The Coyotes are hurting…bad

Typical attendance at a Coyotes game

“Coyotes hurting?” you say.  “You’re kidding, right?  They’re off to a 4-2 start and sold out their first game!”

Well, I just happened to stumble upon this article on TSN.ca.

The Coyotes have recently announced a program where they will offer free tickets if the team wins certain home games.  There will be five of these games this season.  When you come to these designated games, you’ll get a voucher to receive the free ticket if the Coyotes win.  Here’s the team’s press release on their website.

And yes, the Coyotes did sell out their first game of the season.  But they sold all of their tickets for $25 or less.  Other than a $20 family section ticket, you can’t get into a Flyers game for $25 or under.  Now granted, the Flyers are a pretty franchise with a long history of success, but the Flyers never need to lower their prices to sell out, even during their horrible season a few years ago.  On typical night without slashed ticket prices, the cheapest ticket you can buy is $14.75.  That’s really cheap.

Despite their cheap tickets, the Coyotes’ attendance this past Thursday night was 6,899.  That’s just pathetic.

According to Forbes.com’s financial information of NHL teams from 2008, the Phoenix Coyotes rank (you guessed it) dead last in the NHL franchise value.  They are listed as being valued at $142 million.  Now compare that to the highest valued team, the Toronto Maple Leafs.  Their value is $448 million. What’s worse was that the Coyotes are the only team that had a negative change in value.

Don’t get me wrong, there are good NHL fans in Phoenix and people who love the Coyotes.  I also respect the franchise’s attempts at connecting with the fans and attracting them to the games.  But the NHL brass, and especially Gary Bettman, has to realize that Phoenix is simply not a viable NHL market.  It was a bad idea to begin with and it continues to prove itself to be a bad idea.

Quebec City has just put in a bid for a new arena.  They’re getting ready to welcome an NHL team back and the NHL is listening (thankfully).  Will the Coyotes become the new Nordiques?  Time will tell but the Coyotes need out of Phoenix.