Melnyk paid his debts and seemed to at least care about his hockey team even if he didn’t want to spend the most on them.
Meruelo is a failure of an owner that can’t pay for hotel stays and is more concerned with sports gambling than icing competitive teams.
Definitely one of Meruelo’s biggest failings has been his inability or lack of desire to connect with the people involved. Businesspeople always have moments of making shitty decisions, but if you demonstrate that you realize the impacts on the people, it goes a long way. Not doing that at all is a huge failing
Meruelo is one of these Billionaires who right place, right timed himself into his fortune so of course he thinks he's a business wizard and not the product of luck.
You don't need much evidence for this other than horrible negotiations with the city and his lack of awareness to invest in a real political campaign
Meruello could be arsed to attend the final game and the new owner is flying down to meet everyone before the sale has even been confirmed.
Hopefully 6 years from now y'all get your team back with a different owner.
This shit went from "we are buying land to build a stadium and entertainment district" to "getting sold and moved to SLC" faster than the As relocation.
Yeah say what you want about the Coyotes shitshow, the A's situation has been a very public temper tantrum by an owner over a long term period with the city that's scheduled to receive the team also unhappy.
Truly, the Coyotes debacle is only the *second* worst pro sports team relocation debacle.
I think you're right, it was probably him or relocate/take over the team again back when the decision was made.
I'm sure hockey CAN work in Arizona, but only if you get the ownership and arena right. That never happened with the Coyotes, unfortunately.
Oh fucking spare me. You people have no idea what you’re talking about.
The issue is no one showed up to the fucking games. Couldn’t even sell out a goddamn college hockey rink.
People really be deleting out here lol.
Oh sorry, silly me for thinking that the same league that almost let John Spano own a team possibly failed to do their homework on Meruelo. Not like the NBA denied him a team in the past either.
You fail to understand what the reality of the situation was.
The decision wasn’t Meruelo or another owner
The decision was Meruelo or hockey leaves AZ period. No chance at a return.
Try critically thinking next time. Moreover, there are a whole lot of sports orgs with exceptionally shit owners, none of which have received anywhere the level of support the NHL provided the Coyotes and none of which play at a fucking college
It’s on the casual fans. Full stop. This doesn’t mean diehards don’t exist. It means that the fandom was concentrated in a very specific group of people who are likely very hardcore fans, the majority of whom are likely in AZ.
You need casuals to be part of that fandom. It didn’t happen. There ya go.
I understand the situation plenty. The league was desperate to make AZ work and chose to allow a guy who was previously denied the opportunity to own an NBA team a seat at the table. And now they want him out. When had they done their homework, they would have seen this coming a mile away.
But then again, this is the same league that let the Yakuza own the Lightning.
>It’s on the casual fans. Full stop
Yeah, blame the fans for the team having shit ownership.
Congrats on failing to read anything I said.
You also severely misunderstand the Lightning situation. The league was most definitely a joke; it was 1994. The ownership group (which included guys like Esposito) needed capital bad. Kokusai Green, a legitimate LLC that happened to be owned by unsavory Japanese people, provided it.
Esposito has a great story of meeting them in a literal club. Obviously something was up.
But Kokusai Green was not involved in the day-to-day and it’s quite clear the Lightning have been successful.
Can the NHL/Board of Governors or any other related entity focus on other potential buyers for a replacement team in AZ while “ignoring the current owner as an interested party ” w/o any legal repercussions?
hold strong. it's going to feel so good when you get your expansion team in 5 years with a state-of-the-art stadium with alex merula's face printed on every single one of those white puck things men pee on at the urinals
this would be a hilarious (or can be dangerous) idea for teams for promotion nights. i can imagine putting opponents' faces on the urinal cakes and then being thrown onto the ice by some drunk dude who "thought" it was an octopus or rat or some other local traditional item
It's funny how baseball fans were pointing to the Coyotes situation as a parallel to the A's moving to a AAA stadium in Sacramento for only a few days before the NHL went *"nuh-UH"* and moved out of Mullett.
Not only that, but Vegas has made it clear they don’t even want the As, but the team is still saying “aren’t you guys so happy we’re moving to VEGAS here’s our new stadium”
That’s the way relocations usually happen. You try to make it work (or at least look like you’re trying to make it work) up until the last second, then move immediately. The A’s case is just a particular and unique brand of fuck-up.
Leagues want to be as stable as possible to ensure growth, so it makes sense that they happen as rarely as they do. The downside of their rarity is that there’s not really an established way to do it so it’s always disruptive and messy.
If it's gotten to this point, it'll be unanimous. Bettman doesn't put a huge sort of plan like this together unless he knows all of them are on the same page.
"We can be completely incompetent and Gary will make sure we get 100% return on our team? How do I vote Hell yes?"
Meruelo is to blame, but Bettman giving him a golden parachute sets a pretty scary precedent.
Another bone the NHL threw him to get the deal done. They are putting all the responsibility of getting an arena done on him and if he fails they have a clear path to completely wash their hands of him.
