By George Fallar 
NHL Capo Bill Daly started a buzz about the Coyotes expressing interest in hosting an outdoor game. The usual trolls lit up, scoffing at the idea for the usual reasons. They are, as usual, underinformed, wildly biased and wrong.
Warmth And Ice Work Together
The NHL’s first outdoor game was played in the Caesar’s Palace parking lot in September, 1991. The temperature was 85 degrees and the ice was slushy. But it worked, the game was played.
Technology has improved in the past decade, as have the venues. We’re not talking about parking lots here.
Fewer people are laughing about an upcoming game in Dodger Stadium, perhaps it’s a Coyotes thing?
We’re okay with that, keep laughing but you should also keep your eyes on the rising numbers.
Payback
The All Star game was scheduled for Glendale in 2006 and cancelled because it was an Olympic year. Surprisingly, the Olympics were scheduled in “flash mob” fashion that year, so it was impossible for the NHL to research the dates before they scheduled the game in Glendale.
Then, the All Star game that was supposed to be the replacement game was moved to Raleigh in 2011 in the midst of the Coyotes ownership fiasco. The Hurricanes had been owed a game since reaching their 12,000 season ticket sales goals.
So, the NHL “owes” Glendale an All Star game or two.
Daly Speaks, People Listen
Bill Daly is the designated leaker and idea floater for the NHL. I don’t imagine that’s listed in his job description, but the right hand man to the Commissioner is the guy on the front lines with the advantage of more deniability than Bettman.
“@SNHockeyCentral: Daly: Phoenix Coyotes told him they’re prepared to host an outdoor game” Those Sportsnet guys get all the info!
— Anthony LeBlanc (@anthonydleblanc) December 9, 2013
The Super Bowl is coming to Glendale (for the second time) in 2015. Some people assume that, since University of Phoenix stadium is booked already, the possibility of a stadium game is out.
Chase Field is downtown Phoenix. Many thousands of sports fans will have every Phoenix and Scottsdale hotel room booked for their Super Bowl trip.
Many of those people would likely add a hockey game to their itinerary simply because it was a huge event nearby, regardless of whether they are also hockey fans.
Chase makes a ton of sense, it has a retractable roof to make ice making and maintenance predictable until the game, it’s a great venue. Again, the whole “is a retractable roof REALLY outdoors” doesn’t matter, either, it’s “outdoors” enough to make it work.
Put your money on Chase Field.
It’s About The Spectacle
New York is holding a couple NHL games in Yankee Stadium this season. When? Super Bowl week. Why?
Here’s a theory you should consider.
There is no bigger draw in the United States than the Super Bowl. It’s become less of a championship game than a spectacle.
It’s so much of a week long “event” (and ticket prices are ridiculous) that most football fans can’t afford to actually attend a Super Bowl game.
So, the Valley of the Sun will be full of high roller and corporate entertainment types. Scottsdale Airport will be packed with biz jets for a couple weeks.
LOTS of people will be in town accompanied by LOTS of reporters, LOTS of television and LOTS of MONEY.
You can bet the Barrett-Jackson (and all the other auction) people will be scheduling their high dollar iron auctions for Super Bowl week to snag some of those large dollars.
The Coyotes Don’t Draw
The attendance woes of the Coyotes are often cited as the deal killer for either an All Star game or for an outdoor game. While Ice Arizona has already jacked attendance (and revenue) by double digits, constant sellouts will be rare for awhile.
It doesn’t matter.
The winter weather here is fantastic, easily drawing enough people to fill lots of seats.
By the way, the recent weekend game where the Blackhawks visited? There were about 71,000 seats sold for an ASU versus UA football game AND another 14,000 seats for a Suns game AT THE SAME TIME THE COYOTES SOLD OVER CAPACITY.
So, selling the seats is a no brainer. Selling them all for BIG bucks won’t be much harder.
You Know They’re Pushing It
Based on the above “retweet” from one of the Coyotes principals, Anthony LeBlanc, what conclusions can we leap to?
It’s an open acknowledgement that what Daly said was true, that Coyotes management has approached the NHL about a possible outdoor game.
Everything else is speculation.
But, we also know the people surrounding the Coyotes franchise as owners and partners are very much up to speed with sports management. They’re flush with the success of negotiating long term contracts. They’re probably still giddy over the windfall TV contract from the North, so they’re feeling good about themselves. As they should.
They could make this happen.
I would almost bet an outdoor hockey game in Phoenix in 2015.
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