According to Arizona Sports’ John Gambadoro, Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo has contacted multiple parties, including groups inside and outside the state, to gauge their interest in buying the franchise. He’s seeking an asking price of $1B, $50MM more than the Senators sold for when Michael Andlauer purchased the club last summer.
Gambadoro notes that the Coyotes have recently met with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman to update him on their current bid to remain in Arizona, which revolves around winning an auction for a plot of land on the city’s north side. When approached for comment by Gambadoro, the Coyotes said, “Mr. Meruelo and the team are solely focused on the land auction and winning the bid. And to keep the Coyotes in Arizona.”
The lack of a suitable arena has plagued the Coyotes’ long-term future ever since the city of Glendale, which oversaw their previous full-time home, Gila River Arena, opted not to renew their operating agreement in the 2021 offseason due to large debts the club owed to the city. Meruelo struck a deal with Arizona State University to share the brand-new 4,600-seat Mullett Arena through at least the 2024-25 season, heading to the Phoenix suburb of Tempe after the club submitted a bid to build an arena and surrounding entertainment district in the city. However, a public referendum of Tempe voters in May 2023 failed to greenlight the project, sending Arizona back to square one.
Unfortunately, Arizona state law dictates that the land auction could occur as late as 240 days after the city’s board of appeals approved the sale, which occurred on March 14. That could punt the Coyotes’ certainty on landing the plot into next season, as late as November 9. That’s a tough pill to swallow for the league, facing mounting pressure from NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh to provide a suitable major league environment for Coyotes players. The auction won’t happen until mid-June at the absolute earliest, as state law also rules that “there must be an auction advertisement in print media for a minimum of 10 weeks before the auction.” That has yet to occur.
Interested parties outside the state surely include Ryan Smith, the majority owner of the NBA’s Utah Jazz. His Smith Entertainment Group filed a formal request for the league to initiate an expansion process in January and has been public recently about his desire to bring an NHL franchise to Salt Lake City, whether by expansion or relocation. The city has an NHL-ready but not necessarily ideal venue in the Delta Center, which has a capacity of 20,000 for NBA games but would be significantly reduced in a hockey configuration. The franchise would have a new arena by the end of the decade, though, as the city has already approved the construction of a new downtown venue ahead of the 2034 Winter Olympics.
Bettman has stated the league will return to the Phoenix market in the near future if the Coyotes relocate. They’ll likely hold off on doing so until a suitable, more central-location venue becomes available, however.
“Bettman has stated the league will return to the Phoenix market in the near future if the Coyotes relocate. They’ll likely hold off on doing so until a suitable, more central-location venue becomes available, however.”
OMG.
He’s trying in vain to save face.
Like the other major sports, this commissioner works for league ownership and does not make these decisions unilaterally. It is amusing how many of you don’t grasp this simple concept.
Phoenix is the 5th largest city and a top 10 metro area in the United States. They will have a team again. Hell Atlanta will probably get a 3rd chance.
Salt Lake City Coyotes, make it happen. Too many talented players on this team playing in an arena many OHL teams would sneer at.
Salt Lake City Elks
Gary B: So, what’s your plan to build a new arena?
Alex M: Well Gary, we’re looking at winning an auction for a plot of land.
Stop the madness and move them to Houston or Salt Lake already.
@Gbear — The last line of your post was accidentally Ctrl+Z’d:
Gary B: And people are calling ME crazy?
Atlanta’s calling, Yotes ownership!
Winnipeg to Phoenix.
Atlanta to Winnipeg.
Phoenix to Atlanta.
Sounds right.
No named sources = fake news!
Ugh
F’in dumpster fire!
Move already!!
Kansas City or Houston seem plausible but don’t discount a deep-pocketed southern Californian eyeing San Diego. Quebec City unfortunately isn’t on the league’s radar. But tell me – would you rather pay $990M for the moribund Coyotes or $750m for an expansion franchise?
If you phrase it that way, perhaps, but what makes anyone think that the price tag for expansion would be less than a billion?
Quebec City and another city in the GTA – perhaps Mississauga or Hamilton – are very much deserving of an NHL team… Unfortunately, they would have to overcome the enormous influence of the league’s two biggest teams, and the league has absolutely zero interest in making tickets accessible to working people in Toronto and Montreal.
Not even joking, I was considering seeing the Panthers in Toronto last playoffs, but it is legitimately cheaper for me to drive to Detroit, fly to Miami, rent a car, and see a game in Sunrise. Like nearly $200 cheaper.
The NHL under Bettman has long courted big dollars and corporations to the detriment of the working class fan. That’s why one never sees the empty corporate seats early game in the lower level of a Rangers or Leafs game until they gradually fill in… The old “lack of corporate support” line was crucial to the narrative that the league spun around leaving Quebec and Hartford, and is spinning once again in Winnipeg. My Whalers season tickets behind the goal in the lower bowl were $56/game when the team left, similar tickets on the NHL website now list between $321 and $566/seat for a first round playoff matchup!
The GTA could easily support another team, and the Leafs would never sign off on it. Toronto and Buffalo both would demand corking compensation fees.
This is why I haven’t paid for a NHL ticket SINCE the Whalers were still in town. What I’ve paid for season tickets to minor league and college hockey over these last thirty years is what you’re seeing for those single game prices now. No. Way.
Not only that, but the seats under $1000 at some of these arenas are AWFUL. I would rather see a game in Buffalo than Toronto because at least their arena is “close”… Every seat is pretty decent.
They will not move them out of the West
Elliott Friedman basically said a new expansion starts at a billion.
Coyotes are in the Central, and so would Houston or SLC be …
Western conference
I read that headline very quickly with lack of sleep as: Coyotes Interest in Gouging Potential Buyers.
Probably holds up.
Gary announces expansion for 2027 Atlanta and Arizona. Then says he is retiring. Atlanta and Arizona will have teams. Winnipeg though may not.
Coyotes fan here. Move the fkng team. I remember when the league financed the team in 2008 and just read that we cannot make contractual offers for next year.
Read the Wiki article on Phoenix Coyotes bankruptcy – my team has been a dumpster fire since it moved here.
Hopefully the “fake news” post is sarcastic, as the article starts off with the news source.
People who scream “fake news” are not interested in reality, they will always disagree with whatever does not suit their preexisting personal beliefs. Doesn’t matter what evidence is there. This is why 4% of the American public unironically believes in lizard people. Not even a joke – this is true.
That’s outrageous, lizard people are not real…..but those praying mantis people are a whole other story. :D
There’s plenty of fake news out there, but this story isn’t one of them.