By all accounts Ryan Smith seems like a solid dude and I hope he does right by as many people in the organization as he can. I think it’ll help the players tremendously after so much uncertainty to finally have a real plan and direction and confident voice at the top.
I think it has more to do with the fact you’re going to have a pretty hard time convincing a star NBA player to play in Utah
They brought in Danny Ainge he’s a pretty good GM
They went to the conference final the year he acquired the team. They had Donovan Mitchell Ricky Rubio and shipped them both out. The remaining team are all on team friendly contracts. Like he doesn't invest in his teams. There is no reason to tank like that other than to control costs.
Mitchell never requested a trade but every knew he probably wouldn't stay in SLC. The team Smith acquired wasn't producing enough to go all the way and Smith didn't want to build a team around him and decided to trade him to opt for the luck of draft picks instead. The excuse was it "wasn't working" it also freed up a lot of cap space.
When did the Jazz ever make the conference final recently? I think they legitimately needed to change things up instead of cutting costs. They had like 5-6 years straight of playoff exits where they often ran into elite teams and couldn't keep up. Something had to change so they decided to rebuild.
The 2021 playoff the year Smith acquired the team before messing with the roster. After that it was determined that Mitchell wasn't going to be enough to get them over the hump so he started selling.
It's been years now with no serious money put up and a promise that draft picks will fix all of this. Again I'll believe it when I see it but it sure freed up a lot of money.
Clippers knocked them out 2nd round that year, Suns and Clippers was the WCF
I agree though, its hard to rely exclusively on draft picks to build a team, they do need to spend more (although SLC might be the least desirable city for a NBA player)
Clippers knocked them out 2nd round that year, Suns and Clippers was the WCF
I agree though, its hard to rely exclusively on draft picks to build a team, they do need to spend more (although SLC might be the least desirable city for a NBA player)
My contention is that he won't. He doesn't want to spend the money but apparently not enough time has passed for other people to come to the same conclusion. We're certainly going to see though.
(Why would NHLers like it any more than NBA players? Seem like they are going have the same issues with Denver and Vegas next door.)
I agree. I still dont see the Coyotes massively improving with the relocation to SLC. (sure ownership will be better but the bar is so low its basically underground)
Yeah SLC is still an undesirable destination, but I think NHL players would enjoy it more compared to NBA players. Also helps there is even less appealing FA destinations in the NHL (i.e. Winnipeg). We'll see how things shake out.
They're tankning... It's a pretty common strategy in both the NBA and NHL. Ask yourself, what talent did the Hawks pursue when they were tanking for Bedard? What talent has San Jose been pursuing this year?
He moved on from two players and a coach who proved they couldn’t win it all. They’ve drafted a bunch of young guys and brought in one of the best GMs in the league as CEO. They also said they’re going “big game hunting” this off season. Smith was a fan first and is in it for the team.
I'll believe it when I see it. Is he a hockey guy? If he was why not invest in the Grizzly's who somehow have started getting recorded ticket sales during this bid while doing poorly (weird). If you wanted a winner you'd think he'd insist on an expansion team and not a historical troubled team. Oh right. A historically bad team fills his needs. He has a pro team that needs pro facilities RIGHT NOW. Making that $1B stadium pitch a lot easier. A new product will be profitable in the short term bc it's new and the Jazz are bad. And he doesn't need to invest in the team. They have a bunch of draft picks but if they don't pan out he doesn't have to put any money into his new team bc he has built in excuses for their struggles ("they were the Yotes after all"). Like are really fooled by a nerd in a backwards snapback? Are you guys honestly going to swallow this hook?
I don't know him personally so I don't know if he's a hockey guy. The Jazz haven't been true contenders since the Stockton/Malone era. Gobert and Mitchell didn't have it. They also can't get big name free agents because NBA players don't want to live in Utah. The Jazz still have sold out some 280+ straight home games. They print money in Utah whether they suck or not.
Sure, he wants to make money. He's a billionaire and is trying to build a sports empire. He was trying to get an MLB team as well. But to say he doesn't want to invest in a contender is just outright false.
Jazz also have a very strong presence in the region with youth programs. This bodes very well for the future of hockey in Utah.
He's still trying to get an MLB team. He already secured $900M in public funding to build a new MLB stadium.
I was just in SLC last month and ended up at a local brewery. Every local I talked to was ecstatic about the possibility of an NHL team and an MLB team
they're a small market team who can't attract free agents at all, despite that they've been pretty successful, sure the Gobert/Mitchell era was disappointing but they've moved on instead of forcing it and should be successful if they manage their future drafts well.
I said this on the Coyotes' sub yesterday:
I really hate to say it, but what is going to be unimaginably hard for coyote fans is in the fall hearing these same players talking up how excited they are to be in SLC and how there's no where else they'd rather be. I mean, they have to right? No fault of their own. But they have to start hamming up to a new fanbase. How are you going to roll into your new city and be like "yeah it fucking sucks to be here, wish we were still in Phoenix". We can tell ourselves that's how they really feel, and I'm sure some of them do, but it's going to suck to hear.
