The guy who wrote the original tweet acknowledged that part about a new arena was a misstatement. The deal between the Rockets and the county for Toyota Center includes provisions that bar the county from building a new arena that would compete with Toyota Center for events. The attractiveness for the Coyotes, potentially, is that they have no idea where they’re playing next year, and Toyota Center is already built and ready to go in a huge market….provided Tilman is interested in either owning a part of them or having them as a tenant.
Can you guys explain why Tilman needs to have any say other than scheduling? I was under the impression that he owned the Rockets and had concessions deals in the Toyota center. Does he own the Toyota center as well?
The Rockets’ lease provides them with money from tenants at Toyota Center. It’s very different from a traditional lease, and the Rockets are afforded way more rights, including rights to revenues from other events held there. In turn, the county has far fewer rights than those afforded traditional landlords. In essence, the Rockets are able to operate the building almost as if they are the landlord. Included in that is protection that the county can’t build another arena in Harris County without consent of the Rockets.
Ok, so the Rockets are the landlords of the Toyota Center, and get a revenue share from any event. That makes sense. So an outside buyer of the Coyotes needs to work with the Rockets to set up all of the revenue sharing. So that's how Tilman is involved even if he isn't an owner. The alternative, as noted in this thread, is to use a venue outside of downtown for the Coyotes. Not as palatable given the massive geography of H-Town. You are also missing a lot of corporate downtown tickets this way. Surely this isn't a new business model that other subordinate teams have to follow. If it works in other cities, it can work here. It's a win-win for Tilman to work with a new owner (or just buy himself which doesn't seem feasible given his finances during the pandemic).
Yeah, this lease is how Les ran the Aeros out. He literally set the rent...and he basically tripled it for them, making it beyond reasonable for the Aeros to stay, regardless of ticket sales or market size. The alternative venue wouldn't just be outside of downtown...it would have to be outside of Harris County. Fort Bend...Montgomery...etc. I think that would be a big mistake. The NHL is a corporate game...expensive tickets..luxury suites...I think its best bet would be downtown. There are other cities, for sure, where NHL and NBA teams share the facility. My GUESS would be that Tilman wouldn't be a majority owner of the team...but he'd own a stake to show he's involved and to give himself some upside. I don't know that, though...just a hunch.
what about this article? they denied it fairly strongly... but they still might coming anyway? https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/32771141/arizona-coyotes-deny-report-team-sale-moving-houston
Nothing is imminent...except that they have nowhere to play as of opening night next season in about 10 months from now...they have been told by the current facility they lease from that they're not welcome there for next season...they have no solid plans for a new arena anywhere else...and even if they did have solid plans, it's roughly 2 years at least to build a new arena. They could work something out temporarily to stay in that market...but it's doubtful they'd do that with no concrete plan for a new arena for them. The plans for the new arena there are stalled. There are massive (and expensive) environmental concerns at the site they've been looking at. There is no plan in place for funding of a new arena at all. There are no specific dates where the county, city or state there are going to be making a decision on funding...because even a plan for funding is not yet pulled together enough to present. It's about as messed up a situation as you can imagine in pro sports. Certainly not impossible that they could stay in Arizona...but even if with their denials (which are pretty common among franchises considering moving -- similar to college football coaches saying, "what? i love where I am!!!" right before taking a job with another university) it's difficult to see how they stay in Arizona. And their need for a new place to play is imminent in that they'll need it in early to mid October.
I'm less than impressed with Toyota Center as a venue... for basketball, concerts, and I'm guessing ultimately for hockey. Out of all the stadiums in Houston, I'd bet TC would be the first one they'd look to replace (in this era where newer stadiums are in line for deletion after 20-25 years). More teams are looking to build mini entertainment complexes, where they own the surrounding businesses. For those it doesn't really matter what part of town it is... and they usually need more space. The Astros will be doing that around MMP within the next 2 years as they bought up those empty lots. The Rockets can't really do that around TC... and there isn't much direct surrounding development that has happened over the last 20 years (minus the Hilton and the park).
Assuming Tilman agrees with you, he’d be in a better position to argue for that with a brand new NHL team in the fold. Having said that, I think I read recently he’s talking about making renovations to TC the way the Astros have with MMP.
I shudder at him trying to golden-nugget it up... but even a little tack would somehow had a personality to an otherwise drab/lifeless venue. I actually miss the large glass window-walls of the summit... that place did end up being ahead of its time.
While I won't complain if it means Houston getting them, the simple fact of the matter is that the NHL made a disastrous mistake when they let them from Winnipeg to begin with.
I actually agree with this too, I used to have fonder memories of the Toyota Center. Now it's a decent place, but not a great place to catch a game.
There is no greater arena anywhere under the sun than the Summit after it added the food court that included Pappa's Seafood; Pappasito's; Earl Cambpell's Sausage; and Whataburger. I'd get there early...buy a $10 fried crawfish basket with fries..and eat it while I watched the Rockets warm up. That's the best food I ever had in any stadium, ballpark, arena in my entire life.
Yep... and don't forget those personal pan pizza hut pizzas that always were easy to grab if you didn't want to stand in the lines for the other stuff. And the whole set up that had a panel of TV's there that showed other games/sports... wouldn't happen in today's "must watch the home team only" environments, but in the hey-day, they'd always feature the Rockets rivals that you could scoreboard watch from (Spurs, Jazz, Lakers, Suns, Sonics, and the Bulls... because everybody wanted to watch the Bulls).
