Apologies for the lack of new posts over the past couple of months; Corinne and I have been busy (finally!) becoming homeowners. I'll have more to say about that in a future post.
Last week, voters in Tempe, Arizona rejected a proposal to build a new arena for the National Hockey League's Arizona Coyotes. The hockey team, which relocated to Arizona from Winnipeg in 1996 and has previously played in Phoenix and Glendale but now plays in a 5,000-seat facility on the Arizona State University campus, is now left without any good options for a new arena in Arizona and may be looking to relocate to another city. Speculation has flourished that Houston could become the team's new home.
At first glance it makes sense. Houston is the largest city in the nation without an NHL franchise, and hasn't had a hockey team of any kind since the AHL's Aeros, as well-supported as they were, relocated to Iowa in 2013. The Toyota Center can easily accommodate hockey, and local billionaire and Houston Rockets owner Tillman Fertitta, who holds the lease to Toyota Center, has expressed interest in becoming an NHL owner. The Coyotes are also a geographic fit; they play in the NHL's Central Division along with the Dallas Stars, which sets up the potential for a Houston-Dallas rivalry.
However, there are also some hurdles to be overcome. For one thing, Houston's not the only city looking for a major league hockey team. Salt Lake City and Kansas City (but probably not Quebec City) have also been mentioned as potential future homes for the Coyotes. There's the question as to whether Houston, as big as it is, is really a "hockey town" that can support an NHL franchise. There's also the question as to whether the NHL will accept whatever Fertitta might be willing to pay for the Coyotes. And that's if the Coyotes move at all; the NHL prefers to keep the team in the Phoenix area and will continue looking for new arena options there.
All of which leads to two points I want to make about this topic:
1. I'll believe it when it happens. Houston has been named as a potential home for an NHL franchise, either through expansion or relocation, since the 1990s. It hasn't happened. Over the past thirtysomething years cities like Columbus and Raleigh and Nashville and Las Vegas have received new or relocated teams, but the NHL, for whatever reason, has passed Houston over.
There was last discussion about Tillman Fertitta bringing NHL hockey to Houston in 2017. Nothing came of it. Maybe this time things will be different, but I'm not holding my breath. Houston just doesn't seem like a priority for the NHL.
2. Be careful what you wish for. Houston getting an NHL franchise is one thing; Houston getting a *good* NHL franchise is something altogether different. Relocation doesn’t necessarily change a sports franchise’s culture, especially if that culture is one of mediocrity. And the Coyotes are, unfortunately, the paragon of mediocrity.
The Coyotes joined the NHL in 1979 as the Winnipeg Jets. They are the league's oldest NHL franchise to have never (!) played in the Stanley Cup Finals. The franchise had a 506-660-172 record in Winnipeg, and only advanced past the first round of the NHL playoffs twice in 17 seasons. That mediocrity has carried over to Phoenix, where the Coyotes' all-time record is 882-892-94 and where they’ve only advanced past the first round of the NHL playoffs twice in 25 seasons (not including the canceled 2004-05 season). The Coyotes have only one playoff appearance over the past 11 seasons and last won a postseason series during their run to the 2012 Western Conference finals. As a result, attendance has suffered: in 2021-22, their last season at the Glendale arena, Arizona averaged only 11,601 fans, which ranked 30th out of 32 NHL teams.
Given that Houston is a fair-weather, front-runner sports town, a poorly-performing Coyotes team would likely see a similar fate at the ticket office here in Houston, after the initial novelty of an NHL franchise in the city wears off. The Coyotes could become just another chapter in Houston's long history of underachieving sports teams, and the NHL could come to regret its decision to move a team into Houston.
This phenomenon isn’t limited to hockey, either. The Vancouver Grizzlies of the NBA had an abysmal .220 winning percentage in Vancouver; since moving to Memphis their all-time record is better but still below .500 (.480), and the franchise has only advanced past the first round of the NBA playoffs four times in 22 seasons. The original Charlotte Hornets were, likewise, mediocre, with a .486 record. After moving to New Orleans and becoming what are now known as the Pelicans, their record stands at .461.
MLB's Montreal Expos had an all-time record of .484; their record since moving to Washington and becoming the Nationals is now .487, their 2019 World Series championship notwithstanding.
The NFL’s Cardinals had a 186-248-25 record in Chicago and a 186-202-14 record in St. Louis. Since they moved to Phoenix their record is 230-330-2 (although they have appeared in one Super Bowl since moving to Arizona). And let’s not forget that star-crossed football team originally known as the Houston Oilers; they had an all-time winning percentage of .494 here in Houston, along with multiple playoff heartbreaks that traumatize me to this day. They’ve only done marginally better since moving to Tennessee and becoming the Titans, with a .524 record and one gut-wrenching loss in Super Bowl XXXIV.
This is not to say that franchises never improve when they relocate; there are a couple of examples of this happening in the NHL. The Hartford Whalers had an all-time record of 534-709-177 and only advanced past the first round of the NHL playoffs once in 18 seasons in Connecticut; they have done better in Carolina, with a current record of 933-957-86 and ten playoff appearances (their nine-year playoff drought from 2009-10 through 2017-18 notwithstanding), including the 2006 Stanley Cup. The Quebec Nordiques, likewise were mediocre in Quebec City with a 497-599-16 record over 16 seasons, but have a 1114-771-101 record (and three Stanley Cup Championships) since relocating to Denver.
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