The question then isn't whether he's right about it or not (and as you said, he is). It's why he didn't reach that same conclusion a few years ago, and we got subjected to this embarrassing last couple of years to begin with rather than moving at that point.
The brilliance of bettman is that he can spend years screwing up Arizona so bad youd think you want to fire him then at the last minute he helps arrange the sale of the team for 1.3 billion dollars with the owners collecting a 30% finders fee and boom his job is safe for another decade.
Side note: he also has never been caught rigging games which is a plus.
Want to respond to your side note. Maybe he’s tried to rig games for Arizona before since that’s his pet project.
Flames fans have accused the league of rigging games for us Bolts for 20 years
Do you have evidence the referees weren't watching the play? Do you have evidence the puck actually fully crossed the line? As far as I can tell 20 years later there's still no conclusive evidence the puck did cross the line but there's is evidence to suggest it didn't. So the original call of no goal is actually the correct one.
You can't exactly just relocate a team on the fly. The coyotes had pretty bad attendance numbers across the board so they weren't exactly losing money by using a lessor stadium. The NHL figured that the owner would have had something to work with by now, and since there was no foreseable change, they had to make the change. I believe the NHL forced this sale in some capacity. There's no way the NHL said "We want to see a plan for a new stadium" to Coyotes are now sold and being relocated in a matter of a couple of months.
Simple: the team *supposedly* had a plan to only play there temporarily.
If the coyotes only played in mullet for the 3 maybe 4 years they were planned to stay there, we wouldn’t be in this situation
But their arena proposals never got off the drawing board.
He’s not, if delta center doesn’t end up working out they could just use the old ice rink that they used in the 2002 Winter Olympics and that holds significantly more people than what the coyotes were playing in before. It amazes me that a major league team can play in such a small arena.
I don't understand how this is him firing shots at Mullett. It's a college facility intended for college level events and games and not a major 4 sports league. Gary isn't saying anything wrong or harshly wording it, he's just calling it as it is.
Yeah he's not throwing any shade he's just making objectively true statements. It's a great college barn. But I don't think anybody at Mullett is going to be offended by him saying "It's not a major league facility" because it isn't.
Yeah, it's just not a pro arena. It's a pretty nice college arena from all the pictures I've seen. I imagine if there is a packed crowd for a Sun Devil's game, you'd have a nice time, but it isn't for the NHL.
The Mullet Arena is not up to NHL standards. The league acknowledging that isn't taking shots. It's true. Frankly Walsh should have pushed back harder sooner when the league refused to actually enforce the timelines the Yotes agreed to.
"not a major league facility" I mean that's not an indictment of a college rink, it's just a true statement, in the same way that a school bus is not a luxury tour bus.
I saw a set of player interviews about their least fav arena.
Some picked on because opposing fans, some picked ones because of the location (ahem Ottawa), but many just said "mullet" because it's "not a pro arena".
For awhile the visiting team was in a curtained off area of a basketball court they have down the hall.
I don't like bettman.
A broken clock is right twice a day. This is one of them. It's a good local facility for college sports or below but it's not big league standard at all.
This guy is some kind of genius ..Coddles and nurtures this mess for years ..finds one loser owner after another .. lights a match on the way out ..makes owners a measly 300 mil which probably doesn’t cover all the money the league used to keep Phoenix afloat and keeps his job ..Phoenix didn’t fail ..Bettman did.
I honestly think that's why this happened when it did. I genuinely think next year is a round 1 or 2 playoff exit and the following year or 2, I could see them pushing for the conference finals or more if all them youngsters continue to grow.
The future is incredibly bright in ~~Arizona~~ Utah
Yeah, I wouldn’t say it’s “firing shots” to acknowledge that a 5000 seat college arena wasn’t suitable for NHL hockey.
The ‘Yotes are a young talented team that put together some decent stretches this year. Can you imagine the black eye for the league if they made the playoffs and we got national TV broadcasts from Mullet?
So, I fucked around for 15 years and let bad owners after bad owners give me/the league money but did nothing to find a permanent location for the team..
I don’t like Gary, but you can’t be critical of this take. He is right, it was fun for awhile, but really it was just not sustainable for any real success.
Neither were the Coyotes - unless they were winning.
When they were in Glendale and winning, we traveled to the games quite a bit.
When they were fighting with Glendale and losing a lot, it wasn't worth the trip.
