I have watched nearly every Coyotes game this season. The St. Louis Blues game on March 2, 2014 was positively painful as the team disintegrated in the third period and blew a lead. Does that suddenly make me an expert? Gosh, far, far from it. Yet even the most uneducated fan recognizes the team’s lack of consistency from game to game. In one game they are brilliant. In the next it’s as if they don’t know each other. What seems to be happening now is more than a lack of consistency. It’s as if a malaise has settled over the team destroying its chemistry.
Everyone has assumed since 2009 that stable ownership would offer certainty to the players and would remove the team’s collective anxiety causing them to play with more confidence. Yet in 2012 while under the ownership of the League’s front office and with no ownership surety the team made the play offs and won the divisional title. Is throwing money at the problem the solution? Don Maloney and Dave Tippett operated on a shoe string that year and pulled it off. They had no choice. They were magicians.
In the face of disappointing team play this year, the year of stable ownership, ffn the face of disappointing team play nce. Yetary 28, 2014 game against the Colorado Avalanched acquire new ones. hat was it wian chirping has begun – but in a subdued fashion as no one wants to anger or alienate the new owners. The collective fan solution seems to be to get rid of some players and acquire new ones. Candidates identified after the February 28, 2014 loss to the Colorado Avalanche are Schlemko, Stone, Riberio and Smith. The team’s core has remained intact throughout the years of uncertain ownership drama – Doan, Hanzel,Virbrata, Bissonette, and Yandle, to name a few. Instead of removing and replacing players the real question is, what has happened mentally and collectively to this core? There is evident frustration and anger. Witness some of Doan’s public remarks about the team’s abysmal play. One would think it has spilled over into the locker room – oh, to be a fly on THAT wall.
It’s too late to right the ship this year. Maloney and Tippett have to identify the mental poison and apply the antidote. That takes time. Unfortunately this year’s poor showing will affect the bleeding bottom line of the owners and of the City of Glendale. How long can either entity sustain the financial loss? In the case of the owners they would have you believe it’s not a problem for them but it most certainly is for Glendale. Glendale entered into the ownership deal relying upon the new owners’ promise to partially reimburse (the estimate was $9 million) the city for the management fee of $15 million a year through “enhanced revenues.” All estimates are that this figure will not be met – not even close to it.
On a different note: The owners just hosted Jewish Heritage Night. Great. I would expect to see Christian, Muslim and Buddhist Heritage Nights as well. If there is no recognition of other faiths, don’t we call that discrimination in this country?
© Joyce Clark, 2014
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Joyce,
As always, so well said.
The IceArizona ownership doesn’t want to spend more money because they keep complaining about attendance (which is dead last) and players salaries. There is no trading room to raise this sinking franchise.
Both IceArizona, along with the City of Glendale, are doomed – the five year out-clause will be invoked by IceArizona in due time.
IceArizona’s revenues to the city may reach $4.5 million but is $10.5 million short to offset the annual $15 million ‘arena fee’ the city is paying out.
Just look at the latest Monthly Arena Report at http://www.glendaleaz.com/Finance/
and the Follow Your Money at http://www.glendaleaz.com/FollowYourMoney/Revenues.cfm?Type=4&FundAccountingGrpID=X01&CatID=X4046&FundID=1780 which show these ‘revenue’ figures are dismal.
Glendale Thorn,
If Ice Arizona’s revenues reach $4.5 million they wouldn’t be $10.5 million short, they would be $4.5 million short. They were never expected to offset the entire $15 million arena management fee, only $9 million of it.
Do you really believe it costs $6 million per year to operate the arena? Remember, there were two bidders, and SMG’s proposal (page 38) showed a vastly different picture.
That $9 million ‘offset’ was pure fantasy.
Now, I have a bridge in Glendale for sale, too, if you are interested.
Do you really want to start this $6M argument again Thorn? Plenty of evidence out there (read earlier blogs by Joyce) that show other arenas paying in the $9-12M range.
The point still is…Glendale can’t afford, nor justify, paying out $15 million per year. There will never be enough ‘revenue’ coming in. This council is still dreamin’ the dream, while its citizens of paying for their financial nightmare.
Uh huh…..
They “complain about attendance” yet they’ve set new single game revenue records not once…. not twice… but three times this season.
