Pro sports is not about gate receipts or merchandise sales anymore, it’s about getting a TV deal to use as cash flow for non hockey related businesses. As Vinik said in TBay, he’s not interested in the Lightning as a team or even the Cups they’ve won, what’s important is securing a TV deal to keep growing the free bay side real estate NHL negotiated for him as part of the agreement to buy the hockey team.
Phoenix is something like top-7 TV market in US and one of the fastest growing metro areas, w tons of desert to potentially grow.