The Phoenix Coyotes are victims of Phoenix’s fan attention deficit disorder

Minnesota Wild v Phoenix Coyotes

Monday night I had the opportunity to sit high above the ice at Jobing.com Arena in the Phoenix Coyotes press box.

From the drop of the puck to the final horn, I saw something that has been missing from the Valley for over a decade. I saw a great hockey team on the ice with a coyote on their chest. (Although it’s easier to tell it’s a coyote now than it was a decade ago.)

At numerous points during the game, the team on the ice evoked memories of Coyotes teams that included the likes of Jeremy Roenick, Keith Tkachuk and Nikolai Khabibulin. They were exciting, skilled, well coached and most importantly, winners.

The 6-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers gave the Yotes their 36th win of the season. That may not seem like a big deal, but 36 wins matches their entire total from last season. It also is only two victories shy of their highest total since the 2001-02 season and is only four wins short of the most wins the franchise has had since moving from Winnipeg.

There is something special going on in Glendale. Something so special that playoffs no longer seems like a “bad word”.

Head coach Dave Tippett and his band of young hard nosed players have resurrected the franchise, and thanks to general manager Don Maloney’s eye for talent, they’ve done it on a budget.

There’s plenty of room for optimism and excitement within the organization. Unfortunately that excitement hasn’t spread beyond Phoenix’s hardcore hockey fanatics.

The Coyotes organization is suffering from what I like to call, “Phoenix Fan Attention Deficit Disorder”.
PFADD is a disorder that every franchise in the Valley has struggled to overcome at one point or another. It can never fully be cured, but it can be controlled through specific routines.

This disorder is a result of the attitude of the fans that call Phoenix home. These fans are a fickle, transplanted and transient bunch (Present company excluded. If you are reading this you obviously don’t fit that category). Their attention span is short and in order to grab it, you must not only battle with the teams that call Arizona home but also the teams from their hometown.

In order to break the spiral of PFADD teams have to follow a specific routine.

  1. Win
  2. Have a compelling story
  3. Be accessible to the fans
  4. Get exposure on TV, radio and online
  5. Have a superstar fans can get behind
  6. Do it all at a time when no other team is having huge success

If, and only if, a team reaches all of those criteria for a prolonged period of time, can they control the disorder.

The Phoenix Coyotes have all but one of those factors.

They are certainly winning. There is no story in professional sports more compelling than what the Coyotes have gone through in the last ten months. They are so accessible to fans, that they even play beer pong with regular guys. They’ve gained additional exposure on TV, radio and online, so much so that their television ratings have increased by 50% from last year. To top it off, they’re doing it all with the Suns on the downside of their championship run.

The one thing the Coyotes don’t have is a bona fide superstar, no disrespect to Shane Doan. They don’t have that one player whose personality transcends the game and entices the fans. Unfortunately, outside of Washington and Pittsburgh, the NHL is lacking those players in general. You can’t blame the Coyotes for that.

Dave Tippett, Don Maloney and the players have all done their jobs. They’ve done everything they can to control their case of Phoenix Fan Attention Deficit Disorder, it’s now time for fans to do their part.

There’s something special going on in Glendale that is worthy of fans’ attention regardless of the length of drive or any other excuses. It seems like the NHL playoffs will make its first appearance in Glendale. Hopefully that won’t be the first time many fans appear there too.

PFADD is a horrible thing that has hindered many franchises in Phoenix throughout the years. It’s a shame that it’s something the Coyotes have to battle right now after everything they’ve overcome.

Don’t follow the Phoenix Coyotes? Want to defend Phoenix sports fans? Let us know in the comment section below.

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  • http://blogs.myspace.com/goonsquad5.0 Goon Squad

    Stop the crying, the whining and the stupid excuses and go to the games people!
    Support your team!
    Us fans outside of that market are doing it, inadvertantly, but we are still doing more than you people are!

  • Alex L

    I say, don’t go people. If it is that difficult to get the ‘fans’ out, then let it go to places where people appreciate it more. You’ve got basketball, baseball and football to represent Phoenix. Hockey is not a passion in Phoenix. The Coyotes don’t represent Phoenix. They are a plaything, an unnecessary toy.

