Op-Ed: Hamilton, a hockey town?

With the sale of the bankrupt Phoenix Coyotes to Jim Balsillie all but inevitable, it seems that Hamilton is the logical and likely destination for the NHL team. But why?

The rumblings have been around for over a month now. With the Coyotes going bankrupt, and hockey in the Southern United States proving to be a failing endeavor, it seemed apparent that the NHL was going to start moving back north. And frankly, it's about time. After the Jets left Winnipeg and the Nordiques disappeared from Quebec City, it seemed Canada had reached it's peak hockey market of six teams. However, the question arose if it was really a lack of interest in Canadian hockey markets or if it was the work of the notorious NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, who's got an obsessive love-affair with spreading hockey into markets where they simply don't care about it. I'm a firm believer that hockey is a sport can only succeed in places where snow actually falls. And since the stereotype (and it's essentially true, too) about Canadians is that they love hockey more than anything else, Hamilton was the largest Canadian city that could support another NHL team. The advantage of having a stadium already built is a perfect door opener; having RIM Jim Balsillie pushing hard to buy a team also bodes well. However, the major roadblocks have come up - first of all, Copps Coliseum is quite the eyesore (like most of Hamilton itself). I grew up just outside of Hamilton, and while the Steel City isn't all bad, it's mostly bad. The city has been linked with some of the worst municipal management for the past 50 years, repeatedly gets into scraps with the Ontario and Federal governments over it's ill-guided projects. And for the Coyotes to move to Hamilton, Copps would need a makeover. Fortunately, Balsillie seems committed to pouring money into Copps, to the tune of 100-160 million dollars. The makeover would radically change the face of Copps from a grey, imposing slab of steel and concrete to a beautiful, modern stadium. Of course, working in Balsillie's favour for the stadium reno is the fact that Hamilton is pushing for the Pan Am games in 2015, and has the province's financial support for improvements to the city - so having a new stadium would really increase the potential that a derelict city like Hamilton would have. However, there's the Bettman factor. Despite the overwhelming support from the region, the city, and even PM Steven Harper for placing a franchise in Steel Town, Bettman is adamant in leaving the Coyotes in Phoenix, even going as far as saying that he'd sooner place a team back in Winnipeg then moving one to Hamilton. Meanwhile, as he tried to block the bankruptcy claims by Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes, which resulted in the NHL and Moyes heading to court, Balsillie upped his pressure by submitting a 212.5 million dollar bid to buy the team and move it to Hamilton. However, Bettman claims the NHL has majority ownership of the Coyotes, while Moyes states that the franchise he owns lost $73 million in the past three years. Regardless of the outcome in court, numbers don't lie. If Phoenix retains the NHL team, it's essentially doomed to be a losing investment for years to come. After all, not even Wayne Gretzky could bring in the fans. Speaking of The Great One, can you imagine the type of fanfare he'd draw if the franchise was in Hamilton? Gretzky would come with the Coyotes if they moved, and being that he's from Brantford, a city just 40 km west of Hamilton, the hometown fans would flock over just to catch a glimpse of their boy back where he belongs. Also helping Hamilton's case for another NHL team is the fact that rumours have surfaced about the Atlanta Thrashers moving to Copps. While the Trashers are a much more complicated case, as they have an eight-man ownership ring and have ties to the stadium and the Hawks, the fact that a second team would move to Hamilton really plays in Balsillie's hands, as it negates a lot of Bettman's claims that hockey wouldn't survive in Hamilton and the market share wouldn't be enough (remember, Toronto and Buffalo are both within an hour's drive, and Detroit, while far less influential in the area, are just to the west). Of course, Hamilton committed itself to Balsillie upon his request, squashing much of the Atlanta rumours. Ultimately, another NHL team in Canada wouldn't be a bad thing. Hamilton desperately needs something to draw people into the city (and keep the residents from leaving), and the Coyotes seem like a perfect fit for all parties involved... except Bettman. Hamilton has been used and abused by talks of an NHL team relocation before, so all bets are off whether or not this relocation actually happens. I'm no fan of Hamilton, and I certainly wouldn't support them if they moved to the city (growing up in that city is a love-it-or-hate-it affair), but they've definitely got a better chance of making money there than in Phoenix. But if Bettman wins out in his arguments, particularly the one about market share, the Coyotes should relocate to a city where nothing Bettman says would hold ground - Halifax. That city literally has nothing (no pro sports team, period), and is so far from any other NHL team (the two closest being Boston and Montreal, both a day's drive from the city) that a NHL team would have a monopoly. Maybe changing the name of the team would be in order, though... I can't remember the last time a coyote was spotted in downtown Halifax.