Desert Dogs: The Awful Sports Owners of Arizona

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The Arizona Coyotes' relocation to Utah hurts one group of people. Fans. Fans who welcomed a winter sport into the most un-winter like climate despite a raft of bumbling foolish owners unable or unwilling to make things work.
Yes, the team lost loads of money over the years. But at no point in history did those various owners have anything resembling a long term plan. Occasionally the Coyotes were good on the ice. They were also absolutely tragic.
But the issue of bad sports ownership in Arizona isn't limited to the Coyotes. Every team has suffered through bad owners. The Bidwell's are miserly which causes the Arizona Cardinals to be bad. Robert Sarver was meddlesome and a bad dude although he has since been pushed out as Phoenix Suns boss. Meanwhile, Ken Kendrick is apathetic toward just about everything related to Arizona Diamondbacks baseball apart from getting public funding for stadium upgrades. Well, that and starting petty drama.
At the end of the day, let's spare a moment for those poor Arizona sports fans having to put up with these incredulous owners. I know I've given you folks a hard time in the past but you certainly deserve much better than this.
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[@AHomelessShoe]

Let's not forget that Bidwell also moved the cardinals not because of poor attendance. It was because he wanted to retire in Arizona.

[@Christian-xf4xm]

The Coyotes problems were more than just ownership issues. That franchise was a wreck from top to bottom.

[@theleap2946]

As an Arizona native….yeah we suck. It’s a permanent condition amongst many of the transplants out here. These owners are “middle class” people in other states, then move out here because it’s cheap and they can pretend to be rich. The Diamondbacks are the biggest joke amongst all the teams in my opinion. Half the league trains in Phoenix metro during spring training yet they can’t afford to chase after many of the choice free agents who live in their own metroplex. The Cardinals are truly a massive disappointment. They built a solid stadium on the cheap, made a huge success on Latino outreach marketing and really got Christian conservatives to fall for the team when Kurt Warner played quarterback. But they still can’t win. And so many NFL players live in Arizona due to the Scottsdale party life. I guess we should cheer on the true studs in this state….the Rattlers and the Phoenix Mercury.

[@erocrush]

The three indoor football team in AZ all have committed owners who regularly compete for titles year in and out. It's something.

[@chrisguardiano6143]

Great video. The only Phoenix pro sports team that has had decent owners is the Rising of the USL Championship (the 2nd tier of American soccer behind MLS) who have seen nothing but success since they entered the league & are currently the defending champions. One of the owners is Chelsea legend Didier Drogba who also played for the club for a season in 2017. However the existence of the Rising has been threatened over the years by MLS's increasing desire to expand to Phoenix which would likely create the same scenario that soccer fans in San Diego experienced when San Diego FC was announced as the next MLS expansion club which forced the USL club to shut down. For those wondering why the Rising simply just joins MLS as part of MLS's expansion to Phoenix, it is because they want to help USL grow as a league & build it up to be an alternative to MLS. They also know that if they did join MLS, they would likely be forced to relocate to State Farm Stadium from their current stadium that they built themselves by Sky Harbor Airport & force their fans to commute out to Glendale which would really hurt fan support since most of the Rising's fans live in Phoenix or Tempe.

[@thetouchback]

I remember the Phoenix rising signing Drogba because it was like a year after Sac Republic signed Carlton Cole. The latter move did not work. I think MLS is worried about USL as a whole. They now have more TV visibility, a good product and some passionate soccer markets. MLS is about making money from soccer while USL is about the soccer. It's not perfect, but I find myself watching USL games these days.

[@S_Over_Street]

If you could do a video of Mariners ownership lead by John Stanton & his leadership skills of profits over actually sustained winning.

[@Harrja]

Need to do one for Chicago too

[@soxbearshwks8988]

yeah, get rid of the F reinsdorf

[@MrTAFSIYNOT]

Put the Crown on Rober Sarver....he was the worst.

[@biffstrong1079]

It will be at least five years before a hockey team comes back here. The NHL will wait out Alex Meruelo and his ROFR.

[@robertlindey2538]

The NFL Cardinals weren't very successful in Chicago, nor St. Louis before. I remember when the Philadelphia Eagles almost moved to Phoenix. It wasn't because the team was bad nor because fans didn't show. It was because the team's owner had huge, inescapable personal debt. Shortly after, Packer legend Bart Starr and a group of investors tried to get the region an NFL expansion team --- the Arizona Firebirds. I'm not sure why this never came to fruition.

[@iplayfhorn]

Look up Leonard Lesser and the Phoenix Fire.

[@jplowe2263]

Ken Kendrick the worst? Interesting....

[@anthonyrivera0917]

If the coyotes were gonna move, Houston would've made more sense because it's more central compared to Salt Lake City. Salt Lake City is too far west to be in the central. Move the Chargers to Salt Lake City, l don't want another scenario where a city has NBA, MLS and maybe one day MLB and NHL, but no NFL just like Los Angeles from 1995-2015.

[@PCSPounder]

The leagues don’t care if the Cowboys are in the NFC East, Oklahoma City is in the NBA Northwest, etc. They want their purchase price, full stop.

[@bigpasty1582]

I think NHL teams belong where people really love hockey🤷‍♂️ many cities in Canada would do well, maybe Milwaukee or Grand Rapids MI, Toledo etc... just a thought. I know media markets seem to control where teams go but that doesn't always matter in the NHL