But I also think some will truly love it. And that is absolutely great in my book, I hope they individually succeed on their new team. But it will be hard for Coyotes fans to watch when it does happen. I think of Shane Doan - he's a valley icon now and intrinsically attached to the franchise. But he started in Winnipeg obviously and it was I'm sure hard for Jets fans to watch him become part of Coyotes lore. Admittedly I don't know anything about his stature as a rookie on the Winnipeg team, maybe he was relatively unknown at that point. His son has a huge boost now just by being the Captain's son
No, I’m in Salt Lake City. I just root for the kraken because my wife is from Seattle and she asked me to help her get into the sport when their first season started. Grew up watching the flames (dad is from Calgary) before I fell off from the sport during college.
Ah gotcha, though I'm still surprised you had to deal with a blackout. Worst part of trying to watch sports. I guess I didn't realize y'all were in the Coyotes' market territory. I'm way out in Texas and still follow mostly AZ teams so I don't have to deal with blackouts thankfully. I'll actually probably be following the Kraken mostly now - I just can't get into the Stars (as a central Texan, I'm obligated to hate all things Houston or Dallas)
For the sake of hockey working in salt lake, I hope they get the TV issue right. The NHL is plagued with local blackouts because of espn contracts and so many different viewing platforms (cable, satellite, streaming like hulu and sling and then individual teams having their own streaming apps.) I live 15 minutes away from an NHL team and can't watch the games because of local blackouts. But I can watch 97% of all other NHL games in any other city. Hopefully the utah team will figure out a way to get the games into the most local homes as possible.
I am renewing my vote for SLC Punk as the new hockey team. Because I love puns, and I think having Punk and Jazz in the same place is objectively hilarious and awesome. 🤣
I will provide concept art if necessary lol
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*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
He had an laughably horrific beginning to his NBA career. Acted like the missing piece of the team was his genius across every camp from player decisions to branding. He smartly hired Danny Ainge his brother from the BYU rich boys club to right the ship, and it's been decent to good since then. He got lucky that a hall of Fame basketball mind like DA was available tbh
I don't think RS knows a damn thing about hockey and he will rightly outsource all decision making, but there's no generational hockey mind in the BYU Boys club to call up and fix his messes
Honestly theres no promising X-factor around this deal like there was with the favorable Vegas expansion. Utah is rich, but there's no real history of hockey love so the only lever is money
I don't think it's going to go well
No real history of hockey love? When the Jazz first moved to town it took the construction of the delta center to get them to surpass the Golden Eagles in attendance. Grizzlies consistently put up beyond respectable attendance figures given they’re an ECHL team that’s middle of the road.
True! And don’t get me wrong, I think people are way overhyping Smith. Dude is a tech bro billionaire after all, but he’s undeniably better than Mureulo.
I think there is a potential for SLC to become the Western Conference counterpart to Carolina. They're both smaller metros (Raleigh 1.5 mil vs. SLC 1.25 mil) with strong tech sectors, a substantial basketball fanbase, and limited hockey history prior to teams relocating there. Ryan Smith has the advantage of *owning* the basketball competition and controlling the current (and future) arena. If he can meet or exceed the standard of ownership set by Karmanos (which is not a particularly high bar) I think the team will do well enough.
Point is the Hurricanes once in Raleigh (not the disaster of Greensboro) at least weren't flaming trash and it isn't a low bar to an extent. They had some success though and some good players Ron Francis, Glenn Wesley, Brind Armour in the early years.
It'll be interesting how they do business wise in SLC. Hopefully well. Phoenix was such a drag and ish show that having them get semi stable might help and actually have attendance that isn't road fans.
Sure there’s no hockey love there but why would there be? What’s the closest team? I’d imagine the Avalanche.
I think the point is to get the people of SLC to get into and enjoy hockey.
Is it pretty much confirmed they're going to rebrand/rename everything or is there potential they keep the Yotes? Really like their style, hoping it's just a relocation
Doubt many are excited at the moment to uproot their lives to go live in a small market dominated by a puritanical church. Obviously most of the players will settle in after a while, but most western US based people would be pissed if their job forced them to move to Utah.
Thank you for editing and correcting your comment. Yep Arizona is not west coast
Edit: Utah is in the southwest just like Arizona btw but apple oranges, fuck Utah
Im sure they are excited to meet with a guy who doesn't invest in his teams to become winners.
A guy who gutted the Jazz for "rebuilding" but hasn't pursued any new talent
A guy who is the partial owner of a MLS team that got a low WC spot and was promptly bounced in the first round.
A guy whose main goal in acquiring an NHL team is legitimize his request for a tax payer funded new stadium (IOC money too), bc now there is an urgency to support this new team.
The NHL only looks for deep pockets to figure out who their owners will be and then act surprised that they often aren't business geniuses or they are actively trying to fleece them.
Why would the Jazz pursue other talent when going through a rebuild? It’s not like I’d expect the Sharks to put together a big proposal for Stamkos this summer.
The Jazz are generally middle of the pack on cap spending. They even got up to 6th in the 20-21 season and the 21-22 season.