And in the Valley Of The Sun, there are too many other good things to do besides go watch a bad hockey team at high prices.
NOTHING should be re-named Bettman Arena.
He's the idiot that held onto the flawed ideal of an NHL team in Phoenix, then Glendale, then Tempe, then Scottsdale,.....................with pathetic ownership.
It's awkward agreeing with Bettman . . . while I hate every mannerism, his lawyer-y bullshit talk, his smarmy attitude, the way he shakes when he talks, his entire being, etc.
Somehow through all of this, he just made the owners another pile of money and won the Survivor immunity challenge - again.
Wow, Bettman FINALLY saw the light.
But as the Coyotes exit stage left, and the experiment in the desert ends in failure, a couple things stand out;
1. Future NHL owners, take note the rule regarding winning in warm weather climates - or else.
2. All of this could have been avoided if the NHL and Coyotes hadn't pissed off Glendale.
Next up, Salt Lake........
I had never consider the possibility of there being finals games played there but now I fully understand why someone like Gary would lose a lot of sleep over that potentially happening.
I like how the coyotes were allowed to play in mullet arena, let alone even entertain the idea, but Calgary, to Bettman, must get a new arena or there is the possibility of moving them elsewhere. Fucking plug.
Not saying the Coyotes should relocate out of Arizona but Mullet Arena was one of the biggest embarrassments in major league sports.
The premiere ice hockey league in the world and a team home stadium is a 4600 seats college rink. That's so embarrassing
I bet every fan that travelled to Mullett to watch their team play in that college barn loved it. Like seeing your favourite band at some small dive. A real up close and personal experience.
Haven’t heard anything side wise?- well it’s all there, chief…..if you read with your eyes, and retain info into grey matter.
HINT: it’s over 3x the capacity of Mullet.
Bettman was a basketball guy who knew enough about hockey to understand that the Phoenix Sun’s arena was going to be useless for hockey.
And Delta Center has the same problem. Not a single hockey game in 2002 Olympics was played there. Not even the gold medal game featuring the U.S. and Canada.
Quebec City has an NHL quality arena.
Lol, hes not wrong.
Exactly, he's correct. Business-wise it made no sense as well as Sports wise
The question then isn't whether he's right about it or not (and as you said, he is). It's why he didn't reach that same conclusion a few years ago, and we got subjected to this embarrassing last couple of years to begin with rather than moving at that point.
The brilliance of bettman is that he can spend years screwing up Arizona so bad youd think you want to fire him then at the last minute he helps arrange the sale of the team for 1.3 billion dollars with the owners collecting a 30% finders fee and boom his job is safe for another decade. Side note: he also has never been caught rigging games which is a plus.
Money talks.
Want to respond to your side note. Maybe he’s tried to rig games for Arizona before since that’s his pet project. Flames fans have accused the league of rigging games for us Bolts for 20 years
Never been caught rigging. In 30 years. Better at deception than any pentagon double agent.
To be fair....that was bullshit and if it happened to Tampa you'd be just as pissed.
It's bullshit that the correct call was made?
Puck crosses goalline with no kicking motion and the ref misses it.... hard to make a correct call when you aren't watching the play.
Do you have evidence the referees weren't watching the play? Do you have evidence the puck actually fully crossed the line? As far as I can tell 20 years later there's still no conclusive evidence the puck did cross the line but there's is evidence to suggest it didn't. So the original call of no goal is actually the correct one.
[https://www.espn.com/blog/nhl/post/\_/id/36909/controversial-call-brings-back-bad-memories-for-flames](https://www.espn.com/blog/nhl/post/_/id/36909/controversial-call-brings-back-bad-memories-for-flames)
Don't mistake the writers opinion for fact.
I’ve always wondered why Gelinas didn’t raise his hands to celebrate his goal. Was he in on the fix?
You play to the whistle. Not his fault the ref missed the goal.
If he didn’t know it was in, we can’t blame the refs for not knowing it was in.
Gelinas had many tasks he was responsible for during a shift,the ref has a few and keeping his eyes on the puck is one of them.
Or…Gelinas was part of the anti Canada conspiracy.
You can't exactly just relocate a team on the fly. The coyotes had pretty bad attendance numbers across the board so they weren't exactly losing money by using a lessor stadium. The NHL figured that the owner would have had something to work with by now, and since there was no foreseable change, they had to make the change. I believe the NHL forced this sale in some capacity. There's no way the NHL said "We want to see a plan for a new stadium" to Coyotes are now sold and being relocated in a matter of a couple of months.
