knights successful. It went beyond the basic promise of a Stanley Cup in six seasons. It was also the charity work done by the team, giving back to the community that embraced them since their inaugural season.

The latest development proves the Alex Meruelo and the Arizona Coyotes didn't think out their zoning properly, killing the bid from the start. Of course, there's also temporarily moving the team to an NCAA hockey arena that doesn't inspire much confidence.

Granted, Arizona's problems stemmed long before Meruelo even stepped foot in the facility. There was the bankruptcy controversy and Wayne Gretzky's short-lived term, which set the team back years. The arena debacles also came long before the former NHL owner bought the team.

Winning franchises always start at the top, with the right ownership steering the ship. That goes for many sports franchises, including the Rooney family (Pittsburgh Steelers) and Joe Lacob (Golden State Warriors). Good owners take big swings and hit home runs for their franchises. That includes...

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