Anthony LeBlanc has repeatedly stated over this season they are ahead of where they expected to be. They’ve sold more season tickets…. more suites…. etc…. etc. They were ready to add payroll last week to land another free agent to improve the team but they weren’t going to sacrifice prospect talent for rental players in the process. Certainly doesn’t sound like an ownership group that’s complaining to me.
Maybe if things remain the same in year three or four then maybe there’s something to get worried over.
Until then….. all the doom the gloom rhetoric is simply that….. empty rhetoric.
You miss the point. The only reason I used Arena Monthly Reports and the Qualified Ticket surcharges, reported to city by IceArizona, is to demonstrate that in the midst of Glendale’s financial crisis the “enhanced revenues” will not compensate the city fully for its arena expenses.
IceArizona has publicly stated that attendance is up — but is it fully paid attendance? If it were we would see larger figures for Qualified Ticket sales reported to the city.
Joyce is correct.
Glendale doesn’t get any of that ‘premium’ ticket price (for the ‘three times this season’ you referred to against ‘premier’ teams that draw), Glendale ‘only’ gets the ‘surcharge’ amount – whether the ticket price is $40 or $400.
The IceArizona ownership may be able to stem their ‘overall’ losses, until the five-year out clause is invoked, maybe.
Well, letès see… First Moyes, then Gretzky, then Balsillie were blamed… then it was Canada in general with special focus on Hamilton, then Winnipeg, then Quebec City… then it was ownership… Who is left to blame?
[sarcasm on]
“All of the above”.
[sarcasm off]
It’s so hard being a Coyotes fan sometimes. Last night was definitely one of those times. The only good thing to come out of that game was the Doan Gnome.
I don’t understand how a team can just crumble like we did in the 3rd when we played solid 1st and 2nd periods. I’ve never been a fan of Ribeiro; I definitely think he needs to go. There has been a hole on this team ever since Whitney left. Sullivan and Ribeiro have been unable to fill it. Unlike so many others, I’m not ready to give up on Smith just yet. It’s true that he hasn’t reached the level of success he had in the 2011-2012 season but neither has the rest of the team. The difference between Smith and Ribeiro is that we’ve seen how great Smith can be. I’ve never seen much of anything out of Ribeiro.
Ribiero is currently 2nd in points on the roster behind Keith Yandle. Which makes him the top scoring forward on the team.
Not sure why you would think he’s been so ineffective???
TheLegend,
Watching Ribeiro play, it’s difficult to understand where his points are coming from. He’s constantly turning over the puck, has been drawing quite a few penalties lately, and the most frustrating thing of all (for me at least) is the constant hesitation to shoot the puck. I know that’s his style and the way he has always played, its just not for me. I will say, we did see some chemistry between Ribeiro and Vrbatta a couple games ago which was nice. That’s what I was expecting when he joined the team.
Keith Yandle has made more turnovers that ended up in our own net than anyone, yet I’m not about to begin screaming we should trade him.
Ribiero had one bad night where most of his PIMs came from. Hanzal had a similar game like that a couple years ago (19 minutes worth). Yet I don’t either of them as a liability.
It think the problem most people are having is they’re comparing him to Ray Whitney…. who had ONE good year with the Yotes, and since he’s been in Dallas has not put up the same numbers even though he’s got even more talent around him.
Sometimes it’s not the man himself…. it’s the guys around him that also need to be on the same page. Tippett has been juggling lines around so much the past two months it’s hard to wonder it that isn’t causing problems in itself.
I just have to ask this question, why is anyone surprise that the same team is now loosing now that they have “stable ownership”? Could it be that when the team was owned by the NHL and need a good record to enhance it value that was allowed to happen and now they have to earn that winning record it is proving to be a little harder. Maybe teams now feel free to beat up on the Coyotes now that they are no longer owned by the boss.
This is a ridiculous theory and disrespectful to everyone within the organization. The Coyotes have earned everything themselves, the good and the bad. The team is not a losing team. They still have more wins than loses and still have the opportunity to make the playoffs this year.
If that is really your “conspiracy” theory, then how do you explain last season? Team was still owned by the NHL, was likely to move, needed an owner, and made a lot of the same mistakes they are making this season while NOT owned by the NHL. I suppose you have an Obama birth forged birth certificate to sell me, or a shot of the moon walk taken on a soundstage in Hollywood?
Should check some facts and some spelling.
Not even the team they lost to is correct.
Hopefully nobody will object to the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations at the arena or, gasp, Christmas being mentioned again.