June 10: Craig Morgan of The Athletic (subscription required) is reporting that Alex Meruelo is “in the advanced stages” of acquiring a majority stake in the Coyotes. The league’s Board of Governors will vote on the sale on June 19, though Morgan notes that the transfer may not actually happen until later on in the summer.
May 22: The Arizona Coyotes have been rumored to be involved in a potential ownership change for some time, and today John Shannon of Sportsnet received confirmation from a league source. Andrew Barroway, who assumed full control of the Coyotes in June 2017, will have a minority stake in the team going forward. It is not clear who the new owner will be at this time.
The Coyotes have a long and varied history of ownership, including former Phoenix Suns owner Jerry Colangelo, Wayne Gretzky and the NHL themselves at different times. Barroway purchased a majority stake in the team in 2014, after a failing bid to get into ownership with the New York Islanders. He bought out the remaining investors in 2017, a move that was quickly followed by a change in leadership for the team, with Gary Drummond and Dave Tippett both leaving the organization entirely. There were also some hard on-ice decisions made, including leaving Shane Doan unsigned and trading Mike Smith to the Calgary Flames.
In 2017 there was also a real push from the league to find a way to move Arizona to a new arena, as commissioner Gary Bettman penned a letter explaining to legislators that “the Coyotes cannot and will not remain in Glendale.” The battle for a move out of Glendale will now fall to the new ownership.
Obviously, this transfer of ownership will also bring up the long standing issue of franchise relocation. Not just finding a new arena for the Coyotes in Phoenix, but the chance that the team could move to another city and state entirely. With the announcement that the team will be moving into the Central Division once the Seattle expansion franchise is operational, many had speculated on a potential move to Houston. When the NBA’s Houston Rockets were sold to Tilman Fertitta in October of 2017, he immediately expressed interest in bringing the NHL to the city.
The NHL however, for all the strong language about not remaining in Glendale, has always strongly supported the Coyotes staying in the Arizona market. Relocation is a last resort for the league, and hopefully new ownership will be able to finally find some financial and organizational stability for the franchise.
This franchise has been an issue since day 1. Time to move (time was actually 6 years ago)
Arizona is clearly not a hockey state. Don’t go to Hartford, go to Quebec City or Seattle.
^ Uh….Seattle already has a team…
Houston Aeros , would be best fit since the Coyotes will be most likely be moved to Central Division in 2020-21 when Seattle ?????????? becomes 32 NHL team. Quebec may get a team by relocation , have heard the Florida Panthers are the most talked about teams relocating along with Arizona.
Have to remember the one caveat that Barroway had in selling the majority stake… The team must stay in Arizona… so end the pipe dreams, the Coyotes will be in Arizona for the long-term future, they may be moving to the Central Division in a couple years, but that’s the only moving they are going to be doing.
Saskatoon
Wrong
I don’t think a move is very likely but Milwaukee makes sense if they’re going to the Central.
A move is inevitable. Why would anyone buy the team if they’re forced to stay in Arizona, where it’s clearly not working.