Coyotes, Mesa in talks on stadium

Sloan Park area among options, team CEO says

Arizona Coyotes representatives met with Mesa’s city manager at least twice in the past month to discuss Mesa as a possible site for a new arena, according to city emails and a team spokesman.

“Yes, we have had discussions with the city of Mesa. We are exploring multiple options for a new arena in the Valley and Sloane (sic) Park has been raised as one,” Coyotes CEO and President Anthony LeBlanc said in a written statement.

Sloan Park is the spring-training home for the Chicago Cubs. The open land surrounding the stadium, which backs up to the Loop 202 and Loop 101 interchange, is called Riverview Park.

According to city emails, Ahron Cohen, the Coyotes general counsel, met with Mesa City Manager Chris Brady on Feb. 9. After their meeting, Cohen reached out to Brady to confirm information about Mesa’s transportation privilege tax and hotel tax.

Cohen also told Brady that he reached out to the chief legal officer of the Cubs — Sloan Park’s current sole tenant. Rep-

resentatives from the Cubs did not return requests for comment.

In late February, Mitchell Ziets of Tipping Point Sports, described as the team’s arena consultant, asked Brady for a copy of the Cubs’ Sloan Park lease agreements to prepare for a meeting with Brady, according to city emails.

Mesa Mayor John Giles said he’s been involved in discussions with the Coyotes but said it would be “premature” to say whether a Mesa arena is “realistic or serious.”

Giles said the area surrounding Mesa Riverview and Sloan Park is “some of the most prime real estate in the state, if not the country, right now” because of its proximity to Loop 101 and Loop 202.

“If I were the Coyotes, I know I would want to be there. But whether it’s a good deal for Mesa or not is something that we’ll have to look into,” Giles said, noting that several others have also expressed interest in the land.

Giles said “serious conversations” with the team hinge on the passage of a bill pending before the state Legislature that would establish a funding model for a new Coyotes arena.

Mesa spokesman Steve Wright said the Coyotes’ recent meetings with the city manager were in regard to that bill, which would provide $225 million in public financing for a new, $395 million arena.

Wright said Mesa is just one of numerous options the Coyotes are considering and there have been no formal discussions.

He said additional details about the meetings were confidential.

“There’s nothing specific that they’re trying to land over there. It’s all just research,” Wright said.

Bill sponsor Sen. Bob Worsley, R-Mesa, said he believes there are several locations in Mesa, including the Sloan Park area, that would “make sense” for the team.

His bill is “location agnostic” in order to give the Coyotes “maximum flexibility” to find a space that works for them, he said.

A previous version of his bill was specifically tailored to a Tempe location, but it fell apart after Arizona State University backed out of a plan to house the NHL team on university land.

Worsley said he sponsored the legislation to make sure the team stays somewhere in the Valley.

The Coyotes currently play at the publicly funded Gila River Arena in Glendale but fell into conflict with the city in 2015 after Glendale revoked the team’s lucrative arena-management agreement.

“I’m just trying to save a business that wants to be here in Arizona,” Worsley said.

His bill awaits a vote in the Senate, where leadership has told The Arizona Republic it likely does not have the needed votes to pass.

Representatives from the Coyotes and Glendale met Thursday to discuss the team’s future in Glendale for the first time in almost a year.

The Coyotes’ current lease allows them to play at Gila River Arena through the 2017-18 season.

Glendale City Manager Kevin Phelps has repeatedly acknowledged that the team is welcome to stay long-term. The Coyotes have been less warm to that idea.

Representatives from the team declined to comment about the meeting.

Sen. Kimberly Yee, RPhoenix, helped orchestrate the get-together after she told The Republic in late February that both sides “are negotiating among legislators when they should be talking face to face.”

Yee, who represents portions of Glendale, said the meeting was not intended to be “the end of all meetings” but the start of a conversation that will continue.

“Both parties have representatives who are true professionals, and that was seen yesterday — it was exhibited by both sides,” she said Friday.

Phelps said it was a cordial meeting but said the Coyotes representatives focused on “why it won’t work in Glendale” from a financial perspective.

He said the city provided the team with information on median household income and projected infrastructure and population growth in the West Valley.

“We’re just not convinced that the West Valley can’t support the team,” Phelps said.

He noted that Glendale would continue to be “patient and persistent” and push two messages: The West Valley and county as a whole need to do a better job at supporting the Coyotes and reinvigorating a fan base, and the Coyotes need to work on putting a better product on the ice.

Accomplishing those two things will result in the team’s financial success, he said.

“There are very, very few markets that can consistently maintain revenues with a substandard product,” Phelps said.

The Coyotes currently have the second-worst record in the NHL.