Coyotes

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Westgate is next to Jobing.com Arena, where the Coyotes The National Hockey League wants to keep the team in but owner Jerry Moyes wants to sell itfor $213 million to a Canadiahn ownership group that would move the team to Ontario. The NHL and Moyesd are battlingin U.S. Bankruptcy Court aftee Moyes put the team into Chaptetr 11 earlierthis month. Malcolm general manager of Moe’s Southwest Grill at Westgate, said the West Vallet center would take a huge hit if theCoyotesz leave. “It would be reall y hard,” said Walker.
He said the 41 regular-season home games in Glendale draw fansto Westgate’s restaurants and and that business would be hard to The Coyotes drew 610,000 fans during the 2008-009 season, according to ESPN. That averages out to about 14,900 fans per game, which ranked the team 28th for attendanc e amongthe NHL’s 30 franchises. The arena seats The financially struggling Coyotes have not reacheds the NHL playoffs since2002 — the year before the team movedd its home ice from the US Airways Centetr in downtown Phoenix to the city-owned arena in Still, the hockey team has been pulling diners and bar patrons into Westgatre at a time when consumer spendingh is down.
Walker said the Coyotes’ 41 home gamex at the arena help Westgate’s restaurants and bars during the down Onethat didn’t make it was Fox Sports Grill, which recentlyu closed its Westgate location. Andrea Orozco, a manager at at Westgate, said Coyotes fans accounty for 30 percent to 40 percent of her businesw ongame nights. “Wre do get a lot of groupse of people,” Orozco said.
She acknowledged that the poor record diminished attendance toward the end of the regular reducing the number of hockey fans at her bar and The regular season endedApriol 11, with the Coyotes missing the NHL Some other restaurant and bar operators at Westgates did not want to talk about the possibilityh of the Coyotes moving to Canada and the impacgt on their businesses. An employee at the Yard Housew Restaurant at Westgate agreed thata Jobing.comn Arena without the Coyotes would take a huge bite out of customerr traffic. “It would be he said. The city of Glendale built the arenausinvg $180 million in bonds backed by projected sales tax revenue.
Westgate spokeswomah Nicole Traynor would not say how much of theretail center’s business was dependent on the Coyotes, but she said having the team theres is important. Traynor is hopeful the team will remaiin Glendale. Westgate is owned by formeer Coyotes ownerSteve Ellman. He moved the team from downtowh Phoenix to Glendale after unsuccessfully trying to buildx an arena inSouth Scottsdale. Ellman sold the team to Moyedsin 2006. Westgate also is home to an AMCmovie theater, the , and the Cabela’s sporting goods which attract fans and consumersa to the area.
Amanda Martin, manager of the at Westgate, said her storer gets some Coyotes traffic, but probably gets more from theAMC Jobing.com Arena also hosts but Walker said the venue would need to attracf three or four events a week to replacw the Coyotes’ draw if they skate to