Quote:The Arizona Coyotes conceded defeat after Tempe voters rejected their proposed $2.1 billion development by a seemingly insurmountable margin, after all of the early ballots were counted Tuesday.

Maricopa County election officials said they counted some 29,153 ballots cast before Election Day. There were not enough same-day ballots left to count to overturn the losing margins.

Tuesday's unofficial tally shows similar trends among the three ballot items ― Propositions 301, 302 and 303 — all of which needed to receive a majority of "yes" votes in order for the Coyotes project to move forward. Each one was losing by a 56% to 44% margin, with the exception of Prop. 303, which was losing 57% to 43%.

The result, if confirmed, throws doubt over the future of the National Hockey League team, which had staked its future on a new arena and a related entertainment and residential project on the western fringe of Tempe Town Lake.

Local opponents of the plan were thrilled.

AZCentral.com

The deal would have involved the construction of an entertainment district including a new arena for the Coyotes. The proposed location was on 46 acres of land just east of the Arizona State campus along the south bank of the Salt River.

If passed, the City of Tempe would have been responsible for funding the cleanup of the site, which in the past was used as a landfill. However, the development itself would have included a significant portion of private funding.

With voters rejecting the three propositions, the future of professional hockey in the Grand Canyon State look grim.

If the 'Yotes relocate, which city is most likely to benefit?

-Houston
-Atlanta
-Salt Lake City
-Quebec City

Bettman will twist arms to keep them in Arizona. This relocation is his baby.

Sad.

Problem here was towns are very resistant to building arenas. Happens everywhere.

I’m not sure how ‘Bettman will twist arms’ to keep them there if they don’t have an arena. Only chance is if Suns owner steps in.

They can't just stay at Arizona St's arena?

Bettman can’t afford to let this fail. It’s egg on his face.

(05-17-2023 09:47 AM)Bronco14 Wrote:  They can't just stay at Arizona St's arena?

Mullett Arena was only supposed to be a temporary fix until a new stadium gets built. I can't imagine the NHL would allow them to stay there for more than a few years.

There's only 5,000 seats at Mullett, which would make it the smallest arena in the NHL by roughly 10,000 seats.

Winnipeg currently has the smallest arena at 15,300 seats.

This really sucks. A lot of misinformation from the No side. My office overlooks the proposed building site, and it would have been great.

A lot of the No people think that someone else will build there - maybe, but it will end up requiring more city money to redo the site and clean up the landfill.


Stupid, short-sighted decision from NIMBYs

(05-17-2023 12:19 PM)dbackjon Wrote:  This really sucks. A lot of misinformation from the No side. My office overlooks the proposed building site, and it would have been great.

A lot of the No people think that someone else will build there - maybe, but it will end up requiring more city money to redo the site and clean up the landfill.


Stupid, short-sighted decision from NIMBYs

It was one of the most municipal-friendly arena deals in NHL/NBA/MLB history. 65+ NIMBYs killed it.

Owner / team announced they will be playing in Arizona St’s arena next season