Arizona Coyotes Should Consider These 5 Features For New Arena
The Arizona Coyotes announced a plan to build a new, shared arena with Arizona State University in Tempe by the start of the 2019-2020 season. With a new stadium has to come some new amenities, right?
Last month, the Arizona Coyotes finally got around to settling on a new arena plan.
The team announced that they had struck a deal with Arizona State University to build a new dual arena complex near the northwest corner of McClintock and Rio Salado on the current ASU Karstens Golf Course.
The new arena location has decent access, despite being near a freeway pinch point, and is closer to areas with demographics more likely to consume hockey games (college students, middle class families in the East Valley), which means both attendance and interest should rise due to it’s location.
But now that the organization has shifted their focus from a location to the actual building plan itself, the team should really consider how to make the fan experience one of a kind while going through this process.
The team has grown it’s hockey footprint in the desert considerably over the last couple years, but making something of spectacle could draw in even more curious people who could end up being fans some day.
So here are five ways the the fan experience at the new arena could be upped, both for the Arizona Coyotes as well as the Arizona State Sun Devils.
If you know this part of Tempe, there are a few ways to make this stadium amazing and it starts with putting the footprint of the stadium in the right place.
If you’ve ever been at the intersection of McClintock and Rio Salado before, you’ll know what I’m about to talk about.
If you haven’t, let me describe it to you.
One corner is a pretty decent mall, complete with a transplanted Chicago institution in Portillos. Another corner is a commercial complex, while a third corner is the golf course where the stadium will be.
The fourth is an enormous eyesore of an APS power station.
Now, I study geography in college and I’m here to tell you, putting the front door of the stadium facing that power plant will not make it a very marketable nor pleasing view when we finally get a ‘NHL on NBC’ game again (whenever that might be).
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The way to go would be to put the most vibrant side of the stadium right up against Tempe Town Lake on the northern border of the property, and create an outdoor party lounge or lakeside deck attached to to the stadium where the primary entrance would be.
It would build on the outdoor lifestyle reputation Arizona has, as well as expand on the success of the small deck the team currently has on the exterior of Gila River Arena.
Moreover, adding a connected party lounge as the Coyotes ownership suggested would create a more nightlife vibe to the complex that would not feel dissimilar to nearby Mill Avenue’s timbre. In fact, if the space was made big enough, that would be a pretty cool little prom space for high schools, which could create some added revenue.
Nonetheless, positioning the stadium to face it’s most marketable sides given the lot they want to build on, all of the emphasis should face the ASU campus and Tempe Town Lake.
It would create an atmosphere where it feels like a celebration of the game and cool spot for a playoff watch party, developing into what could be one of the best stadiums int the NHL.
Both the Valley and Arizona as a whole are well known for their creative dining identities. If the Arizona Coyotes really want to be the hockey team of the state, they should diversify their dining options at the new arena.
Have you ever heard of Beckett’s Table in central Phoenix? Or El Gùero Canelo in Tucson?
Both are famous Arizona eateries and both should be on a short list to be concession tenants at the new arena.
The Arizona Diamondbacks started hosting local eateries at Chase Field a couple years ago (Lolo’s Chicken and Waffles and Paradise Valley Burger Company), which only made the D-Backs concession game one of the strongest in Major League Baseball.
So if the Coyotes really want to complete their transition from the Phoenix Coyotes to Arizona Coyotes, it’s time to change our hearts. And the best way to change someone’s heart is through food.
Obviously not all of Arizona’s famous eateries are stadium friendly or could adapt their menu to include a short list of arena-adjusted options, but it is not impossible. Here are a few examples, some more simple than others, along with the previously noted eateries:
- Joe’s Real BBQ (Gilbert): It’s not hard to have a pulled-pork sandwich at a sports stadium, so why not have one of the best in the state be at the game?
- Salsa Brava (Flagstaff): Widely considered one of the best places for Mexican cuisine in the northern part of the state, Brava’s menu could easily be adapted to fit an arena menu.
- Los Dos Molinos (Phoenix): Have you been to Los Dos? Yes? Then I don’t need to explain this suggestion.
- Pizzeria Bocce (Cottonwood): It isn’t hard to make pizza fit in an arena, but having a personal pizza like Bocce’s that doesn’t taste like cardboard (looking at you, Papa Johns) would skyrocket the Coyotes to the top of the ‘Best Arena Pizza’ list.
- Aunt Lena’s Creamery (Chandler): Ice cream at a hockey game; it’s not all that odd of an idea. But supporting a local business in a professional sports arena is, which is exactly why the team should do it.
There are hundreds more options the team could look at for concessions eaters.
Obviously not all of the concessions should be unique like these are.
However, making a concerted effort to boost local business profiles while ditching crappy chains and showing off what makes Arizona, and the Coyotes, unique would unequivocally enhance an Arizona Coyotes hockey game.
If you’re going to have ASU pay for some of the arena and play their NCAA D-1 athletics teams in the complex, give them a home court/ice advantage too.
Nobody knows for sure how many ASU teams will be playing at the new stadium, but it would make sense for the men’s and women’s basketball teams and the volleyball team to utilize the two arenas along with the hockey team.
However they end up dividing the spaces, it’s still ASU’s space to use too.
So make flames and Sparky a real big deal.
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Use the logos they have, use indoor fire devices and make the mascot a part of the production. Focus on what makes ASU sports, and their hockey program, so unique from all of the other NCAA programs.
I think, in terms of ASU hockey, the coolest entrance for the team, and entirely unique for college hockey programs, is a real entrance like an NHL team.
It would both engage fans in an exciting start to a game and prove to be a strong recruiting point as ASU builds towards what could be a perennially winning NCAA hockey program in the future.
Ideally, the hockey team would enter from the zamboni entrance, with flames and and a pitchfork that rises to the rafters, much like the Coyotes’ moon does now at Gila River Arena.
On top of that, flames would shoot out of the three tips of the pitchfork after a Sun Devils goal (although not shooting high enough to catch the ceiling on fire of course).
A similar type of entrance for the Arizona Coyotes would be fantastic, as well.
With the Yotes entering from an end zone with the moon rising above them as they enter, which progresses from a New to Full Moon as it rises.
In my mind, it would not be as plastic and wobbly as the “Red Moon Rising” prop they have now, but something close to that.
Now that would be quite the experience for a college hockey recruit and Sun Devils/Coyotes fan alike.
If you look at the history of NHL arenas and their current successors, one unifying aspect makes a stadium really rock when the barn is full; the design itself.
The Arizona Coyotes are building upwards with on-ice moves and player development which means that with wins will come more fans.
The move to Tempe will only increase attendance due to accessibility.
Increasing the impact that those fans have on the game will create a positive feedback loop of enthusiasm to play hockey in the desert.
Now if you watch this short documentary (or read to my summary below), you’ll notice that one particular aspect of all these stadiums is very prominent.
The stadiums are/were very vertical.
The Boston Garden, the Montreal Forum, the United Center even; all of these stadiums put the fans on top of the ice and up close even in the upper decks.
The players themselves feel the imposing nature of this design and when it comes down to it in a playoff game, those kinds of fan engagement intangibles can make a huge difference.
Gila River Arena isn’t a bad view for upper-deckers right now, but putting fans at a higher, albeit safe, angle above the teams playing would make the stadium have a much more intimate setting.
Once the barn was full and home playoff games come around, it would become a real Coyote den to play in.
Imagine how loud the Shark Tank in San Jose gets during playoff runs like in 2016, but with howling Coyotes fans everywhere.