35 min
Growing Hockey in the Desert During a Pandemic Heart of Business
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- Management
It's been 25 years since the Winnipeg Jets moved from Canada to become the Arizona Coyotes. It's been almost as long since show producer Matt Klassen made the same move. If you're a fan of hockey, you've probably seen your fair share of news stories during that time about how "hockey can't work in a desert." About how the Coyotes are doomed.
Those arguments are pretty tired—Arizona has a thriving hockey scene, a huge nascent fanbase, and—oh yeah—a local kid who grew up to be one of the sport's top superstars in Auston Matthews.
But the narrative persists.
To be clear, growing the sport in the Southwest presents unique challenges—to say nothing of a global pandemic that shut down the league and closed arenas. That's why we wanted to talk to Coyotes' SVP Marketing Tania Moreno.
In this episode, Matt chatted with Tania about the challenges presented by Arizona's unique market, the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts the team is making to grow the game with non-traditional hockey fans.
It's been 25 years since the Winnipeg Jets moved from Canada to become the Arizona Coyotes. It's been almost as long since show producer Matt Klassen made the same move. If you're a fan of hockey, you've probably seen your fair share of news stories during that time about how "hockey can't work in a desert." About how the Coyotes are doomed.
Those arguments are pretty tired—Arizona has a thriving hockey scene, a huge nascent fanbase, and—oh yeah—a local kid who grew up to be one of the sport's top superstars in Auston Matthews.
But the narrative persists.
To be clear, growing the sport in the Southwest presents unique challenges—to say nothing of a global pandemic that shut down the league and closed arenas. That's why we wanted to talk to Coyotes' SVP Marketing Tania Moreno.
In this episode, Matt chatted with Tania about the challenges presented by Arizona's unique market, the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts the team is making to grow the game with non-traditional hockey fans.
35 min