A Possible Three's A Crowd: The Hamilton Coyotes?

Following the debacle that the possible sale of the Phoenix Coyotes has become, NHL fans keep hearing the mentioning of just one city: Hamilton, Ontario. For those of you who are not so geographically-savy, Hamilton is in the southern area of Ontario, in between Toronto and close to Buffalo, New York. Poising the question, will 3 NHL franchises within an hour of one another be too much?

The perennial NHL loser Phoenix Coyotes, found themselves among the bottom of the Western Conference and out of the playoffs for the 6th consecutive year. Another year where the Coyotes struggled yet again to put a winning product on the ice and fans in stands of the Jobing.com Arena. On top of missing the playoffs, the Coyotes have never advanced past the 1st round in their 13 year history in Phoenix. Their lack of success has undoubtedly produced a lack of serious fans in a questionable hockey market as the Coyotes ownership failed to make a profit for yet another season.

2008-09 was yet another trying year for the Coyotes franchise, as the team faltered so did the ownership's bid of climbing out of the red and into the black. The financial woes of the Phoenix Coyotes were disguised quite well, until a story leaked stating that the NHL had been giving advances in revenue sharing to the Phoenix Coyotes to help the team avoid bankruptcy. Since then, it's been reported that the Coyotes received 80+ million dollars from the NHL in order to avoid massive losses. It's also been rumored that 'Yotes owner Jerry Moyes was at one point buying 1,000 seats to every home game to avoid large losses; a practice reportedly stopped by NHL authorities. The struggling franchise then hit their lowest of lows when on May 5th, they filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Following the filing of bankruptcy, the news of Canadian tycoon Jim Balsillie offering to purchase the Coyotes franchise for an estimated 200+ million dollars off Jerry Moyes broke, an offer which Moyes reportedly accepted. The name of Jim Balsillie is nothing new to NHL executives, he's the same man who attempted to purchase the Pittsburgh Penguins and Nashville Predators, all with the same intention: moving the team to Hamilton. As both attempts by Balsillie were blocked by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, stating that the relocating of the Predators or Penguins franchise was out of the question during Balsillie's bids, Bettman has proved to be willing to move the Coyotes out of Glendale, Arizona and into a market hungry for hockey.

There's no doubting that Hamilton is perhaps the most suitable location, but whether it's most deserving is another question. They possess the biggest advantage and perhaps biggest potential issue for any other city vying for a team: an active NHL ready stadium. Copps Coliseum, an arena currently used by the Hamilton Bulldogs, the Montreal Canadiens AHL affiliate, is a more than capable arena for NHL standards. The Coliseum, can seat up to 17,360 for hockey games and offers an additional parking garage for fans. Ultimately this gives an advantage to the city of Hamilton, who's original motive behind building the Copps Coliseum was to attract an NHL team to their city.

However, they're not the only ones in the hunt for a team. Winnipeg, which is ironically where the Jets left to become the Phoenix Coyotes has expressed their desire to the NHL to bring hockey back to the 'Peg. Despite the demolition of the Winnipeg Arena, the city of Winnipeg feels that the MTS Centre who acts as home to the Manitoba Moose, the Vancouver Canucks AHL affiliate. The arena located in the heart of downtown Winnipeg currently holds just over 15,000 fans at full capacity, which would make it the smallest arena in the NHL today. However with the NHL's return to Winnipeg, tickets would undoubtedly be in demand and a packed house would only mean good things. Demand is nothing new to the MTS Centre, as a 2008 poll by Pollstar Magazine stated that the arena was the 19th busiest in the world; 3rd busiest in Canada.

Although they may not hold the arena capacity advantage, Winnipeg has the biggest advantage in their corner: the backing of NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. The head of the NHL has repeatedly stated his own preference of Winnipeg over Hamilton. Bettman has even used the age of Copps Coliseum as a reason not to bring a franchise to Hamilton, stating the fact that the arena was over 25 years old was working against Hamilton's bid for a franchise.

Personally, both cities presents intriguing options considering both are brimming with eagerness towards putting their city on the NHL's map of relevancy. Hamilton's advantage lies within the backing of a multi-billionaire while Winnipeg owns the nostalgic advantage and support of Gary Bettman. As interesting as bringing an NHL team to Hamilton would be, the idea of Winnipeg regaining a hockey team they never should have lost is sure to be a lift to the NHL. Not to mention Hamilton is directly between Buffalo and Toronto, creating a triangle of NHL franchises within an hour of eachother, which would undoubtedly create change for divisonal alignments. I'm rooting for the return of the Winnipeg Jets, after all, who wouldn't want to see the return of the original white-out? Pittsburgh has nothing on Winnipeg.

The downfall of the Phoenix Coyotes had to be expected, especially when your "Save The Coyotes" rally draws only 100 people. In a state that already has an NFL, MLB and NBA team, the introduction of hockey club to the desert was simply not to be. As the battle for the sale of the 'Yotes are heading towards deliberations for a June court date, for once, the eyes of NHL fans will be on the Coyotes.