Coyotes Slash Ticket Prices

Seeing as the eyes of the hockey world will (for perhaps the first time ever) be fixated on Glendale Arena when the Phoenix Coyotes take to the ice this year, the organization has made the decision to slash ticket prices for opening night. This is in definite reaction to this new amount of interest in the club since the attempted purchase of the team by Canadian businessman Jim Balsillie, who wanted to move the team to Hamilton.

The NHL has done all it can to keep the team in Phoenix, despite the poor attendance and success of the franchise. A move to a Canadian city seemed the best choice for the struggling team, but so far it has not happened.

Now I hate to speculate, but I believe that this ticket price reduction was strongly encouraged by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. How bad would he look if the franchise he is fighting so hard to save had an attendance of only ten or twelve thousand on opening night itself.

Now when I say the tickets have been dropped, what I really mean is it’s a pure fire sale. Lower bowl tickets cost just $25 (which would have you on the street listening to the game on the radio in Toronto) while upper bowl seats are going for $15. What is an obvious attempt to fill the stands and make hockey fans feel that Bettman made the right decision may not do enough though, as hockey in Arizona is in a terrible state.

Gretzky's Gone, What Now?

Thursday saw what could be Wayne Gretzky's last flirt with professional hockey come to an end. While this is sad news, one must look to the silver lining: could this also finally mean an end to the Phoenix Coyotes?

It has been stated over the bidding process that should the team be sold to Jim Balsillie and his group, the Great One would be cut loose. He didn't show up to training camp when it began, and now he has resigned. Without speculating too much and getting the hopes of hockey fans of Southern Ontario too high, some experts have said that this is a foreshadowing that Balsillie may actually get his deal.

On the other hand, should Balisillie still be shut-out, things could now get much, much messier in the desert. Gretzky is, quite obviously, the face of hockey. He played a major portion of his career in Los Angeles, thereby allowing the NHL to move into markets in the southwest, such as Phoenix. Having him behind the bench not only acted to draw the real hockey fans out to the arena, but also helped to try to persuade the non-hockey fans to come and give it a try by having such a large name on the bill.

Now with Gretzky out and the Coyotes putting forward a very young team, many fans will be left scratching their heads asking: "Who's on this team?". With no big draw, I expect the dwindling attendance figures to continue dropping, and really put pressure on commissioner Gary Bettman to try to make it look like there is still hope for this franchise. While new coach Dave Tippett does have a lot of experience and has led his former team, the Dallas Stars, deep in the playoffs in the past, I just don't think there's enough true hockey fans in Phoenix to respect what he's done.

The move may not have even been a bad one for Phoenix either, as if the team was based in Hamilton many would be happy to see him leave as he makes the most money out of any coach ($8 million a year), and as noted skipped out on training camp. The problem again comes to the lack of hockey intelligence and awareness in Phoenix, as it will just be seen as a tragic loss to the club.

With the Balsillie bid still going on, this should just continue to add to the argument to bring the team to Canada. We will have to wait and see what the fans think by seeing how many of them actually make it to the opening night game.

Articles Used:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/nhl-bungles-its-handling-of-gretzky-affair/article1302586/

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/hockey/2009938566_nhl25.html

http://www.thestar.com/sports/hockey/article/700780