The Success in the South vs The Disaster in the Desert: Comparing the Tampa Bay Lightning to the Arizona Coyotes
Earlier this week the NHL’s newest hockey team officially joined the league by revealing their “interim” name and jersey.
The creation of the Utah Hockey Club has hockey fans all around the world excited. Well, except for one part of the world, Arizona.
While classified as an expansion team, Utah is being created by moving the Arizona Coyotes to Salt Lake City. They’re only called an expansion team because though all of the Coyotes’ assets are going to Salt Lake City, the Coyotes’ name and history will remain in Arizona. Should Arizona ever be awarded a new team, it will be considered a continuation of the Coyotes. If this is confusing to understand, it’s the NHL’s version of the Cleveland Browns moving to Baltimore and becoming the Ravens.
While many fans in Arizona are heartbroken over the move, there are many more hockey fans who would argue this should have happened years ago. Why? Well, because to put it bluntly, the Arizona Coyotes were one of the biggest disasters in NHL history. Years of bad hockey, struggling to attract fans, costing the league millions of dollars, and multiple scandals. That is the Coyotes’ history.
Their last two seasons in Arizona saw the peak of these struggles. The team was kicked out of their arena in Glendale for failing to pay rent and was forced to play in Arizona State’s Mullet Arena. The rink held only 5,000 fans. They tried to get approval to build a brand new arena in Tempe but that was unanimously rejected by voters. What did the voters instead choose to build? A toxic landfill.
So yeah. The Coyotes were a massive failure and will now be one of the go-to arguments hockey fans use to criticize Gary Bettman’s tenure as NHL commissioner.
Why bring all of this up? Well because the Coyotes moving have all but confirmed one thing, the NHL is getting ready to expand again. Arizona will get first dibs when that time comes, but cities like Houston and Atlanta have been rumored as potential options.
Many hockey fans are up in arms about this. Mainly because they think the NHL doesn’t need to expand, but others hate the idea of expansion because of the cities that could get a team. To them, hockey can’t work in a southern market, and the Coyotes just proved hockey can’t work in a non-traditional hockey market.
I want to push back on that idea. The Coyotes’ failure wasn’t because of the city they played in. Hockey can work in a southern market. Want proof? Look at the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Lightning and Coyotes have similar beginnings. Both were created partially to capitalize on the rising population in their specific cities. Both play in cities that are so south that they are known for their extreme heat. But the two teams have gone on completely different paths. While the Coyotes have been forced to move out of necessity, the Lightning have become one of the NHL’s model franchises.
Why did these two similar franchises go in such opposite directions? Well, let’s find out by comparing the two franchises and see where the Lightning went right while the Coyotes went wrong. And considering it looks like the NHL will be expanding south soon, this will serve as a do-do-not list for that team.
Winning
This one is simple.
Though they initially struggled at the start and for a while in the late 2000s to early 2010s, the Lightning have created a long history of winning and success. 25 playoff appearances in 32 seasons. Five conference championships and of course, three Stanley Cups. All of this success has created deniable moments that impacted Tampa residents and created a loyal fanbase.
The history of the Coyotes isn’t filled with as much success. The team did make the playoffs five times in their first six seasons, but they never made it out of the first round. The Coyotes only won three playoff series in their existence. And if you don’t count the 2020 playoffs, where they defeated the Nashville Predators in a best-of-five play-in round that was due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they only have two playoff series wins. Those two wins came in one season, where they made a run to the 2012 Western Conference Finals. While this is a good season, it’s not a good sign when this is objectively the best year in team history.
The Coyotes missed the playoffs four years in a row and missed the playoffs for seven straight years before making the 2020 playoffs. In total the team only made the playoffs 10 times in 28 seasons.
As previously mentioned the Coyotes struggled to attract fans, at one point averaging only 4,600 fans. The Lightning meanwhile have constantly been one of the NHL’s attendance leaders. Both of these facts can be attributed to the team’s performance on the ice.
Winning brings in fans. If you don’t win, people won’t show up. This is especially true in non-traditional hockey markets. A game of professional hockey isn’t enough to get fans to the arena. To get people to show up, you need to win. And to create a true loyal following, you need to win consistently.
The Lightning have created a history of winning. Their runs to win multiple Stanley Cups captivated their city and created lifelong fans. As for the people of Arizona, why would they show up to see a team that has no such history?
Good Ownership
A team’s success depends on who owns them. Everything in the organization starts and ends with the guy at the top.
The Lighting’s modern success has been credited to the leadership of its owner Jeff Vinik. Vinik is considered one of the best owners in North American sports. Among the things he’s done is put $40 million of his own money to improve Amalie Arena, hire experienced and respected hockey minds to run the team, not meddle in team affairs, promote the team, and have the team give back to the community. Lighting players and other team personnel have praised him for creating a healthy work environment.
Coyotes have had multiple owners. None of them are even close to Jeff Vinik. These owners have done the following: abandon the team to join a group purchasing the New York Islanders, cause financial issues so bad the team named Wayne Gretzky as head coach as a PR move, force the team to file for bankruptcy, only buy the team to sell it for a profit, fail to pay players on time and create a toxic work environment. The NHL owned this team for a while because no one was interested in buying it.
If you can’t find stable ownership you won’t succeed on or off the ice. The Lightning have become profitable, successful and received constant praise because they’ve been led by a good owner. The Coyotes have lost millions because they can’t find stable ownership and in trying to do so have been led by one terrible owner after another.
Positive Community Relationship
To be successful in a non-traditional hockey market, you need to do more than just win. You need to create a relationship with your city through off-the-ice methods. Both teams have done that. But the relationships they’ve made are completely different.
The Lightning have worked to positively impact the city of Tampa, and through that, they have become loved and respected by residents. Through donating to charity, their tradition of awarding a Community hero award every home game, and teaching youth to play hockey through their Community Hockey program, the team has helped to better the community.
The Coyotes on the other hand, well there’s a reason the city voted to build a toxic landfill instead of a new arena. There have been so many scandals throughout the team’s history. These scandals include not paying rent for their arena, not paying hotel bills, filing a $2.3 billion claim against the city of Phoenix and failing to develop the area shrouding their arena in Glendale like they promised. And that’s just within the past 10 years.
There are little to no scandals in the Lightning’s history. By working to make a positive impact in the community, they have become easy to cheer for. The Coyotes on the other hand have been angering citizens with their antics and by doing so they have made many potential fans turn away.
To be successful in the South a hockey team must have on-ice success, stable ownership, and create a strong, healthy relationship in the community.
So to the NHL’s future team, my one piece of advice is to be like the Bolts, not the Yotes.
