The Arizona Coyotes are partnering with Westmarc on outreach efforts to build bridges with West Valley businesses as the team looks to improve its fortunes under a new owner.
At a panel discussion …
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The Arizona Coyotes are partnering with Westmarc on outreach efforts to build bridges with West Valley businesses as the team looks to improve its fortunes under a new owner.
At a panel discussion talking about the partnership on Dec. 10, Coyotes President and CEO Xavier Gutierrez laid out the team’s mission for becoming more community involved, particularly with businesses.
“We’re a business, we’re a business identity in the West Valley, and we have lessons to share,” he said.
Westmarc, the regional organization that connects various government agencies and business groups in support of local economic development, has deep ties within that community and is eager to bring those communities and the team together, said Sintra Hoffman, the organization’s president and CEO.
The organization sees the team as a way to continue to promote the West Valley as a region that has plenty of quality of life amenities and activities, including two professional sports teams. The Coyotes and Arizona Cardinals, which both play in Glendale.
“If you don’t take the time to build that relationship, to nurture it, you’re not going to be able to tackle those big goals when they come around,” she said.
For Westmarc, those goals are about business and job creation. The West Valley has struggled on those endeavors and is a region that sees a good portion of its workforce head to Phoenix or the East Valley for jobs. Hoffman said the organization has worked for years to change that, as well as the perception of the region.
The Coyotes have been a part of the West Valley since moving into Gila River Arena in 2003. It was a relocation from playing in then-America West Arena in downtown Phoenix that wasn’t suited for a National Hockey League team.
The relationship between the team and its current home hasn’t been sunshine and roses. The team has claimed losses of millions of dollars annually since moving to the West Valley, and a series of owners have tried to secure a new arena in other Valley cities saying its fan base was farther east of its current home.
The fractious relationship with the city of Glendale has resulted in the team operating on short-term leases at the arena, but as late as 2019 its new owner, Alex Meruelo was quoted as saying it would be difficult to stay in Glendale long term with the team’s finances. The city does want to keep the team long term, officials have said.
While the Coyotes have lost money, its on-ice product hasn’t provided much of a draw. Since moving to Glendale, the team has been to the playoffs only four times in 17 years, including last year’s effort that featured playoff games in a Edmonton, Alberta, the result of the coronavirus pandemic that shut down the league for several months.
The Coyotes, however, have had a presence in the West Valley, whether it be through the team’s foundation that focuses on local health care, education and cultural arts programs or just the team working in the community.
Deer Valley Unified School District Superintendent Curtis Finch, whose district has worked with the team on a variety of events, sees the synergy between what the team brings to the community and what it wants to do creating fans.
“If you want a Coyotes fan for life, you need a sticker on their notebook when they are 3,” he said.
Mr. Gutierrez said the continued outreach isn’t just part of the Coyotes business plan.
“We have to be intentional about this,” he said. “This isn’t ancillary to the business plan. This is the business plan.”
Business outreach could help to fill a void in the Coyotes operating revenues with sponsors and corporate ticket sales. Phoenix Councilwoman Betty Guardado, whose district represents much of the city’s west side including the Maryvale area, said on the panel she sees the potential for the Coyotes to become more involved in the community, particular as it comes to education outreach.
“Even though [my district residents] live around the corner, I’m sure they’ve never been in this arena, and those are the things that as an elected official I want to change,” she said. “How do we work together to develop a pathway to help these students graduate and get a job.”
For Ms. Guardado, who lives in Maryvale where half the population is under age 18, having a path for youth is vital for her district.
“I think the partnership between Westmarc and the Coyotes is the ribbon on top to wrap it up and to have people not travel past I-17 for work,” she said.
As the Valley population grows — with an estimated 50% of which coming in the West Valley during the next 20 years — it will become vital for Westmarc to have groups like the Coyotes as partners, Ms. Hoffman said.
“That is why this relationship is so important,” she said.
For the past 25 years, Patrick O’Grady has spent time immersed in the Valley’s media scene.
Whether it was covering cities or school districts, delving into the communities and the business world, writing about the Valley’s movers and shakers or a data dive into the effects of public policy and regional growth, Mr. O’Grady has had a hand in its coverage.
His career, which started at Independent Newspapers in 1995, and included a 12-year stint at the Phoenix Business Journal, has been one of building and launching products, working as a reporter to bring to readers a better understanding of the world around them and as an editor to bring together journalists to build great news teams.
In the community, Mr. O'Grady previously served on the board of Leadership West and currently serves on the board of the Peoria Education Foundation.
A graduate of the University of Arizona in Tucson, Mr. O’Grady has lived in Peoria for the past 20 years.
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