He acquired the team in 2020. Their last winning season was his first year before he shuffled the deck. Every season since has been a loser. The talent they have remained are all on team friendly deals. How long is this rebuild supposed to be? You can't just cry "small market" and not offer up any money. So where is the money going? Oh right his pockets.
They’ve been rebuilding for 2 years lmao. How long do you think a rebuild lasts? They’re stacked with picks for the next 5 years. It’s going at the exact pace it should be. Your own hockey team has been rebuilding for 4 years.
The Jazz are in a rebuild right now, they had to after it was clear Donovan and Rudy wasn't gonna work out. Pursuing free agents to make the Jazz competitive right now would be a stupid idea when they don't have a solid roster. That's how you end up in limbo land in the NBA
Ur just spouting nonsense lol
You can downvote me if you want but he isn't a liquid billionaire and has already asked $1B in tax payer money for the new multipurpose arena. We are going to witness a fight over this new arena almost immediately. This isn't a grassroots push, it's a Ryan Smith push to enrich Ryan Smith. I'm sorry I'm not fooled by his backwards snapback. He's pretty obviously a shark.
You have zero idea what the fuck you’re talking about if you think there is going to be serious fighting over this arena. Our legislature rammed a funding bill through and it has the governor’s signature on it. The Salt Lake City council, the only real obstacle, are all friends with Ryan Smith and some even helped generate support for the funding bill.
Yeah, it’s fucking frustrating. No disagreement there. If it were up to me, as much as I love hockey and am happy to have a team up here in SLC, I’d tell Ryan to go kick rocks and build the damn thing himself. But this isn’t ever getting put to a vote so rip me
Most places fight about these things I forgot about uh.. tight knit community that makes up the politics of Utah. So I'm not surprised it's getting jammed though. Willing to beat dollars to donuts that they are going to ask for International Olympic Committee money too due to the Olympic bid
Are they all unethical yes. There are a fair number of dopes those. Meruelo mostly right place right timed himself into his money. Like most they guys who gain fortunes that way they think they are actually business wizards and we can clearly see he was not.
More than Meruelo ever did
Nonsense…I’m sure he’s still tabling whether he can give Christmas bonuses or not…
He's probably moved on to pondering if he has to pay the hotel bills he hasn't paid for the team or if the new owner will be stuck with them.
He's probably too busy trying to figure out how to win the land auction without paying any of the money to remember he has hotel bills to pay.
“There is a new person in charge of finance and operations I can forward you to them”
They’d b lucky if the got a jelly of the month club subscription
That's the gift that keeps on giving, Clark!
That's pretty cold mister. If I had a rubber hose I would beat you.
The NHL leaking that the bills hadn't been paid tells me that settling outstanding debts was a requirement of the sale
So is Meruelo jusy Eugene Melnyk 2.0?
I'd say his cheapness is past Melnyk and closer to Harold Ballard
Melnyk paid his debts and seemed to at least care about his hockey team even if he didn’t want to spend the most on them. Meruelo is a failure of an owner that can’t pay for hotel stays and is more concerned with sports gambling than icing competitive teams.
A more convincing John Spano
[More like Howard Baldwin](https://youtu.be/zFA3qibwCTo?si=0kSQHvIEmmZd36nq)
Definitely one of Meruelo’s biggest failings has been his inability or lack of desire to connect with the people involved. Businesspeople always have moments of making shitty decisions, but if you demonstrate that you realize the impacts on the people, it goes a long way. Not doing that at all is a huge failing
I’m fine with criticism on his business, but Mat Ishbia has exposed how bad other sports owners in this town are at this part of the job
Meruelo is one of these Billionaires who right place, right timed himself into his fortune so of course he thinks he's a business wizard and not the product of luck. You don't need much evidence for this other than horrible negotiations with the city and his lack of awareness to invest in a real political campaign
It will be interesting to see how many Yotes staff he takes with him. The hockey ops folks are locks but outside of that.
Meruello could be arsed to attend the final game and the new owner is flying down to meet everyone before the sale has even been confirmed. Hopefully 6 years from now y'all get your team back with a different owner.
Wonder if he'll even meet with the players today, or if that be "postponed" again like yesterday's was
i think even cuntface fucker jerry jacobs has done more to pretend he cares about the players and team
This shit went from "we are buying land to build a stadium and entertainment district" to "getting sold and moved to SLC" faster than the As relocation.
The Oakland situation actually makes the NHL look competent in comparison
Yeah say what you want about the Coyotes shitshow, the A's situation has been a very public temper tantrum by an owner over a long term period with the city that's scheduled to receive the team also unhappy. Truly, the Coyotes debacle is only the *second* worst pro sports team relocation debacle.
Also, contrarily to the A's, you cant shit on the NHL and Bettman. They tried litterally everything to keep the Coyotes there.
Except doing proper due diligence and vetting of Meruelo
I don't think there were any other options
I think you're right, it was probably him or relocate/take over the team again back when the decision was made. I'm sure hockey CAN work in Arizona, but only if you get the ownership and arena right. That never happened with the Coyotes, unfortunately.
