It was NHL All-Star Weekend this weekend, and in addition to somebody beating somebody in the game itself (non-hockey fans, please try to guess the current format without looking), lots of people took the opportunity to say things about the fate of the Arizona Coyotes:
- Coyotes CEO Xavier Gutierrez: “I can confirm that we have submitted an application [for state-owned land in northeast Phoenix near Scottsdale]. But … I’m confirming with you that, as I’ve made very clear on a number of occasions, we are looking at multiple sites and we are not yet ready to announce which is the one that we are going to pursue as the primary one.”
- NHL Players Association director Marty Walsh: “If there’s no plan in Arizona, I would encourage a move to another location, absolutely. I think the league feels that Arizona is a good market and I can understand that. The issue I have, and the players have, is how long do you wait to get a home? They’re playing in a college arena and they’re the second tenant in that arena. This is not the way to run a business.”
- NHL commissioner Gary Bettman: “[Coyotes owner] Alex Meruelo, as recently as last week, told me he was certain he was going to get [a new arena] done, and I don’t make it a practice of contradicting owners unless I have hard facts to the contrary, and I am both hopeful and reasonably [long pause] reasonably confident that he’s going to do what he says.”
Meanwhile, talk of the Coyotes moving to Utah continues, though there’s no real evidence that this is imminent either, beyond unsourced rumors that have been rumoring ever since Meruelo lost his arena-funding vote in Tempe last spring. Also still no word on what a new hockey arena in Salt Lake City — which Jazz owner Ryan Smith said he would need in order to bring the NHL to town — would cost or who would pay for it. So while the NHL players union is undoubtably peevish that one-32nd of his members have to play in a college rink, there are still lots of reasons to expect this drama to drag on a bit longer, not least that it’s already been dragging on pretty much ever since the Coyotes moved to Arizona in 1996, what’s another few months or years or decades?
Is Utah also considered North Phoenix…
That’s funny!
The Arizona State Land Department, that controls the land auctions, has their meeting on February 8, 2024.
The current ‘draft’ agenda (https://land.az.gov/sites/default/files/2024-01/DraftAgenda%2002_08_2024.pdf), does not yet list any lands for auction/discussion.
However, according to the agenda note, they have at least twenty-four (24) hours prior to the scheduled meeting, before those lands are listed.
Stay tuned!
Just 50 or so months to go and this saga will surpass the “are the Coyotes moving to Hamilton/QC/Houston saga(s).
Full props to Walsh for saying the only sentence that needs to be said about this franchise: “This is not the way to run a business”.
At this point it’s just a matter of time. Bettman feels like he’s losing his grip on the team and may be accepting reality (finally!)
I want the coyotes to stay in Phoenix
You seem to be in the extreme minority my friend
Do you mean “move to Phoenix?” The Coyotes haven’t played there for 20 years.
I live in Utah and the fan base here can barely support the ECHL team that is already here! NHL team moved to Utah=bankrupt tax write off.
Those are unrelated. The ECHL and NHL draw different kinds of fans and different kinds of sponsors.
Besides, their attendance isn’t bad for that level. More than 5,500. That’s better than some AHL teams, including some in major markets.
That’s also more than Las Vegas got for its ECHL team when it had one. That didn’t have any bearing on how well the NHL would do there.
I prefer the old fiesta mall location
Glendale and phoenix are rush hr problems as a prior season ticket holder I want the arena to be close. Mesa is that.already built
road access. Also walkable. thinking season tickets.
Transportation is a plus.
Phx and glendale it’s tv time and maple leafs. Canadians. Then the salt lake seagulls. In that order.
Fiesta Mall is ghetto and actually as far from the fan base as Glendale. As with the gravel pit at Alma School and 202, Mesa appears to have no interest in getting involved with the Coyotes. After fiascos in Phoenix, Scottsdale, Glendale and Tempe, it’s going to be tough to find a city in the Valley willing to deal with the Coyotes.
Memo to Bettman: The NHL does NOT work in Arizona. But, this is the guy who destroyed the Winter Challenge by scheduling 30 outdoor games a year, so I’m not holding my breath for him to accept reality.
Is it cold enough in Utah for the SLC Coyotes to play their season outdoors?
The outdoor games are not “ruined.” People keep showing up for them. That’s all that matters to them.
If the Coyotes leave, the NHL owners won’t give up on Phoenix as a market. It’s just too big. They just need to find the right owner. That may take 100 years, but they will try.
Relocating to San Diego would be a better option, especially with a new arena in the Midway District in the works.
Nobody in San Diego has stepped forward to buy a team. Somebody in Salt Lake has. That’s how this works.
For the 10,000th time. Gary Bettman doesn’t just move teams around like the pieces on a RISK board.
Teams are bought and sold.
I think Bettman glued the Coyote game piece to the Arizona square on his RISK board.
LOL!
Atlanta is a bigger market and the NHL gave up twice. Houston is even bigger and has never had NHL hockey. Ciudad de Mexico is the largest city in North America and doesn’t even have ECHL. The NHL can survive without a team in the Sonoran Desert, either Phoenix or Hermosillo. Wake up Bettman, the closer you get to Mexico, the less popular hockey is
Why is this not surprising.
‘Issue of transparency’: Arizona Coyotes’ land interest raises ethics flags for Gov. Katie Hobbs
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2024/02/06/hobbs-involvement-in-arizona-coyotes-land-interest-faces-ethics-scrutiny/72487466007/
Hmmmn. Another candidate for the Elaine Scruggs School of Government?
My belated guess to the all star format: a free for all with a group of players on the ice trying to score on either goal.
Growing up, we had fun playing crack the whip on the frozen pond.
Ah, 1996. Bill Clinton defeated Bob Dole and Jack Kemp for President, and Bob Dole graciously accepted defeat instead of encouraging his supporters to storm the Capitol. Android and iPhone were more than 10 years in the future, even Blackberry was 3 years off. Gatorade, toothpaste and shampoo were allowed on planes in any quantity, because ther was no TSA. Airport security was only looking for guns and large knives. Austin Matthew’s and Connor McDavid weren’t even born yet. It’s been a very long time Gary.
Elliotte Friedman reported that the situation with the auction does not look good.
He cannot imagine this going into the summer unresolved. The other owners are at the end of their rope.
He also hypothesized that the owners are preparing to possibly have to fight in court to force a sale of the franchise. In that case, Bettman has to only say encouraging things so it doesn’t lokk like he’s trying to sabotage the current owners.
I’d also add that Bettman had nothing to lose. The fans and the players hate him. If he has to give up and move the team, they won’t hate him any more or less.
But if he can save them in Phoenix somehow, at least the fans there will like him. All 10,000 of them.
Usually we have our fun around here but for some reason the whole situation (about twenty years) with the Coyotes is just sad now.