Danny Seiden is mostly joking, with a clear tinge of sadness, when he talks about Utah ripping away his hockey team.
“They took our Coyotes and made them into Mastodons. It is something terrible, I don’t even want to say it. It hurts my heart,” he said through a laugh.
But Arizona’s Chamber of Commerce president is worried hockey won’t be the only sport to leave the desert for Utah.
He’s looking at the Diamondbacks next.
“If we are not careful, we are going to see the Arizona Diamondbacks become the Utah Pika or whatever awful animal they change it to,” he said recently on The Mike Broomhead Show.
The Diamondbacks are currently looking for more money to upgrade Chase Field in downtown Phoenix. Seiden is pushing a bill that would allow the Diamondbacks to recapture some of the tax revenue generated at the ballpark to pour into the stadium. He says Arizona needs the money in the next two years.
Seiden sees Utah, where leaders have aggressively pushed for a Major League Baseball team, as a threat. The state legislature already passed a bill that would green light the building of a stadium in the event MLB awards Salt Lake a team.
“Utah is being very aggressive. Portland is being very aggressive,” he said. “They are passing legislation to pay for a new baseball stadium. $600, $800 million. That is not anything that the Diamondbacks are looking for. They are looking for some recapture of income generated that they can bond off of.”
Seiden wants to keep baseball and bring hockey back to his city. And more than anything, he wants to keep Utah out.
“We need some real leadership,” he said. “We didn’t have those unicorns like Ryan Smith that can throw down all that money. I think we are starting to see the leadership with [Suns owner] Mat Ishbia, who wants to see some joint efforts downtown in creating a new district.
“That’s how we will get hockey back and won’t have to watch the Utah Tusks or whatever they are called,” he said.