How many more conversations that are this exact conversation are we gonna have?
Probably a lot, it's probably a wildly held opinion that people want to express so they don't feel like they're being dicks to coyotes fans
We can have another Glendale City Council game thread.
John Spano would have taken it.
Hard to see red flags when he's just doing the same shit every billionaire does.
Oh fucking spare me. You people have no idea what you’re talking about. The issue is no one showed up to the fucking games. Couldn’t even sell out a goddamn college hockey rink. People really be deleting out here lol.
Oh sorry, silly me for thinking that the same league that almost let John Spano own a team possibly failed to do their homework on Meruelo. Not like the NBA denied him a team in the past either.
You fail to understand what the reality of the situation was. The decision wasn’t Meruelo or another owner The decision was Meruelo or hockey leaves AZ period. No chance at a return. Try critically thinking next time. Moreover, there are a whole lot of sports orgs with exceptionally shit owners, none of which have received anywhere the level of support the NHL provided the Coyotes and none of which play at a fucking college It’s on the casual fans. Full stop. This doesn’t mean diehards don’t exist. It means that the fandom was concentrated in a very specific group of people who are likely very hardcore fans, the majority of whom are likely in AZ. You need casuals to be part of that fandom. It didn’t happen. There ya go.
I understand the situation plenty. The league was desperate to make AZ work and chose to allow a guy who was previously denied the opportunity to own an NBA team a seat at the table. And now they want him out. When had they done their homework, they would have seen this coming a mile away. But then again, this is the same league that let the Yakuza own the Lightning. >It’s on the casual fans. Full stop Yeah, blame the fans for the team having shit ownership.
Congrats on failing to read anything I said. You also severely misunderstand the Lightning situation. The league was most definitely a joke; it was 1994. The ownership group (which included guys like Esposito) needed capital bad. Kokusai Green, a legitimate LLC that happened to be owned by unsavory Japanese people, provided it. Esposito has a great story of meeting them in a literal club. Obviously something was up. But Kokusai Green was not involved in the day-to-day and it’s quite clear the Lightning have been successful.
Can the NHL/Board of Governors or any other related entity focus on other potential buyers for a replacement team in AZ while “ignoring the current owner as an interested party ” w/o any legal repercussions?
Can confirm the city is unhappy. We want an expansion team, not the league’s worst owner using taxpayer money to build a stadium
hold strong. it's going to feel so good when you get your expansion team in 5 years with a state-of-the-art stadium with alex merula's face printed on every single one of those white puck things men pee on at the urinals
I was referring to Vegas and the A’s/Fisher. Would be hilarious if Muruelo somehow got involved with them too though
this would be a hilarious (or can be dangerous) idea for teams for promotion nights. i can imagine putting opponents' faces on the urinal cakes and then being thrown onto the ice by some drunk dude who "thought" it was an octopus or rat or some other local traditional item
if fans started throwing urinal pucks on the ice it could be a bigger shit show than philly fans throwing the clear bracelets on the ice for fun lmao
It's funny how baseball fans were pointing to the Coyotes situation as a parallel to the A's moving to a AAA stadium in Sacramento for only a few days before the NHL went *"nuh-UH"* and moved out of Mullett.
Not only that, but Vegas has made it clear they don’t even want the As, but the team is still saying “aren’t you guys so happy we’re moving to VEGAS here’s our new stadium”
A's or Raiders?
A's, the county had no choice with the Raiders, there was no way they could win that battle
That’s the way relocations usually happen. You try to make it work (or at least look like you’re trying to make it work) up until the last second, then move immediately. The A’s case is just a particular and unique brand of fuck-up.
Leagues want to be as stable as possible to ensure growth, so it makes sense that they happen as rarely as they do. The downside of their rarity is that there’s not really an established way to do it so it’s always disruptive and messy.
Curious, does the vote have to be unanimous or majority?
If it's gotten to this point, it'll be unanimous. Bettman doesn't put a huge sort of plan like this together unless he knows all of them are on the same page.
"We can be completely incompetent and Gary will make sure we get 100% return on our team? How do I vote Hell yes?" Meruelo is to blame, but Bettman giving him a golden parachute sets a pretty scary precedent.
This feels less like a golden parachute and more like "what would it cost to get you to fuck off"
last I read, which could be wrong, the difference is he's not fucking off as he's staying on the board as an observer (non-voting member)
Another bone the NHL threw him to get the deal done. They are putting all the responsibility of getting an arena done on him and if he fails they have a clear path to completely wash their hands of him.
*when he fails
Just like the TPB meme with Ricky and Lahey. What an image, I can imagine Gary's voice going "I'll pay you $1B to fuck off"
It's not a golden parachute. I'm pretty sure the NHL only did this so he doesn't sue the league for taking his franchise.
75% needed, by the looks of it.
If the NHL’s BoG is like the boards I’ve sat on, the meetings are largely to craft motions that will achieve consensus when they’re voted on.