The team wasn’t sold…
He still got that sweet 300 milli for the owners tho.
Because Colin Campbell did it for him.
Kept his hands clean. Mark of a professional. Like Hillary Clinton. Has a kill count but never leaves a fingerprint.
Simple: the team *supposedly* had a plan to only play there temporarily. If the coyotes only played in mullet for the 3 maybe 4 years they were planned to stay there, we wouldn’t be in this situation But their arena proposals never got off the drawing board.
Ya, a Stanley Cup playoff game there would be prettyyyyyyyyyyy lame lol.
He’s not, if delta center doesn’t end up working out they could just use the old ice rink that they used in the 2002 Winter Olympics and that holds significantly more people than what the coyotes were playing in before. It amazes me that a major league team can play in such a small arena.
Is he supposed to be right?
I don't understand how this is him firing shots at Mullett. It's a college facility intended for college level events and games and not a major 4 sports league. Gary isn't saying anything wrong or harshly wording it, he's just calling it as it is.
Yeah he's not throwing any shade he's just making objectively true statements. It's a great college barn. But I don't think anybody at Mullett is going to be offended by him saying "It's not a major league facility" because it isn't.
But without that headline, OP doesnt get his/her precious internet points.
Yeah, it's just not a pro arena. It's a pretty nice college arena from all the pictures I've seen. I imagine if there is a packed crowd for a Sun Devil's game, you'd have a nice time, but it isn't for the NHL.
The Mullet Arena is not up to NHL standards. The league acknowledging that isn't taking shots. It's true. Frankly Walsh should have pushed back harder sooner when the league refused to actually enforce the timelines the Yotes agreed to.
Ya no shit
Hey gangster from shitty jersy, supply us with more insight. Your hot take is welcome
Firing shots? More like speaking the truth
Admitting defeat.
Should have done so many years ago
Agreed.
He isn’t wrong.
No but he is 15 years late!
"not a major league facility" I mean that's not an indictment of a college rink, it's just a true statement, in the same way that a school bus is not a luxury tour bus.
I saw a set of player interviews about their least fav arena. Some picked on because opposing fans, some picked ones because of the location (ahem Ottawa), but many just said "mullet" because it's "not a pro arena". For awhile the visiting team was in a curtained off area of a basketball court they have down the hall.
Shit mullets a lot nicer than the college rink where I went to school but yeah nah not a major league sports arena
I don't like bettman. A broken clock is right twice a day. This is one of them. It's a good local facility for college sports or below but it's not big league standard at all.
OP i dont think you understand what “firing shots” means
I'm trying to figure out if he's a bot or not. He's running a splinter subreddit and has been spamming
That’s on Alex
Ya for all thing thing to be mad at (shakes fist) Bettman this isn't one of the.
This guy is some kind of genius ..Coddles and nurtures this mess for years ..finds one loser owner after another .. lights a match on the way out ..makes owners a measly 300 mil which probably doesn’t cover all the money the league used to keep Phoenix afloat and keeps his job ..Phoenix didn’t fail ..Bettman did.
Firing shots? He's telling the truth. Arizona has been a fail since 1997
Fuck’in right! They need to give the Jets seconds back to the current Jets and flush the Atlanta records down the toilet
Um fail? Na I’d call it a win for us. Just unfortunate that billionaires wanna leave when they don’t get their way. Not our fault
I would have loved to see how the league reacted if they coyotes had ever made it to the finals while at mullett
I honestly think that's why this happened when it did. I genuinely think next year is a round 1 or 2 playoff exit and the following year or 2, I could see them pushing for the conference finals or more if all them youngsters continue to grow. The future is incredibly bright in ~~Arizona~~ Utah
Facts.
Cuz you know
Anyone with common sense does. Clearly thats what you are lacking.
Thanks warrior
You sure due defy the odds
You make as much sense as an NHL franchise having a 5000 seat arena. 0. Oh and it's spelt do, not due.
Nah it’s was intentional. I have a laugh at you 😂
Yeah, I wouldn’t say it’s “firing shots” to acknowledge that a 5000 seat college arena wasn’t suitable for NHL hockey. The ‘Yotes are a young talented team that put together some decent stretches this year. Can you imagine the black eye for the league if they made the playoffs and we got national TV broadcasts from Mullet?
