Coyotes’ Name, Logo to Remain in Phoenix While Team Relocates

Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

The current version of the Arizona Coyotes are relocating to Salt Lake City. But Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo will move forward with construction of a $3 billion arena and entertainment project in North Phoenix, potentially reviving the team, an NHL source said. Athletic Late Friday night.

Meruelo said in a statement on Saturday: “We are concerned about many unresolved issues and therefore we are unable to make any formal public comments at this time. However, I promise you that I will speak on all of these issues, and publicly address all of your concerns as quickly as possible.”

Once the Salt Lake City deal is completed, the Coyotes’ hockey operations and players will be sold, renamed and relocated during the 2024-25 season at a cost of $1.2 billion, sources said.

In a complicated deal, Merullo sold the franchise to Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith, but Merullo will retain the Coyotes name, logo and trademarks, as well as ownership of the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners. The NHL also gave him five years to complete his proposed arena project and apply for another NHL franchise, sources said.

Meruelo will receive $1 billion of the sale price, with the remaining $200 million going to the NHL, which brokered the deal. If the arena is built, Meruelo will pay the league $1 billion for the rights to the new Coyotes.

Meanwhile, sources confirmed that general manager Bill Armstrong told Coyotes players before Friday night’s game in Edmonton that the current team will play at the upgraded Delta Center in Salt Lake City, ESPN reported.

Wednesday night’s game against the same Oilers team at Mallett Stadium on the ASU campus will be this special version of the club’s final game in the Valley.

Meruelo purchased the team in July 2019 for $425 million and recently valued it Athletic $675 million, by far the lowest among the NHL’s 32 teams.

Sources say Meruelo will still hold an auction on June 27 that would allow the club to purchase a 95-acre untreated parcel of land on the border of North Phoenix and North Scottsdale with a starting assessment of $68.5 million. Arizona Trust Land.

If he wins the auction, the cost of the project will include more than $100 million in infrastructure costs and a $1 billion first phase for an arena, training center and theater.

The Arizona Department of Lands Board of Appeals approved the auction last month, and if the Coyotes lost the auction, the team would have been in danger of being relocated anyway.

“If we were not the winning bidder, then we would probably have to accept the relocation of the team,” club president Xavier Gutierrez said in a recent phone interview. “This will be our only option.”

The team must play at least three more seasons at Mullett Arena, the 4,600-seat university rink. This was a significant issue for NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and his deputy, Bill Daly, who expressed these concerns to Merullo.

All parties agreed that the arrangement was unfair to the players, who were unhappy with the poor conditions at Mallett Stadium. There, they used makeshift locker rooms outside the main building, which the Coyotes spent $30 million to build, and held practices at an off-campus facility called the Ice Den near Scottsdale.

Gutierrez said the team has lost “a lot” of money playing the Mullets over the past two seasons, but he declined to reveal specific numbers, though Athletic The losses have been told to be in the mid-to-high eight-figure range.

The parties reached an agreement that Meruelo’s portion of the team will be inactive and not play at Mallett Field for up to five years until he completes the stadium project and the players will head to Salt Lake City.

In the meantime, sources said, talks will take place to move the Roadrunners from Tucson to Mallett Field to replace the Coyotes.

This story was updated in second paragraph with a statement from Coyotes owner Alex Merullo on Saturday afternoon.