The Arizona Coyotes are officially heading to Salt Lake City.
The National Hockey League Board of Governors has unanimously approved the $1.2 billion sale of Alex Meruelo’s team to Utah Jazz owners Ryan and Ashley Smith, paving the way for the franchise to move to Utah next season.
The deal includes a clause allowing Arizona to get an expansion team if a new arena is built within five years. The deal also includes a $200 million transfer fee to NHL team owners.
“We’ve publicly expressed interest in the NHL,” Ryan Smith told The Associated Press. “We’ve been saying for probably two years that Utah can be a great hockey market. When you look at all the demographics, it was all about the Olympics coming back. But it all makes sense.”
Smith will take over the franchise’s hockey operations, while Meruelo will continue his work in Arizona in hopes of acquiring and developing a parcel of land north of Phoenix.
Meruelo also remains the owner of the Tucson Roadrunners, an American Hockey League affiliate, and hopes to move them to Mullett Arena, the Coyotes’ temporary home at Arizona State University for the past two seasons. He plans to repay the $1 billion once he secures an expansion team.
“The NHL’s confidence in Arizona has never wavered,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement. “We thank Alex Meruelo for his commitment to the franchise and Arizona. We fully support his efforts to find the Coyotes a new home in the desert. We also want to recognize the Arizona fans who have supported their team for nearly 30 years and helped grow the game.”
He will also retain rights to the Coyotes’ trademark, name and logo, meaning Smith will have to rename the team.
“We’ll start with ‘Utah’ on the jersey and we’ll figure out a logo and everything. But it’s a one-way trip,” Smith said. “You only have to do it once. I think with this timeline, we and the league are more comfortable. We’ll move forward with the move and we’ll get the name out there in due course.”
Hope for a Coyotes renaissance
Smith’s confidence was quickly rewarded. The organization announced it received 11,000 deposits for season tickets in the first four hours or so after the news broke.
The sale of the Coyotes ends their long saga to find a new home.
After relocating from Winnipeg, the franchise shared an arena with the NBA’s Phoenix Suns before moving to Glendale. It ended up at Mullet Arena when the city of Glendale backed out of a lease agreement with the team.
Meruelo has been adamant that he doesn’t want to sell the teams, despite having had several offers since buying the team in 2019. When an auction for the coveted land north of Phoenix was postponed until June, the Coyotes had no guarantee that a deal for a new arena would be reached.
With the league and the Players’ Association hesitant about the team playing in a 500-seat arena for a third consecutive season, Meruelo decided to sell the team and turn his attention to building an arena and bringing in an expansion team.
“I agree with the commissioner and the league that it is simply unfair to require our players, coaches and hockey operations […] to continue to operate for several more years in an arena that is not designed for NHL hockey,” Meruelo said in a statement.
“This is not the end of NHL hockey in Arizona, however. I have negotiated the rights to reactivate the team within the next five years, in addition to retaining the rights to the name, brand and logo. I still have the desire to build a state-of-the-art arena in an entertainment district without asking for public support.”
The Coyotes played their final game in Arizona on Wednesday, a 5-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers. The players celebrated on the ice with team staff. A few handed their sticks to fans, who sang their love for them.
