Just a guess but I’m sure demographics plays a huge role here. Hockey has a smaller, mostly white fan base. Football and basketball appeals to both white and black. If the city wanted to make more money, they would drop the pens and get an NBA franchise. It would produce a much wider fan base, more merchandise sales, not just the same dwindling fan base year after year.
More kids have access to basketball courts than hockey rinks to practice and emulate their favorite team or player. Basketball would also be a much cheaper sport to play adding to the larger fan base.
An NBA franchise, with the larger base, could easily afford its own arena.
Like I said …just a guess.