Money Suckers

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e0/Phoenix_Coyotes.svg/230px-Phoenix_Coyotes.svg.png

The question of whether the Phoenix Coyotes should remain in Glendale, Arizona has lingered in the minds of many ever since the team’s declaration of bankruptcy in 2009. Numerous discussions on moving the team back into Canada had been held, but ultimately, the team remained in Arizona. Gary Bettman had mentioned, on numerous occasions, that his main purpose of wanting to leave the Coyotes in Arizona is to promote hockey in the United Sates (especially in Southern U.S.), but I can’t help but think that a sense of egotism is another, though underlying, factor to this predicament; using the STP analysis, it doesn’t make much sense for the Coyotes to remain in Arizona.

Target: Sports fans in Arizona from middle to high class
When the marketing department of a company generates campaigns to make their products known, they strive to be the best in either category or segment. However, with the situation of an ice hockey team playing in Glendale, Arizona—a place where snow is nonexistent—it is near impossible to generate any excitement about ice hockey, a winter sport requiring temperatures to be below 0˚C (oh, sorry below 32˚F). The fact that the team had never made a profit ever since its move from Winnipeg to Arizona, along with its loss of $54.8 million US in 2008 ALONE (http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=4616786) should provide enough indicators for the statement above. And with the team in competition for consumers against the Phoenix Suns, how can the Coyotes, a team that has never advanced past the first round of the playoffs, win against the Suns, a team that holds the 4th best all-time winning percentage in the NBA? Sometimes, even the best ideas (not saying consistently trying to expand ice hockey into the Southern U.S. market is the best idea) may not be realistic enough to be realized.