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Will The Arizona Coyotes Be Moving To Quebec City?

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The Arizona Coyotes offered a strange excuse when being called out by the city of Glendale for now paying their outstanding bills to play at Gila River Arena

GLENDALE, AZ - MARCH 26: The Coyotes logo on the ice during the NHL hockey game between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Arizona Coyotes on March 26, 2019 at Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Kevin Abele/Icon Sportswire)

Some tough news was dropped on the Arizona Coyotes fan base (yes, I imagine they have some fans) on Thursday afternoon.

The City of Glendale, Arizona informed the Coyotes that they would not be renewing the operating agreement with the team after next season.

This will effectively leave the Coyotes searching for their arena, with relocation seeming likely.

“We are thankful to the NHL and the Arizona Coyotes for being part of the Glendale community for the past 18 years,” Glendale City manager Kevin Phelps said in a statement. “The decision not to renew the operating agreement with the Coyotes was not made overnight or in a vacuum. We carefully weighed input from key stakeholders, our expert economist, our arena management firm and our city council.”

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Right after the news hit the web, NHL fans were brainstorming potential cities where the Coyotes could potentially relocate to.

So far, it looks like Quebec City is the front-runner amongst the fans.

Now, there are some issues with the NHL having the Coyotes move to Quebec City.

For starters, the NHL just signed a monster agreement to move national broadcasts from NBC to ESPN. It’s possible that the network wouldn’t be all too happy with an American team moving across the border.

Another potential snag is that a move to Quebec City would mean 16 NHL teams would be playing in the eastern timezone, which could possibly make for a scheduling nightmare.

With that being said, hockey would be a hard sell to any major market in America which doesn’t currently have an NHL team (Houston, Atlanta, Phoenix, Orlando, Charlotte, Portland, Indianapolis).

Quebec City has an Arena, a fan base hoping for a team, and  some support from NHL fans.

It’s not the perfect option, but moving the Coyotes to Quebec City seems to make the most sense if the team is forced to move out of Arizona.

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