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Arizona Coyotes: IceArizona’s Two Year Ownership Notes

By William Grigsby

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It’s Been Two Years Since IceArizona Saved The Arizona Coyotes From Their Ownership Fiasco

I’m sure most any local hockey fan has been aware of all the drama related to the ownership merry-go-round regarding the Arizona Coyotes since the 2008-09 season.

To the rescue, came IceArizona two years ago, with high hopes of making this franchise reputable again, and more importantly SUCCESSFUL.

Arizona Coyotes CEO/President Anthony LeBlanc has tried to meet the challenges head-on and the question becomes — will it all be in vain?

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Even though Phoenix is the sixth largest city in population in the U.S., and the 12th largest television market, there are challenges to having a NHL team when their average attendance has not exceeded 14,000 since the 2008-09 season.

Certainly one could argue that there are distractions here with all the alternative activities the Valley of the Sun has to offer. Besides the other two major sports teams in town, the Phoenix Suns and Arizona Cardinals, Major League Baseball has 15 teams here for spring training during a very vital time of the season for the NHL.

With golfing, hiking, NASCAR, concerts, festivals all attracting the business away from the Arizona Coyotes, marketing becomes vital to success.

"“I think there’s still confidence in the marketplace. It’s kind of a perfect storm of circumstances that have made it difficult for the club to be successful.”, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said."

IceArizona has done some good things to improve the NHL experience at Gila River arena. They spent at least three million dollars in improvements to the arena by adding Tim Horton’s, upgrading the choice of food available to the Coyotes fans, and trying to show the rest of the NHL that IceArizona is serious about making this work. You can even order food from your seat, now that’s something every other NHL rink doesn’t offer.

Will the two-year arena agreement with the City of Glendale be extended? Or, will Mr. LeBlanc weigh his options, and seek a new home, either here locally, or in a new city? The rumors seem to grow like weeds in your back yard, and until you do something to stop them, they TAKE OVER your yard.

When interviewed by Josh Cooper of Puck Daddy, LeBlanc had this to say:

“It’s been a difficult summer. It was a tough summer. We’re through it. We’re past it.

I think we’ve come through this fine. There’s the mending of the relationship that needs to happen, but that began on the day of the vote a couple of weeks ago. I do think it works here, but look, it’s only a two-year deal. It would be foolish for us to not listen to expressions of interest of other potential spots in the Valley, but we do believe in Glendale. We always have. We think it’s a tremendous hockey arena. This is a great development. The Westgate development, most people don’t understand unless you’ve been here. It’s a little bit of a drive outside of Scottsdale or Phoenix, but it’s not to the level people think it is. I made a joke yesterday (at an event at Arizona State) that the arena is not on Pluto. It took me 20 minutes to drive from my office in the arena to Arizona State, which is on the other end of the Valley in Tempe. We’re in Glendale. It’s not that far.”

The one factor over the entire Gila River Arena lease debacle which has LeBlanc encouraged was the unanimous vote of 7-0 for the new lease agreement, which almost went to court to be resolved. He believes that’s a big deal for the ownership group, and was a definite sense of relief that the business of running a hockey team can now be given all the attention it requires to bring a winner to Arizona.

When asked how much the league’s support enabled LeBlanc to feel stable in the Arizona market at times when it seemed as if there was no stability, LeBlanc replied:

“A lot of people I think don’t understand what the league has done to keep teams in certain markets. There’s no question this team is not here if it wasn’t for Gary Bettman, Bill Daly and David Zimmerman – guys at the league doing what they needed to do to fight to keep the team here. There’s no question. But we’re not the only market that’s experienced that.”

LeBlanc went on to add: “We think all the ingredients are there. We’ll never be the Rangers. We’ll never be the Maple Leafs, but I think we have the ability in this market in this building with the team coming up to be at least a middle of the pack team when it comes to overall revenues and those areas. I do think this has potential down the road to be a championship team.

Players love to play here, and more importantly so do their wives and children. Shane Doan is a prime example. He stayed the course, he persevered…against all the odds. (Even the City of Glendale’s antics)

 AND THE COYOTES ARE STILL HERE, THANKS TO ICEARIZONA.

Next: ICE Arizona: the 2013-2014 Freshman Yearbook

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