Expanding into Latino community priority for Arizona's new CEO

On the 8th of June, when the Arizona Coyotes announced their new President and CEO, history was written. The man they put in charge, Xavier Gutierrez, was introduced as the first Latino President and CEO in NHL history. Now, Gutierrez and the Coyotes may be looking to capitalize on that.

Arizona Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo and Xavier Gutierrez run a team in a city in which 40% of the population identifies as Hispanic or Latino. At the same time, the Coyotes have been in the bottom five for home attendance every season since 2006-07. Meruelo and Gutierrez aim to tap into those 40%.

In his introductory video call, the new President and CEO was delivering remarks in Spanish. That could be considered a first step in gaining the attention of Arizona's Latino community. Gutierrez is also taking inspiration from the Los Angeles Kings, as well as the Anaheim Ducks, who both have implemented programs to reach out to groups traditonally not very involved in the sport. For the Kings, that has included marketing programs specifically designed to target those groups, as well as organizing ball hockey tournaments in places with limited ice availability. As a result, the Kings now sell a quarter of their tickets to Latino fans. Gutierrez likes those initiatives:

"It's absolutely an area we're going to spend time and resources on," he said. "I have three nephews (in Southern California), and they liked the Kings and the Ducks because they reached out. We plan to do that, too. We need to involve the entire community."

In September, the Coyotes launched social media accounts in Spanish, and if Gutierrez gets his way, we may just see an Arizona Coyotes' team with a broadened fan base come next season: "With the Latino community, they have to know and understand they have the opportunity to succeed. With the Coyotes, we want to be a successful sports team and a successful business enterprise. If we can do it, we'll inspire some people along the way. That's the power of sport," he said.

Source: ESPN

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