At least the Arizona Coyotes went out winners. The NHL team ended a 27-year run in the Phoenix area Wednesday with a 5-2 defeat of the Edmonton Oilers.
On Thursday, the worst-kept secret in the league became official: the Arizona Coyotes franchise will move to Salt Lake City, Utah beginning next season. Any chance of the move falling through ended as the NHL Board of Governors unanimously voted in favor of the sale and relocation of the team’s hockey assets one state north of its current locale.
The woebegone organization will now be sold by current team owner Alex Meruelo to Utah Jazz owners Ryan and Ashley Smith. The sale is being orchestrated by the league, with Meruelo being promised an Arizona-based expansion team soon — contingent on a new NHL-ready arena being built.
Arizona Coyotes Never Found an Agreeable Home
The Arizona Coyotes came into being after the Winnipeg Jets moved to Phoenix with the full blessing of the NHL after the 1996 season. At that time, the Jets were bought by a pair of Minnesota businessmen in order to move the team to Minneapolis after the Minnesota North Stars moved to Dallas in 1993.
However, an arena deal could not be struck for the franchise to play in the Minneapolis-St. Paul and the team instead went to Arizona to play as the Phoenix Coyotes.
The team made the playoffs in five of its first six seasons in Phoenix, playing at the Phoenix Suns‘ arena. However, it was a house built for basketball with poor sightlines for the NHL.
In 2003, finding the situation in Phoenix no longer tenable, the team moved to a new arena in suburban Glendale and rebranded itself as the Arizona Coyotes.
It wasn’t a good fit. The arena with a seating capacity of over 17,000, regularly saw average attendance numbers sinking to a level at or below 13,000. Arena ownership did not see eye-to-eye with the team, with arena managers accusing the team of falling behind on taxes and payments owed to play on the rink.
In 2021, Glendale evicted the Arizona Coyotes after attendance averages fell to an all-time low of 11,601. With team ownership still trying to secure funding for a new, permanent home, the Arizona Coyotes made the move to Tempe to play in the new Mullett Arena.
Mullett Arena is a state-of-the-art stadium. However, it was built for the upstart Arizona State hockey program, as well as other Sun Devils athletic events. Hence, the seating capacity for NHL games is just 4,600.
Arizona Coyotes May Still Live On Someday
Meruelo was reportedly convinced by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman that a sale and move was the best scenario for everyone involved. Merulo’s ownership group will retain the team’s name and history — much like Cleveland did with the Browns when the organization moved to Baltimore and became the Ravens.
An expansion team will be awarded to Meruelo at the price of $1 billion to carry the Arizona Coyotes name should he be able to build a new arena within five years.
On Thursday, Meruelo remained steadfast to the hope of returning the NHL to Phoenix as soon as possible, telling reporters:
“This is not the end for NHL hockey in Arizona.”
Bettman mirrored Meruelo’s sentiments in a statement, saying:
“The NHL’s belief in Arizona has never wavered. We thank Alex Meruelo for his commitment to the franchise and Arizona, and we fully support his ongoing efforts to secure a new home in the desert for the Coyotes. We also want to acknowledge the loyal hockey fans of Arizona, who have supported their team with dedication for nearly three decades while growing the game.”
At this juncture, there remain no concrete proposals to construct an arena for the prospective reborn Arizona Coyotes to rejoin the NHL within the five-year window.
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Tom Carothers is a sportswriter with more than 20 years of experience covering sports at the high school, collegiate, and professional levels. Still longing for the return of his Minnesota North Stars, he has a high pain tolerance as a big fan of the Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Browns, and Tottenham Hotspur.
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