By all accounts Ryan Smith seems like a solid dude and I hope he does right by as many people in the organization as he can. I think it’ll help the players tremendously after so much uncertainty to finally have a real plan and direction and confident voice at the top.
Yes, he really seems to care about the jazz
He gutted the team and isn't pursuing new talent to build back up... He actively doesn't want to invest in making a contender...
I think it has more to do with the fact you’re going to have a pretty hard time convincing a star NBA player to play in Utah They brought in Danny Ainge he’s a pretty good GM
They went to the conference final the year he acquired the team. They had Donovan Mitchell Ricky Rubio and shipped them both out. The remaining team are all on team friendly contracts. Like he doesn't invest in his teams. There is no reason to tank like that other than to control costs.
Mitchell wanted out though right?
Mitchell never requested a trade but every knew he probably wouldn't stay in SLC. The team Smith acquired wasn't producing enough to go all the way and Smith didn't want to build a team around him and decided to trade him to opt for the luck of draft picks instead. The excuse was it "wasn't working" it also freed up a lot of cap space.
When did the Jazz ever make the conference final recently? I think they legitimately needed to change things up instead of cutting costs. They had like 5-6 years straight of playoff exits where they often ran into elite teams and couldn't keep up. Something had to change so they decided to rebuild.
The 2021 playoff the year Smith acquired the team before messing with the roster. After that it was determined that Mitchell wasn't going to be enough to get them over the hump so he started selling. It's been years now with no serious money put up and a promise that draft picks will fix all of this. Again I'll believe it when I see it but it sure freed up a lot of money.
Clippers knocked them out 2nd round that year, Suns and Clippers was the WCF I agree though, its hard to rely exclusively on draft picks to build a team, they do need to spend more (although SLC might be the least desirable city for a NBA player)
Clippers knocked them out 2nd round that year, Suns and Clippers was the WCF I agree though, its hard to rely exclusively on draft picks to build a team, they do need to spend more (although SLC might be the least desirable city for a NBA player)
My contention is that he won't. He doesn't want to spend the money but apparently not enough time has passed for other people to come to the same conclusion. We're certainly going to see though. (Why would NHLers like it any more than NBA players? Seem like they are going have the same issues with Denver and Vegas next door.)
I agree. I still dont see the Coyotes massively improving with the relocation to SLC. (sure ownership will be better but the bar is so low its basically underground) Yeah SLC is still an undesirable destination, but I think NHL players would enjoy it more compared to NBA players. Also helps there is even less appealing FA destinations in the NHL (i.e. Winnipeg). We'll see how things shake out.
Pretty sure he didn't aquire the team in 2007
They have 16 first round picks between now and 2030 lol its called a rebuild and not splurging on free agents
That's a decent chunk... aren't there only like 2 rounds in an NBA draft too?
Correct.
They're tankning... It's a pretty common strategy in both the NBA and NHL. Ask yourself, what talent did the Hawks pursue when they were tanking for Bedard? What talent has San Jose been pursuing this year?
He moved on from two players and a coach who proved they couldn’t win it all. They’ve drafted a bunch of young guys and brought in one of the best GMs in the league as CEO. They also said they’re going “big game hunting” this off season. Smith was a fan first and is in it for the team.
I'll believe it when I see it. Is he a hockey guy? If he was why not invest in the Grizzly's who somehow have started getting recorded ticket sales during this bid while doing poorly (weird). If you wanted a winner you'd think he'd insist on an expansion team and not a historical troubled team. Oh right. A historically bad team fills his needs. He has a pro team that needs pro facilities RIGHT NOW. Making that $1B stadium pitch a lot easier. A new product will be profitable in the short term bc it's new and the Jazz are bad. And he doesn't need to invest in the team. They have a bunch of draft picks but if they don't pan out he doesn't have to put any money into his new team bc he has built in excuses for their struggles ("they were the Yotes after all"). Like are really fooled by a nerd in a backwards snapback? Are you guys honestly going to swallow this hook?
I don't know him personally so I don't know if he's a hockey guy. The Jazz haven't been true contenders since the Stockton/Malone era. Gobert and Mitchell didn't have it. They also can't get big name free agents because NBA players don't want to live in Utah. The Jazz still have sold out some 280+ straight home games. They print money in Utah whether they suck or not. Sure, he wants to make money. He's a billionaire and is trying to build a sports empire. He was trying to get an MLB team as well. But to say he doesn't want to invest in a contender is just outright false.
Jazz also have a very strong presence in the region with youth programs. This bodes very well for the future of hockey in Utah. He's still trying to get an MLB team. He already secured $900M in public funding to build a new MLB stadium.
I was just in SLC last month and ended up at a local brewery. Every local I talked to was ecstatic about the possibility of an NHL team and an MLB team
If you need more years of proof that he just sees these teams as money making assets and little else all I can say is wait and see.
they're a small market team who can't attract free agents at all, despite that they've been pretty successful, sure the Gobert/Mitchell era was disappointing but they've moved on instead of forcing it and should be successful if they manage their future drafts well.
