With the poor Coyotes moving to Salt Lake City, the National League seems to be rediscovering small-town charm. Small is beautiful.
For decades, major sports leagues have based their teams in major markets to attract spectators and sponsors, not to mention television viewers, who secure lucrative television contracts.
But recently, the leagues have discovered the charm of small markets. Teams moved to Oklahoma City, Las Vegas and Winnipeg, seeking financial incentives, new arenas and stadiums, and more dedicated fans.
In April, the NHL approved the sale of the Arizona Coyotes — for $1.2 billion — to tech billionaire Ryan Smith and his wife Ashley. The team, which will be renamed, will play the 2024-25 season at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, the home arena of the NBA’s Utah Jazz, which is also owned by the Smiths.
At first glance, the NHL seems to be losing out. The Salt Lake City area is half the size of Phoenix; by population, Salt Lake City is the 29th market, Phoenix is 11th. Utah has never hosted an NHL team. However, the League’s decision is mainly linked to the demographics of Salt Lake City. Just like Phoenix, Salt Lake City is growing very fast. Except that in Utah, the tech sector is booming and attracting young, financially comfortable workers.
“People don’t come to Utah to retire,” Ryan Smith said. Faced with two rapidly growing states, we always choose the younger one to ensure future prosperity. »
For years, leagues have adjusted the size of their operations to squeeze more profit from fewer fans. The New York Mets, like other baseball teams, built a smaller stadium with more exclusive boxes. Citi Field, opened in 2009, seats only 42,000, 13,000 fewer than the old Shea Stadium. A smaller stadium is easier to fill – empty seats are obvious on TV – and you can bank on more upscale concessions and install more rows of luxury seats.
Normally, moving requires years of preparation. But according to commissioner Gary Bettman, the NHL had to act quickly, with the Coyotes needing stable ownership and a major league stadium. The team was unpopular and its finances were so dire that in 2009 the NHL had to take over the franchise. Arriving from Winnipeg in 1996, the Coyotes have been the league’s traveling members, playing in various venues, including last year in a 5,000-seat university arena.
But Salt Lake City seems enthusiastic about its new team, which has already collected deposits for 30,000 tickets (the arena seats 16,200 in hockey configuration). Nearly 65% of registered fans had not attended a Jazz game since 2021, Smith said. While the Coyotes were overshadowed by NFL, NBA and MLB teams in Phoenix, the new hockey team is already getting noticed in Salt Lake City, where it will compete with the Jazz and two soccer teams.
“Even if the market is smaller, there can be more innovation, especially since the team is new, it will be able to ride on a certain craze,” analyzes lawyer Frank Hawkins, who represented the NFL for a long time before ‘be a media consultant. “Plus, they are leaving a four-team market where the target audience was snowbirds, most of whom did not come from areas where hockey is loved. »
The NHL has not ruled out returning to Phoenix. Bettman struggled for years to maintain a team there; the NHL believes this market would be viable with the right owner and the right arena.
Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo retains the team’s intellectual property, including its logos and archives. He can revive the Coyotes and return to the NHL if he finds a suitable home and pays a $1 million expansion fee — the same fee he received for selling the team to Utah.
The league also considered other markets, reportedly including Atlanta — which twice hosted an NHL team — and Houston, which had a team in the former World Hockey Association.
For now, the league’s focus is on Utah, where the Smiths have just a few months to sell tickets and prepare for their team’s first season.
Perhaps fans “will see this as a chance to jump in with [the team] from the beginning, with their families, and say, ‘We’re on board,'” Smith concludes.
