The NHL is preparing a contingency plan in the event the Arizona Coyotes relocate to Salt Lake City as soon as this offseason, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reports.
Multiple sources indicate the league is drafting two different schedule matrices for next season, one with the Yotes remaining in Tempe’s Mullett Arena and the other with the franchise moving to the Delta Center in Salt Lake, Seravalli says. Relocation is a less likely outcome after the plot of land the Coyotes intend to use for a new arena and entertainment district in north Phoenix was officially listed for auction last week, but Seravalli reports majority owner Alex Meruelo is “intimately involved” in a backup plan that would sell control of the franchise to Ryan Smith, majority owner of the NBA’s Utah Jazz, before the June 27 land auction.
Per Seravalli, the Smith Entertainment Group would spend over $1.2B to acquire the franchise, including a relocation fee distributed to the league’s other 31 owners. Meruelo could still get paid for his majority stake at a valuation north of $1B after purchasing the franchise at a valuation of $300MM in 2019, a figure Arizona Sports’ John Gambadoro reported last week that Meruelo was seeking in preliminary discussions to sell the club.
However, if no sale is announced before the end of May, that’s a nearly surefire sign that the Yotes will remain at the 4,600-capacity Tempe venue for 2024-25. NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly has said that “waiting until a June land auction date would likely ensure the Coyotes will play at least one more season at Mullett Arena.”
Even in the overwhelmingly likely event that Meruelo wins the June land auction, that’s not a guarantee this franchise remains in Arizona past next season, Seravalli says. The Phoenix area won’t be without an NHL club for long, though, as indicated repeatedly by the league in recent months. Sources said to Seravalli that part of an agreement to sell the team “could include language that would allow Meruelo to ‘reactivate’ the Coyotes franchise in future years, including name and trademarks, if a new arena is built and terms and conditions of the agreement with the NHL are met.” That would pave the way for the Coyotes to start fresh with an expansion draft after the development is built, perhaps bringing hockey back to Arizona before the end of the decade.
All indications point to Meruelo’s (and the league’s) preference to bypass relocation altogether, keeping the team at Mullett until the proposed new arena is finished, which would likely be for the 2027-28 season. That would also leave Salt Lake City open as an expansion market rather than a relocation one, a more financially lucrative option for owners.
Coyotes fan. Try saying that to people. Tired of the humiliation. Salt Lake City here we come and yes, it will be for next year.
Arizona doesn’t care about hockey. Move the Coyotes to a location that would be more invested. Bettman needs to give up his hopes in Arizona being a feasible market
It was a feasible market when the team was downtown. Once they moved out of Phoenix proper the fun and apathy began.
The cities of Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Phoenix form an equilateral triangle with sides roughly 275 miles long and in the middle of the triangle is the Mojave DESERT.
Vegas will always have a full crowd just because it’s a carnival, Los Angeles will always be full because it’s a huge population and Anaheim is for those shut out of the gate at LA.
Remember, the league financed the Coyotes 10-15 years ago and all contracts had to be approved by the league before finalized. And now the league is prohibiting them from signing new players for next year.
Gary is taking the fall for this, but it will be the SLC Coyotes in 2024+.
If you’re Meruelo, do you go thru the risk of an auction (and all the approvals needed afterwards) or take the guaranteed money up front from the Smith Entertainment Group?
They’ll be in Salt Lake next season.
Good point. Meruelo is a rich man for a reason and the Coyotes are a financial instrument in his diversified portfolio:
“Meruelo could still get paid for his majority stake at a valuation north of $1B after purchasing the franchise at a valuation of $300MM in 2019, ”
$600 million profit in five years is a pretty good return and honestly, the NHL is dead in Phoenix. You will never ever get 17,000 fans a night in Phoenix. Folks, they’re second team in a college arena ..
@Gbear – Let’s hope, hope, hope. But, note to Mr. Smith – Do NOT name them the Coyotes, or even Ky-yoots. Go for something like the Salt Lake City Golden Eagles, even though it is close-ish in name and proximity to the Vegas Golden Knights.
Call ’em the Beehives
@Mac – I know the Elk is the state animal, but I’d go with the Pronghorns. You mess with the Prongs, you get the horns! :D
@Gbear — Talk about 5 for checking from behind! :)
There will be teams in Arizona And Atlanta when Gary retires .
Long overdue.
Phoenix a viable market with a proper building in the correct area. They have never had that.
For those that don’t know, Gila River Arena is a great building for hockey. It’s built in the wrong area of the city. Are there fans? Yes. But who travels 2hrs thru rush hour traffic for a game?
The franchise was doomed the day it left Winnipeg. Hastily planned by Gary. Don’t smear the city. This was all Gary. Atlanta has zero fans.
Phoenix does.
AHL Tuscon Roadrunners moving to Reno.
Yes, Meurelo owns the Roadrunners and the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, so he may hold onto the Roadrunners as the SLC’s ECHL affiliate in Reno. Smart man.
Oh, I thought the Tahoe Knight Monsters were scheduled to start play this fall.
The issue isn’t Arizona, like the issue was never Atlanta. It’s poor ownership.
A guy selling an absolute turd franchise run by the league is gonna get $1B? Makes me not want to spend another dime on pro sports. Thankfully I already made that decision a few yrs ago.
Saw yesterday the Mayor of Scottsdale said he doesn’t want the franchise there and will not support it. So really it’s time to go.
If the rink IS built it’ll be on the Phoenix side of the city not in Scottsdale. So what he says means nothing.
It adds complexity to the proposed site though, as the easiest access to utilities comes from Scottsdale which refuse to support this. That forces any planning to hook up to Phoenix, which requires them to run it under the highway, which is more costly. It’s not going to be a major factor, but it is yet another wrinkle that needs to planned for as part of the arena project.
Yes, the infrastructure issues are now an unavoidable and prohibitive barrier to getting anything done within Phoenix city limits. How many times do the people in the Phoenix area have to deny the Coyotes until it’s final. Thinking that Meurelo knew this fact all along. And that’s why he’s a billionaire ..
The reason the league is drafting a plan is that they know it’s going to happen so they will not look like a Rec league run by Business men…
I guess this leaves Houston out of the running.
Wondering though, Houston has great attendance in pro baseball, basketball, and football. Article at Hockey News on September 20, 2023:
“Houston Finishes First in THN Writers Poll for the Next NHL City
The Hockey News asked 34 of its writers which city is next in line for an NHL franchise. Houston led the way.”
Would someone summarize to me why Arizona/Metro Phoenix doesn’t want the Coyotes? Is it traffic/parking/congestion?
Yes I know they’ve sucked for years. But I don’t know why they’d not want them due to the income, taxes and tourism generated
Good questions. Nowhere to play at a site fans can get to during weekdays. No financially reasonable site to build on within city limits.
The Wiki article “Phoenix Coyotes bankruptcy and sale” is from 2009, which is just about ten years after moving here.
The last fifteen years have been trying to convince Arizonians to float the bills – the City of Glendale even paid their bills to keep them at their Gila Rivers Resort and Casino and the NHL financed the team in 2009.
That SLC is building an arena looking forward to the 2034 Winter Olympics is a good barometer of how much time it will take for a sane business model to be actualized in Phoenix, one that we really believe is going to generate a positive income stream for the city.