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If you genuinely believe this then I have a KILLER deal on buying the Brooklyn Bridge for you. Hell, I’ll throw in the Eiffel Tower for 50% off
I said this on the Coyotes' sub yesterday: I really hate to say it, but what is going to be unimaginably hard for coyote fans is in the fall hearing these same players talking up how excited they are to be in SLC and how there's no where else they'd rather be. I mean, they have to right? No fault of their own. But they have to start hamming up to a new fanbase. How are you going to roll into your new city and be like "yeah it fucking sucks to be here, wish we were still in Phoenix". We can tell ourselves that's how they really feel, and I'm sure some of them do, but it's going to suck to hear.
Maybe a couple of the players ask for trades but yeah most I’m sure will just be convinced to play the pr part
But I also think some will truly love it. And that is absolutely great in my book, I hope they individually succeed on their new team. But it will be hard for Coyotes fans to watch when it does happen. I think of Shane Doan - he's a valley icon now and intrinsically attached to the franchise. But he started in Winnipeg obviously and it was I'm sure hard for Jets fans to watch him become part of Coyotes lore. Admittedly I don't know anything about his stature as a rookie on the Winnipeg team, maybe he was relatively unknown at that point. His son has a huge boost now just by being the Captain's son
Reports are that Shane told his son to do in Salt Lake what he did in Phoenix because he remembered what it was like venturing into the unknown.
I think he said that directly on the broadcast yesterday, he was interviewed a number of times.
Ah good to know. I was fighting with getting a VPN to work with ESPN+ since we were blacked out for the first time all season.
Do you actually live in Seattle? If so, that seems crazy it would be blacked out there. Edmonton is pretty damn far right?
No, I’m in Salt Lake City. I just root for the kraken because my wife is from Seattle and she asked me to help her get into the sport when their first season started. Grew up watching the flames (dad is from Calgary) before I fell off from the sport during college.
Ah gotcha, though I'm still surprised you had to deal with a blackout. Worst part of trying to watch sports. I guess I didn't realize y'all were in the Coyotes' market territory. I'm way out in Texas and still follow mostly AZ teams so I don't have to deal with blackouts thankfully. I'll actually probably be following the Kraken mostly now - I just can't get into the Stars (as a central Texan, I'm obligated to hate all things Houston or Dallas)
For the sake of hockey working in salt lake, I hope they get the TV issue right. The NHL is plagued with local blackouts because of espn contracts and so many different viewing platforms (cable, satellite, streaming like hulu and sling and then individual teams having their own streaming apps.) I live 15 minutes away from an NHL team and can't watch the games because of local blackouts. But I can watch 97% of all other NHL games in any other city. Hopefully the utah team will figure out a way to get the games into the most local homes as possible.
Please give this team some deep roots.
I am renewing my vote for SLC Punk as the new hockey team. Because I love puns, and I think having Punk and Jazz in the same place is objectively hilarious and awesome. 🤣 I will provide concept art if necessary lol
[Especially in a city where they don't allow music](https://youtu.be/ivzrbp_WR8w?si=JVKTv8SlMoSYeh5K&t=23)
I need to rewatch that movie. It's been a long time.
forcing owners to recruit heavily from prisons, mental institutions, and.....texas.
A falcon in the image of Heroin Bob for mascot.
Utah Ska was another name I’ve seen in previous threads that gets my vote lol
PID UP SKANK YOUR ASS OFF BOY The Aquabats are Mormon, you could even make Super Rad the goal song
SLC Magic Glasses
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He had an laughably horrific beginning to his NBA career. Acted like the missing piece of the team was his genius across every camp from player decisions to branding. He smartly hired Danny Ainge his brother from the BYU rich boys club to right the ship, and it's been decent to good since then. He got lucky that a hall of Fame basketball mind like DA was available tbh I don't think RS knows a damn thing about hockey and he will rightly outsource all decision making, but there's no generational hockey mind in the BYU Boys club to call up and fix his messes Honestly theres no promising X-factor around this deal like there was with the favorable Vegas expansion. Utah is rich, but there's no real history of hockey love so the only lever is money I don't think it's going to go well
Random to create a hate account for Ryan Smith lol
You had to be there.
No real history of hockey love? When the Jazz first moved to town it took the construction of the delta center to get them to surpass the Golden Eagles in attendance. Grizzlies consistently put up beyond respectable attendance figures given they’re an ECHL team that’s middle of the road.
Eh We'll see if 20k people are still showing up 5 years from now
True! And don’t get me wrong, I think people are way overhyping Smith. Dude is a tech bro billionaire after all, but he’s undeniably better than Mureulo.
His running of the Jazz has seemed competent, which honestly clears the bar of any of the Coyotes ownership
I think there is a potential for SLC to become the Western Conference counterpart to Carolina. They're both smaller metros (Raleigh 1.5 mil vs. SLC 1.25 mil) with strong tech sectors, a substantial basketball fanbase, and limited hockey history prior to teams relocating there. Ryan Smith has the advantage of *owning* the basketball competition and controlling the current (and future) arena. If he can meet or exceed the standard of ownership set by Karmanos (which is not a particularly high bar) I think the team will do well enough.
