Coyotes submit proposal to the city of Tempe, more on why Gila River Arena has cut ties with Yotes

A few weeks have now passed since the decision was made by the City of Glendale, Arizona to break off talks with the Arizona Coyotes amid lease extension agreement negotiations.

In the fallout of the decision, Coyotes CEO Xavier A. Gutierrez was left disappointed with the city's decision, but hopeful that talks might be resurrected.

"We are disappointed by today's unilateral decision by the city of Glendale to break off negotiations on a multi-year lease extension agreement. We are hopeful that they will reconsider a move that would primarily damage the small businesses and hard-working citizens of Glendale. We remain open to restarting good-faith negotiations with the city," said Gutierrez on August 19th.

Well, it's appearing less likely that that's what will happen now, following a study from research firm Applied Economics, who have determined that it is far more profitable for the city to use the Gila River Arena for concerts and other live events than it is to continue allowing the Arizona Coyotes to use the facility to host 43 home games.

"It would take 20 concerts, professional bull riding events, whatever you want to call the event," city manager Kevin Phelps said. "Twenty would equal the entire 43-game season."

Not only were concerts goers spending more on average in the arena, but they were also supporting more local establishments in the area as well, attending restaurants and bars in the area before and after concerts - whereas with hockey games, patrons were seemingly more likely to just catch the game and head home than they were to stick around for additional meals and/or entertainment.

"We had Elton John right before the pandemic," Phelps said. "People took a half-day off work. They went to the district for dinner, walked into the arena and stayed afterward and had drinks in district restaurants."

"Concerts tend to be experiential," he said. "With hockey, we find people get off work for a midweek game, they walk into the arena before the puck drops, have food in the arena and generally go back home. It doesn't have a tremendous amount of impact."

The Coyotes organization has struggled financially dating back to its days as the original iteration of the Winnipeg Jets. They have been rooted in Arizona since 1996 with no real financial success to speak of over that span.

According to Statista.com, the Coyotes have been operating in the red inclusively from at least 2006-2020.

"No matter which way you slice and dice this, (having the Coyotes leave) is financially better for the city of Glendale," he said.

**Update at 7:25pm**

Per AZCoyotesInsider's Craig Morgan, the Yotes appear to be pursuing an opportunity in Tempe, Arizona and have submitted a proposal to the city. The Coyotes have also issued a statement, albeit one sparse of detail;

«We are pleased to have submitted a proposal to the City of Tempe. As regulations surrounding the RFP process dictate, we cannot comment any further at this time, but we remain incredibly excited about this extraordinary opportunity.»

Source: Venuesnow.com

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