Coyotes reportedly moving to Utah
PHOENIX – It was a whirlwind last week for the Arizona Coyotes with rampant reports of the team moving to Salt Lake City at the end of this season.
Dailyfaceoff.com reported Wednesday that the league is drafting two versions of the Coyotes’ schedule for next season, one with the team playing at Arizona State’s Mullett Arena, and the other with the team playing in Salt Lake City at Delta Center, the home of the NBA’s Utah Jazz.
Since then, more outlets have confirmed that report and the franchise looks to be moving after its final regular-season game on Wednesday at Mullett Arena.
The Coyotes were in the middle of a five-game road trip and were set to play the Vancouver Canucks when reports of a move were swirling last Wednesday. The players and coaching staff said they knew as much as fans did at that time.
“Throughout this entire time, there hasn’t been a ton of discussion around what’s going on,” forward Clayton Keller said at Friday’s morning skate in Edmonton. “We’ve just been taking it day by day and heard different things here and there.”
However, the players and staff reportedly learned more after.
Coyotes general manager Bill Armstrong flew to Edmonton to address the team about the relocation rumors ahead of the game against the Edmonton Oilers on Friday night, and multiple reports later said he told players the team was moving.
A Sportsnet report on Friday evening said Armstrong informed the team it would be relocating to Salt Lake City and the move would be official after the team’s season finale. The report said Armstrong told the team they would have a chance to check out the new location after the final game.
When did Salt Lake City become a destination for the Coyotes?
Many different cities have been floated around as potential relocation spots for the Coyotes in the team’s 27 seasons in Arizona, from Houston to Quebec City.
But Salt Lake City is the spot that has stuck.
The NHL announced on Jan. 24 that Smith Entertainment Group (SEG), the parent company of the Jazz, formally requested to initiate an expansion process for the purpose of bringing an NHL team to Utah.
It was revealed that Ryan Smith, chairman of SEG and governor of the Jazz, has been in discussions with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman since 2022. Smith has been sharing his thoughts on his X social media account. On April 8, two days before the initial relocation reports were shared, Smith asked for a fan survey on what a potential team would be named.
What is happening with the potential arena plans in Phoenix?
Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo, through a law firm, applied to buy state trust land last June to develop a $3 billion entertainment district with restaurants, stores and apartments, as well as a 17,000-seat professional hockey arena on about 100 acres of land on the Phoenix side of the Phoenix-Scottsdale city line.
The Coyotes hope to buy the property from the Arizona State Land Department at auction in June. The starting bid will be nearly $70 million.
While Meruelo won’t have a team for the arena, news outlets said the reported $1 billion sale to Smith would give him the right to reactivate the franchise within five years through an expansion franchise if an arena is built.
Meruelo put out a statement on Saturday, saying he can’t speak publicly at this time because there are myriad unresolved issues. He promised to “publicly address all of your concerns as promptly as possible.”