  • http://phoenix.fanster.com/author/greg-esposito Greg Esposito

    That’s not exactly true. It’s difficult to get fans out there because of seven disastrous years filled with poor play, poor coaching, poor ownership, oh and that little thing called a lockout that has hurt a lot of the NHL. The Coyotes represent Phoenix as much as any other team and in time they will return to the full houses they played in front of upon their arrival from Winnipeg. If they were a more deserving city, there would already be an NHL team there.

  • http://phoenix.fanster.com/coyotes/ puckgal

    Thank you Greg..there is so much good stuff going on with this team such as great coaching, excellent play and a terrific team mentality. It’s starting to show in the attendance (just compare the crowds from October/November to recently) Just as I have been saying..”win and they will come”

  • Rich

    I agree Greg, it is not about whether or not the fans exist, they do. I would go so far as to suggest that with the large number of relocated hockey fans we have as many in the valley as most cities. The problem isn’t interest (50% improvement in ratings shows the fans are out there) it is motivation. It is reigniting a passion that goes dormant in fans who haven’t sniffed the playoffs in 8 years. Fans who were insulted by the previous ownership’s assertion that hockey “can’t work in Phoenix” as he single-handedly ran the team into the ground with bad drafts followed by bad coaching.

    I myself was a three year season ticket holder prior to this season. But I refused to give Jerry Moyes one more penny and did not renew (instead opting for 1/2 season of Suns seats). The ownership was so bad that I got exactly two phone calls about renewing my seats (6 seats, 2nd row on the blue line mind you — not cheap seats). No special offers, no ‘come on down to the arena for a game on us’ and more to the point, no apology for treating the loyal fans like dirt all last summer.

    But I am excited by this team and encouraged by the Ice Edge ownership group. I purchased a 5-game package for March and will be there for the post-season. What will it take for me to renew by season seats for 2010-11? Simply a show from the new ownership that they are serious about winning a Stanley Cup IN Phoenix. Their attitude towards free-agency this summer and their ability to retain the young stars we currently have (Lombardi, Upshall, Michalek and Bryzgalov must be given long-term contracts) while developing the incredible youngsters due to come up from the AHL in the next couple of years (Boedker, Turris, Tikhonov, Maclean, et al).

    The Coyotes need to concentrate on winning back the hard-cores (like me)this year. That will get attendance back to a respectable level (13,000 – 15,000 per game). Make a deep playoff run or just make the playoffs for a couple straight years while bringing in a name free-agent and you will see this team sell-out or be near capacity for most games. Win like the Suns did for five or six straight years and they will be the hottest ticket in town. That is the pattern that works for every team in this market (current example: Arizona Cardinals). With the Suns losing fans and the economy (hopefully) coming back, this could be the best timing ever for a hockey Tsunami to sweep across the Valley.

  • Alex L

    Remember folks, this team has only seen RED INK. 13,000-15,000 fans average? That is still a terrible average in comparison with the rest of the league. You can’t make money on a regular season average of that. If they increase ticket prices to capitalize on the increase in attendance, that probably will knock the average back down. Why do you think Ice Edge wants to play games in Saskatoon? As a favor to fans in Phoenix? No, they can charge more for a game. A 50% increase in ratings? That is just putting a positive spin on low ratings.

  • http://phoenix.fanster.com/author/greg-esposito Greg Esposito

    Alex, I’m going to take a wild guess and say you are from Canada. I respect your passion for the game. Your red ink argument doesn’t hold a lot of weight for me. Ownership, their strategies and they way they run their “business” has a lot to do with a team being able to make money. The Coyotes have never truly had a solid ownership group that had a background in sports business or ran the team in an effective manner.

    Winning, smart marketing and a solid ownership group will not only increase the number of fans at Jobing.com Arena, but will also put the team on track for financial stability.

    The previous ownership group agreed to a terrible lease which left $10 to $15 million in parking money on the table. Money that most NHL team’s bring in. They also paid Wayne Gretzky almost $8 million a season to be the coach. That’s about $7 million a year too much. Right there is $17-$22 million that a smart ownership group earns a year.

    Sure, it doesn’t completely cover the estimated $30 million a year they lost but it get’s the franchise a heck of a lot closer to profitability. Mix in the fact that, until this season, the franchise hasn’t sniffed the playoffs in 7 years, things start to make sense.

    It’s not a matter of “hockey not representing Phoenix”, it’s a matter of poor business decisions and personel decisions, never giving the franchise and hockey in general a chance to grow here.