The Arizona Coyotes may not be playing in Gila River Arena in Glendale beyond this season, but their future may still lie in the Phoenix area. AZ Central’s Paulina Pineda reports that the city of Tempe invited bids to develop a 46-acre area for entertainment purposes and the confirmed that the Coyotes submitted a bid. It is unknown if any competing bids were submitted before today’s deadline.
Tempe is located on the other side of Phoenix from Glendale but only about 30 miles away from the Coyotes’ current home. The area in question resides on a stretch of the Salt River known as Tempe Town Lake. It is central to Tempe, but also not far from the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and the city of Scottsdale. Though the Coyotes could not make any material comment on the bidding process, they stated that they are “incredibly excited about this extraordinary opportunity.” A winning bid would allow the Coyotes to build a state of the art arena of their own design and further develop the area into a attractive entertainment locale. The draw of this new area could be aided by the close proximity of Arizona State University, whose hockey program has quickly developed a strong following of its own.
Of course, competing bids or not, this by no means secures the Coyotes’ future in Arizona. Even an uncontested bid may not be to the liking of the city of Tempe, either financially or in the plan’s details. The city will also likely weigh the benefits of bringing the team to town, as they did have their fair share of struggles in Glendale. Until anything becomes official, it is fair to keep up the Houston/Quebec City/Milwaukee speculation, but many in Arizona will be happy to hear about this promising new development for their Coyotes.
You forgot to mention KC is a possibility too. But yeah I’m guessing that if this doesn’t go through relocation follows probably to Houston. Makes the most sense out of the 4 cities.
Even IF they have their bid accepted, it will take several years before the new arena is operational. Where will they play in the interim? This is the last year on their lease at Gila River.
Probably at the memorial coliseum but yeah it needs renovations too.
I don’t get it. Where is this money coming from? They have lost money every single year since 2006 (and a lot of money at that). This experiment failed over a decade ago yet here we are again, thinking THIS TIME it will work. Gila River isn’t easy to get to, but does that mean building an arena in Tempe is going to double their average attendance? No. Just move the damn team already.
Tempe is closer to the east where most of the fanbase is but yeah. I don’t understand the love with Arizona.
Move to Vegas! Whoops!
The Coyotes will thrive in Tempe.
They won’t work in Tempe either. The idea that the fan base will suddenly show up and sell out the place because it is in Tempe is BS. If you are a fan, drive the 30 minutes to go see your team. That would be like being a Rangers fan and not coming from the outer boroughs to see your team. The truth is Arizona does not love hockey and it will not work long term here.
It’s not that simple.
It’s not a 30 minute drive in rush hour. It’s also in the arm pit of “Phoenix.” And should have been in Tempe all along. It’s where the money is.
Last ditch effort to keep an NHL club. About 20 years too long.
Glendale is the “armpit” of Phoenix? Who knew.
Winning hockey fixes all teams. Gila River Arena will negotiate a couple more years. Once they figure out hockey fills dates in the building. Not that many concerts are touring looking at 19,000 seat arenas. Plus they have a competitor a few miles away in the Footprint Center. Footprint Center is much nicer than Gila River Arena. The Westgate entertainment district was mismanaged from beginning till now. Hockey can work in the Valley. But winning hockey would certainly help.
Currently 1 and 1/2 to 2 hour drive(with traffic) if you live in East Valley
Where are you driving from? Tucson?
Queen Creek…with traffic,parking you need to leave 1 and 1/2 hours to 2 hours before the game starts
Exactly. Last game I went to took me just a tad over 1 1/2 hours. Looking forward to hockey in the East Valley.
I’m glad other people living here in AZ understand this is pretty big, and there will definitely be an uptick in fans. Centralizing it in Tempe is a perfect location.
The new arena will be completed after the 23-24 season, just in time for #34 to return to the valley and lead the revamped Coyotes to playoff glory. All the draft picks that will be chosen after this year and the great young players in the system will be joined by Matthews for a cup run in 24-25!
Move this pathetic franchise already.
Stop with the Houston rumors. It is miserable being a hockey fan here because nobody down here knows anything about hockey. Yeah I guess the Rockets arena would house a team but the fan base isn’t here. HS football has more of a following than the NHL. The Aeros were barely able to exist as a minor team and they relocated due to lack of interest.
Gary Bettman believes he can force people into liking the sport. He will see the $$ associated with the Houston market and consider nothing else.
Often overlooked in assessing the future of Coyotes is that ownership now has a gaming license that allows for sports betting. Build an arena in Tempe with a attached sports betting facility and the revenue potential from gaming may exceed that from the team. The Coyote ownership also owns a resort-casino on the Strip in LV, so they know how to run a sports book. In short, the team’s finances become secondary to potential gaming revenue and relocation becomes more than looking for increased attendance.
Post of the day ^^^^^^^