Another Desert NHL Team

Mr. Bettman insists on sand

Confusingly Mr. Bettman is endeavoring to explain the sale and relocation of the Winnipeg Jets/ Phoenix Coyotes/Arizona Coyotes/Utah…as a “new team” and not a relocation or expansion team.

A few seasons ago an insightful color analyst commented on how an NHL team could sell out every home game and the money generated would not even pay for the player’s salaries, so where does the money come from to run an NHL team?

Having to watch the Coyotes play in a college ice hockey arena was fun but it makes Mr. Bettman cringe as he shakily counts that as one of the reasons why Utah can have the team, even though physical attendance (covid) neither makes nor breaks an NHL team.

I cannot comprehend why the Board of Governors would think that another desert location would be a good idea instead of for example Quebec, a city that is one of the original NHL teams, or any other colder, snowier, climate for winter’s greatest sport, ICE hockey.

Watching Mr. Bettman push inappropriate geographical locations over more sensible ones highlights the “money grab” mentality a 1.2 BILLION dollar sale can induce, aided by the cliché, “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”.

The NHL is run by their team owners in a ruling body named the “Board of Governors”, until they collectively decided to hand over executive decisions to one man who for better or worse is the “conductor” leading the business of running the NHL.

NHL teams for over 100 seasons have seen many men succeed and retire, from the League President, to team owners, players, coaches, general managers, and not one single person is more important than the NHL or even ice hockey itself, so perhaps the conductor will have an epiphany.