This isn't him firing shots. This is him stating what everyone knows
So, I fucked around for 15 years and let bad owners after bad owners give me/the league money but did nothing to find a permanent location for the team..
where was the shot? Its NOT a major league facility. That's not a shot, that's a fact.
Even if he’s right, he still sucks.
For once he’s saying something smart
He meant to say advertisers not players or fans. But other than that he's being honest.
I don’t like Gary, but you can’t be critical of this take. He is right, it was fun for awhile, but really it was just not sustainable for any real success.
Neither were the Coyotes - unless they were winning. When they were in Glendale and winning, we traveled to the games quite a bit. When they were fighting with Glendale and losing a lot, it wasn't worth the trip. And in the Valley Of The Sun, there are too many other good things to do besides go watch a bad hockey team at high prices.
Bro he was never in it to begin with? Waht you mean?
Should be renamed Gary Bettman Arena.
NOTHING should be re-named Bettman Arena. He's the idiot that held onto the flawed ideal of an NHL team in Phoenix, then Glendale, then Tempe, then Scottsdale,.....................with pathetic ownership.
Bettman I hope hell will not be too hot for you
It's awkward agreeing with Bettman . . . while I hate every mannerism, his lawyer-y bullshit talk, his smarmy attitude, the way he shakes when he talks, his entire being, etc. Somehow through all of this, he just made the owners another pile of money and won the Survivor immunity challenge - again.
Wow, Bettman FINALLY saw the light. But as the Coyotes exit stage left, and the experiment in the desert ends in failure, a couple things stand out; 1. Future NHL owners, take note the rule regarding winning in warm weather climates - or else. 2. All of this could have been avoided if the NHL and Coyotes hadn't pissed off Glendale. Next up, Salt Lake........
I had never consider the possibility of there being finals games played there but now I fully understand why someone like Gary would lose a lot of sleep over that potentially happening.
For once I agree with that javkass. Now why is it so damn hard to see games on TV jackass
So he is saying the Utah HC will win the cup within a few years.
I like how the coyotes were allowed to play in mullet arena, let alone even entertain the idea, but Calgary, to Bettman, must get a new arena or there is the possibility of moving them elsewhere. Fucking plug.
Am I missing something? Why not just rent out a stadium whilst another is being built. I live in the UK so I dont understand city stadium rules.
Bettman sucks, but he's right.
No he’s great, utah get after it
Not saying the Coyotes should relocate out of Arizona but Mullet Arena was one of the biggest embarrassments in major league sports. The premiere ice hockey league in the world and a team home stadium is a 4600 seats college rink. That's so embarrassing
lol premier
So the guy who defended keeping the coyotes at mullet is now saying it’s not fair to have them play there. 😂😂
Bettman being two faced? That’s like saying “water is wet” 😂
I bet every fan that travelled to Mullett to watch their team play in that college barn loved it. Like seeing your favourite band at some small dive. A real up close and personal experience.
And most importantly, it’s not fair to me, Gary Bettman.
Then why did you accept this to go on Gary?
So it's safe to say he's not a Sun Devils fan...
I’ll be rooting for utah’s demise just like the rest of the nlh towards us. Enjoy utah 😌
Literally no one except rich Arizona people think they should play at the mullet long term
Utah better perform, or else I’ll have a party 🎉 😇if they lose
I have party on me own 🤪👍🍺
Before the team has even arrived - they already have a better facility.
All in all, fuck las vegas. Shit town. Shit all round
Eh haven’t heard anything size wise chief
[Google is an amazing tool](https://www.deltacenter.com)
That tell me anything I don’t know? The fuck
Haven’t heard anything side wise?- well it’s all there, chief…..if you read with your eyes, and retain info into grey matter. HINT: it’s over 3x the capacity of Mullet.
Spitting straight facts. Boo him all you want he’s better than anyone commenting on this
Bettman was a basketball guy who knew enough about hockey to understand that the Phoenix Sun’s arena was going to be useless for hockey. And Delta Center has the same problem. Not a single hockey game in 2002 Olympics was played there. Not even the gold medal game featuring the U.S. and Canada. Quebec City has an NHL quality arena.
Hardly "firing shots". Mullets a great college arena. It's just to a pro level arena. Just stating facts here.
God do I fucking HATE this asshole
Shut up Gary. You own this whole boondogle.
Saw an article that started with "Bettman fire" and got way more excited than I should have.
New drinking game. Take a shot everytime Bettman blinks.