TEMPE – After the recent rejection of a new arena proposal in Tempe, neighboring states have picked up the pace in an attempt to lure the Coyotes away from Arizona.
The Coyotes are committed to playing only one more year at Mullet Arena and have no long-term plan in place while the organization’s remaining options shrink across the Valley. In May, Tempe votes rejected the $2.1 billion proposal for a 16,000-seat hockey area, 1,995 multi-family residential units, retail businesses and gambling hubs.
Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith has voiced interest in bringing the NHL to Salt Lake City, Utah, but he’s not the state’s only high-ranking public figure in support of the idea.
“We hear a lot of enthusiasm and please bring us a team (for) Salt Lakers and people in this region who are desperately excited to see the NHL make its debut here in Salt Lake City,” Salt Lake City mayor Erin Mendenhall told Cronkite News.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman stated recently he would like to keep the Coyotes in Arizona because he views it as a good market. Contrary to Bettman’s desire, cities and ownership groups across the country are attempting to lure the team, with Houston, Atlanta and Kansas City reportedly interested in relocating the team.
If the Coyotes were to move to Salt Lake City, the impact on the hockey community across the state would be drastic. At the beginning of the year, there were 11 rinks and 16 sheets of ice across the state, stretching from Tucson to Flagstaff.
Arizona hockey youth programs have been in the top five in USA Hockey statistics in terms of growth in the nation. In 2018, over 8,500 youth hockey players registered with USA Hockey.
At the collegiate level, Arizona State’s men’s hockey program continues to blossom. In 2014, the Sun Devils became Division I and made an appearance in the 2019 NCAA Division I Men’s Hockey Tournament.
“Without that support, without that visual thing to shoot for the highest form of the art I guess, there aren’t going to be as many people inspired to play hockey,” PHNX reporter Craig Morgan said. “It is that simple I think. I think that the entire community will dwindle a bit and that’s sad to think.”
The organization has made a significant impact in Arizona since moving from Winnipeg in 1996. The Coyotes began playing at Footprint Center before moving to Glendale in 2003. After a turbulent relationship with the city of Glendale, the team moved to Tempe.
Sharing Mullett Arena with ASU’s hockey teams, the Coyotes never turned to the 5,000-seat venue as a long-term solution. The Coyotes and ASU agreed to a three-year deal with a mutual option for the 2025-26 NHL season.
A permanent option might be down the street in Mesa, a growing city with an ice rink and multiple skating and hockey programs. The abandoned 80-acre Fiesta Mall in downtown Mesa was closed in 2018 and remains unoccupied. The lack of foot traffic since the mall’s closure has left a void for surrounding businesses that could be solved by the Coyotes.
“Immediately, we would get so many more people. I am assuming the arena would be around 17,000 fans, plus the workers. So just the exposure that this area would get to that many people would be amazing for all the businesses over here,” local restaurant owner Dylan Roberts said.
While the team’s future remains in question with plenty of options on the table, Mendenhall’s message of support is clear.
“Get on the plane and support them here, we are not that far away,” the mayor said.
Daniel Pike expects to graduate in May 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in sports journalism, a minor in history and a certificate in sports ethics and diversity. Pike is the station manager for Blaze Radio and an intern for KTAR News in Phoenix.
The Coyotes pivoted to a vacant plot of land managed by the Arizona State Land Department days after Tempe voters in May 2023 rejected three ballot propositions on a proposed $2.1 billion development in the city that included an arena, hotels, shops, restaurants, and nearly 2,000 apartments.
Hockey worked in the desert for 27 years, albeit with some major potholes along the way. In the Coyotes' 28th year since moving from Winnipeg, those ruts derailed the franchise and sent it to Utah.
The Coyotes had a multimillion-dollar, long-term lease agreement with Glendale, but the city backed out of the deal in 2015. The franchise reached a deal to play at Arizona State's arena until it could find a permanent home and seemed to have found a landing spot near downtown Tempe.
The Arizona Coyotes play their last game of the season on April 17, 2024. The NHL made official last week what had been rumored for a little while — the Arizona Coyotes are moving to Salt Lake City.
(AP) — The Arizona Coyotes are officially headed to Salt Lake City. The NHL Board of Governors voted unanimously Thursday to approve a $1.2 billion sale from Alex Meruelo to Utah Jazz owners Ryan and Ashley Smith, clearing the way for the franchise's move to Utah next season.
The Arizona Coyotes saga is officially over. According to an announcement from the NHL, the league's Board of Governors approved the Coyotes' relocation to Salt Lake City, and the team will begin play in its new home beginning in the 2024-25 season.
In urban and suburban areas, coyotes commonly take domestic house cats, small dogs, poultry and other domestic animals. Coyotes have been known to attack humans. Distemper and canine hepatitis are among the most common diseases of coyotes.
A combination of traffic and distance combined to make it far more trouble than it was worth to get to a game. The Coyotes needed to be downtown, but Suns owner Robert Sarver wasn't interested in that, at all.
The Arizona Coyotes' relocation to Salt Lake City is a complicated subject that didn't just develop overnight. Through the years, the Coyotes have had some arena drama as the team moved from Phoenix to Glendale and then from Glendale to Tempe, but the thought of relocation always seemed to just be a rumor.
After nearly three years of proposals to build an arena on the former Los Arcos Mall in Scottsdale and having difficulty financing the purchase of the Coyotes and finishing demolition of Los Arcos, along with infighting in the Scottsdale City Council, Ellman looked toward the West Valley, and in December 2003, the team ...
The ticket prices are reflecting the economy of this being their last game at Mullett Arena. Already limited in availability because of the Arizona State University-owned venue's capacity of 5,000, the cost of tickets is soaring as of Wednesday afternoon.
Per ESPN sources, the sale price for the new franchise and the Coyotes' hockey assets was $1.2 billion. Meruelo, who purchased the team for $300 million in 2019, will pocket $1 billion.
The Coyotes moved to Mullett Arena while seeking an arena solution in Tempe. The Coyotes believed they had one with a 16,000-seat arena in a proposed $2.1 billion entertainment district, but voters rejected that plan in May 2023.
After two seasons of uncertainty in location limbo, the Arizona Coyotes are officially relocating to Salt Lake City, Utah. The NHL announced the move Thursday, following an emotional final game at Mullett Arena on Wednesday night.
The NHL's executive committee has approved the move of the Arizona Coyotes to Salt Lake City, several sources have told Sportico. The relocation vote now moves to the entire Board of Governors, which comprises all 32 teams.
The NHL on Thursday approved the Coyotes' sale to Ryan and Ashley Smith, who own the Utah Jazz. The renamed hockey team will play alongside the Jazz at the Delta Center.
Animal rights activists say humans share the bulk of the blame for the increase in coyote encounters. As humans expand their footprint in California, including in the hills above the cities where packs of coyotes live, run-ins are more of a inevitability rather than something that can be snuffed out completely.
The Arizona Coyotes will relocate to Salt Lake City and play under a new name for next season. Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith has officially landed a National Hockey League franchise. Earlier this afternoon, the league's board of governors approved a plan to relocate the Arizona Coyotes to Utah for next season.
The Arizona Coyotes are officially headed to Salt Lake City starting next season, per league sources, after the NHL's Board of Governors voted in favor of the sale and relocation of the team's hockey assets on Thursday.
Coyotes are opportunistic scavengers. They tend to wander from place to place, looking for food sources that are abundant and where it's easy to steal. If they can't find food in one place, they'll quickly wander somewhere else. Coyote bands are mobile and change territory quickly.
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