The Folly Of The Arizona Coyotes

Playing professional hockey in an 4600-seat college arena was too much, too embarrassing for even the beleaguered owner of a franchise with too much debt and not enough support. It was also a rebuke of Commissioner Gary Bettman's decades-long insisting Arizona was a viable hockey market. In the end, the relocation and sale of the team to Utah and Jazz owner Ryan Smith saved face for everyone involved. Alex Murelo, the Coyotes owner, gets to keep the rights to the name and has the opportunity to pursue either a relocation or expansion franchise — if he has an arena in place (or shovel's in the ground) within five years.