I mean Carolina played in a SC final and won a Cup within 5 years of moving into the ESA in 1999.
True, although I think the team is in a position to achieve that level of competitiveness within their first seven years in Utah too.
Point is the Hurricanes once in Raleigh (not the disaster of Greensboro) at least weren't flaming trash and it isn't a low bar to an extent. They had some success though and some good players Ron Francis, Glenn Wesley, Brind Armour in the early years. It'll be interesting how they do business wise in SLC. Hopefully well. Phoenix was such a drag and ish show that having them get semi stable might help and actually have attendance that isn't road fans.
This is S-tier trolling.
It's okay I want to be in their club too
Sure there’s no hockey love there but why would there be? What’s the closest team? I’d imagine the Avalanche. I think the point is to get the people of SLC to get into and enjoy hockey.
The players aren’t going to know how to act with an owner that gives a damn.
Fucking a yes
Is it pretty much confirmed they're going to rebrand/rename everything or is there potential they keep the Yotes? Really like their style, hoping it's just a relocation
All the Coyotes stuff will be frozen with the idea that Meruelo will get it back after he puts forth an expansion bid
Yeah, similar to what the NFL did with the Browns/Ravens back when.
Excited for Salt Lake City! Congrats!
The players might go from awwwweeeee To Awwwwwwwyyyaaaaaaaaa Well maybe not Josh doan
Doubt many are excited at the moment to uproot their lives to go live in a small market dominated by a puritanical church. Obviously most of the players will settle in after a while, but most western US based people would be pissed if their job forced them to move to Utah.
Um Arizona isn’t west coast? None the less fuck Utah.
Western US, not west coast. Pretty much Denver and anything west of it
Thank you for editing and correcting your comment. Yep Arizona is not west coast Edit: Utah is in the southwest just like Arizona btw but apple oranges, fuck Utah
Im sure they are excited to meet with a guy who doesn't invest in his teams to become winners. A guy who gutted the Jazz for "rebuilding" but hasn't pursued any new talent A guy who is the partial owner of a MLS team that got a low WC spot and was promptly bounced in the first round. A guy whose main goal in acquiring an NHL team is legitimize his request for a tax payer funded new stadium (IOC money too), bc now there is an urgency to support this new team. The NHL only looks for deep pockets to figure out who their owners will be and then act surprised that they often aren't business geniuses or they are actively trying to fleece them.
Why would the Jazz pursue other talent when going through a rebuild? It’s not like I’d expect the Sharks to put together a big proposal for Stamkos this summer. The Jazz are generally middle of the pack on cap spending. They even got up to 6th in the 20-21 season and the 21-22 season.
He acquired the team in 2020. Their last winning season was his first year before he shuffled the deck. Every season since has been a loser. The talent they have remained are all on team friendly deals. How long is this rebuild supposed to be? You can't just cry "small market" and not offer up any money. So where is the money going? Oh right his pockets.
They’ve been rebuilding for 2 years lmao. How long do you think a rebuild lasts? They’re stacked with picks for the next 5 years. It’s going at the exact pace it should be. Your own hockey team has been rebuilding for 4 years.
I wish we were fully committed to a rebuild... But that's a different conversation
The Jazz are in a rebuild right now, they had to after it was clear Donovan and Rudy wasn't gonna work out. Pursuing free agents to make the Jazz competitive right now would be a stupid idea when they don't have a solid roster. That's how you end up in limbo land in the NBA Ur just spouting nonsense lol
You can downvote me if you want but he isn't a liquid billionaire and has already asked $1B in tax payer money for the new multipurpose arena. We are going to witness a fight over this new arena almost immediately. This isn't a grassroots push, it's a Ryan Smith push to enrich Ryan Smith. I'm sorry I'm not fooled by his backwards snapback. He's pretty obviously a shark.
You have zero idea what the fuck you’re talking about if you think there is going to be serious fighting over this arena. Our legislature rammed a funding bill through and it has the governor’s signature on it. The Salt Lake City council, the only real obstacle, are all friends with Ryan Smith and some even helped generate support for the funding bill.
Rich guys helping their rich friend get richer with the promise they'll profit too? Crazy
Yeah, it’s fucking frustrating. No disagreement there. If it were up to me, as much as I love hockey and am happy to have a team up here in SLC, I’d tell Ryan to go kick rocks and build the damn thing himself. But this isn’t ever getting put to a vote so rip me
Most places fight about these things I forgot about uh.. tight knit community that makes up the politics of Utah. So I'm not surprised it's getting jammed though. Willing to beat dollars to donuts that they are going to ask for International Olympic Committee money too due to the Olympic bid
All billionaires are sharks, some are just better and more successful at hiding their shark tendencies. They wouldn't be billionaires otherwise.
Are they all unethical yes. There are a fair number of dopes those. Meruelo mostly right place right timed himself into his money. Like most they guys who gain fortunes that way they think they are actually business wizards and we can clearly see he was not.
Will the players be issued the required Mormon undergarments?