By Zachary Freedman
The Arizona Coyotes are a professional hockey team in the national hockey league. They first became the coyotes in the NHL in 1996 while before they were the Winnipeg Jets. Due to financial troubles, the franchise moved to Phoenix, Arizona and became the Coyotes of the NHL. This brings us back to a similar scenario where we are today.
The Arizona Coyotes are currently the least valuable team in the NHL estimated around 450 million dollars which is by far the worst in the NHL. For financial reasons they were basically kicked out of their previous arena and forced to find a new home. They were able to stay in Arizona and play at the new Mullet Arena on the ASU campus which is by far the smallest of any NHL arena but if they weren’t able to find an arena they would have been forced to relocate which would have changed things drastically.
After some research it looks like Kansas City would be one of if not the top location for the Coyotes to move to. This is because of the big sports market and lack of hockey teams around the area. The only thing is there is one NHL team they would have to compete with although it’s still close to a four hour drive which is a farther distance than the Kings and the Ducks which are both successful NHL teams that make it work.
If the Kansas City Coyotes were to become an official NHL team this would get rid of the NHL key monopoly in Missouri that the St. Louis Blues currently have and instead it would create direct competition between the two teams. Although there’s some competition both teams would be successful in their markets with the big sport markets that they are located in. This would benefit the arenas in Missouri giving them more business while hurting the arenas in Arizona easing their business.
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