Roadrunners set to host first home playoff game amid relocation uncertainty

7 comments

1. As someone who grew up in Scottsdale and has spent less than 24 hours in Tucson in my entire life, please, please, please, do not move this team to Tempe. Tucson deserves to keep their team.

2. As much as I want pro hockey to return to Tempe, they should stay in Tucson.

3. I’m traveling down to the game on Friday and will be making a sign that just says “stop moving teams”

4. If Tempe thought they were too good for an NHL team why should they be rewarded with Tucson’s AHL team? Like that’s super fucked up.

5. Roadrunners should not leave Tucson before their contract is up. There are games where the crowds would not fit into Mullett. Granted, there might be a higher average attendance on the Tuesday and Wednesday night games which currently usually average under Mullett’s capacity, but I sincerely doubt many standing room only tickets would be sold for AHL games, so the attendance could be even smaller.

   That is of course in addition to the fact that Meruelo would be alienating even more hockey fans, who do spend thousands to watch AHL games and buy gear, while effectively killing youth hockey in Arizona for everything south of Phoenix Metro.

   An NHL franchise owner (there is no Arizona NHL team despite Meruelo’s insistence that he still has a team) should be looking out for the growth of hockey and fans throughout the state and region, not limiting gatekeeping access to a pet location.

   I fully expect when Tucson’s contact is up the roadrunners will be spirited away to Reno for his benefit, let’s not have them stolen prior to that.

6. I was talking to someone that spends a lot of time in Tucson and he says the team is loved down there. The TCC just underwent some ice improvements and more rinks are set to open in the coming years. It would be a huge mistake to take the team away just as those projects are starting.

   Also, can you imagine the pushback to have an NHL team return when “We already have a team! We don’t need 2!”?

7. Does Meruelo think anything through? Say they move here for a few years. What’s going to happen to their fanbase in Tucson? With the Roadrunners’ on ice success, hockey is either going to succeed or fail there. This seems like it will doom it to failure. The margin for error is much smaller. It’s not fair to their fanbase. Maybe do a few games up here a year, but not a wholesale move.