The Arizona Coyotes started life as the former WHA team Winnipeg Jets, who joined the NHL in 1979. They moved to Arizona in 1996 as part of Gary Bettman’s Sun Belt expansion and relocation strategy, settling into what was then a modern-albeit-basketball-first America West Arena in downtown Phoenix. Compromised sightlines at AWA forced multiple ownership groups to look elsewhere in Maricopa County, first in South Scottsdale, then in Glendale, at a new entertainment and shopping complex called Westgate. Anchored by the Cardinals’ new retractable dome stadium and a hockey arena, Westgate proved to be a solid hub of activity in the West Valley. However, most of the hockey fans the Coyotes needed lived on the other side of the Valley in Scottsdale/Tempe/Chandler/Mesa/Gilbert. Most of the West Valley was and still is noted for retirement communities in Sun City, Peoria, and Surprise, and while those are solid ticket buyers, those communities lack the corporate and sponsor support needed to sustain the Coyotes long term. Multiple ownership groups shuffled in and out, peaking with the Wayne Gretzky-Steve Ellman era in the early 2000’s.
Gretzky was the big name to grow interest in the franchise. Ellman was a local developer who owned an older mall on the corner of Scottsdale Road and McDowell Road called Los Arcos. Interestingly, during spring training trip in 2001 I stayed at a hotel across Scottsdale from Los Arcos, which was fading and in disrepair. After Ellman’s Los Arcos arena plan stalled, he turned his attention to some undeveloped farmland north of the planned Cardinals stadium in Glendale. Glendale was in the midst of a building boom, its large footprint ensuring water from the Arizona Canal system would be secure. Ellman built Glendale Arena, which underwent several name changes in later years. The arena is fine and functional, with the requisite number of club areas and suites. Its location remained a problem because it was so hard to get hockey fans to come there 41 times a year. Eventually Gretzky stepped away after a disastrous stint as a head coach, and Ellman sold to trucking magnate Jerry Moyes, an even worse disaster that ended in Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Seriously, if you’re an A’s fan complaining about John Fisher, read The Hockey Writers’ article about Coyotes history. Fisher’s tenure looks comparatively sedate.
After more post-Moyes ownership misadventures, the team ended up in the hands of Alex Meruelo, a casino and media magnate who the NHL touted as its first Latin-American franchise owner. When Meruelo tried Scottsdale again for an arena site, they had little interest. Meruelo turned to Tempe, where a piece of landfill next to the Salt River had some public support and a good location for the East Valley fanbase. A referendum for the arena and development project failed at the ballot box last year. That left Meruelo to regroup. He settled on a site just over the Scottsdale city limit in North Phoenix, which caused Scottsdale mayor David Ortega to blast the plan for its negative local impact (traffic, water use, infrastructure).
Here’s where I can provide some local color. As some of you know, I lived in Scottsdale (Old Town area) for several years after I moved out of California. I now live in Glendale, so I can provide perspective on both sides of the Valley. There are two Scottsdales. There is South Scottsdale, informally south of Shea Blvd., which contains most of the city services, the huge mall, and most of the other commercial and denser residential development. Ortega, who I voted for before I left Scottsdale, is pro-development, and was an easy choice over the more conservative options on the ballot. But the prevailing attitude among the pro-development forces is that new building should occur in South Scottsdale, especially redevelopment of the area in and around Old Town. With some exceptions like the Airpark light industrial area near the airport and the horse training facility WestWorld, most large-scale development is forbidden in North Scottsdale. For those of you in the East Bay Area, it’s like trying to build in the Fremont or Hayward hills, or Rodeo. The residents are allergic to anything that might cause gridlock in their part of town. And if you’re wondering about Talking Stick and the spring training facilities, those are technically on Pima reservation land that’s in the South Scottsdale area. Yes, the Dbacks and Coyotes inquired about building somewhere in Scottsdale. They were denied every time except for smaller projects like Salt River Fields, which was subject to regional public funding.
Gary Bettman made the Sun Belt strategy his legacy to mixed results. Many purists decry the abandonment of traditional hockey markets in Canada in favor of bigger, newer audiences in America. The Phoenix market was promoted, propped up, even sustained by the league for years. After two years of playing in a college arena, the NHL is giving up. For now.
It’s a strange situation, because even though the Coyotes are about to announce a move to Salt Lake City starting next season, the story isn’t over yet. Phoenix is too large to completely vacate, so they’ll keep hope alive for an expansion team, hopefully at the arena Meruelo wants to build in North Phoenix. Ortega’s criticism was walked back earlier this week, but the damage was done. Unfortunately for that plan, the problems remain. The site is completely undeveloped at the moment and will require a large amount of infrastructure. While no one is planning any high-rises for the land, an arena that would create a great deal of event-related traffic on a regular basis is probably a step too far. North Scottsdale made its pact with seasonality, inviting snowbirds to live there during the winter months and encouraging the economic activity they bring. It’s a symbiotic relationship for those 3-5 months every year. An arena there is a hard sell as it goes against North Scottsdale’ sensibilities. There is other land in the Desert Ridge area further west, which is also controlled by the State Land Trust. Meruelo’s first step is to win a public auction for the land he seeks, then engage with the municipalities, Maricopa County, and Arizona DOT to formulate a plan that works for all involved. So the road to getting hockey back to Arizona is long, indeed.
The Coyotes’ foreseeable future lies 600 miles north of Phoenix in Salt Lake City. There, tech billionaire Ryan Smith already owns the Utah Jazz and the venerable Delta Center, situated in downtown SLC. He’s been angling to get a NHL team for some time, either through expansion or relocation. That effort was well publicized in SLC media over the past year. The time to strike came when John Fisher and the A’s chose Sacramento over Salt Lake City, mostly to preserve RSN money during the interim years before they move to Las Vegas for good. That decision left Smith free to pursue the Coyotes, which may be key to locking up the public funding he is going to request for a modern replacement for Delta Center.
Opened in 1991, the Delta Center replaced the old Salt Palace. Ever since the Jazz moved to SLC from New Orleans, the Salt Palace held the distinction as one of the smallest arenas in the NBA with a capacity of 12,666. It was designed like many of its late 60’s multipurpose peers: Phoenix Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Oakland Coliseum Arena, and The Forum in Inglewood. The sightlines were not optimal. It did its job of handling basketball, concerts, and the occasional ice show. Delta Center was built by Jazz owner Larry H. Miller to be first and foremost a basketball arena, a good example of what I call “reactionary” design. As a result, the Delta Center is not set up for quick changes like the former Staples Center or American Airlines Center in Dallas. The video shows how Delta Center set itself up for its annual NHL exhibition game, which required a long ice-making and prep period before the game.
To accommodate both sports, Delta Center will have to do what most multipurpose arenas do by laying down the ice surface before the season begins, and overlaying padding and floor over the top of it as needed. The worry there is condensation or leakage, which could create a slick basketball court if not properly managed. While it’s not an impossible problem to solve, it doesn’t appear that Smith’s staff have much experience doing it, so it will be a new challenge for them. Some of the retractable basketball seats at the ends of the court will have to sit on the overlaid ice as well. The NHL will be involved to ensure the quality and playability of the ice surface, one of the longstanding issues that plagues Sun Belt teams when contrasted with their northern and Canadian rivals.
Beyond the ice surface, the sightlines for hockey are going to suck. Those retracted end seats mean they’ll have to put some portable seats on ice level or leave huge blank spaces as was done for the figure skating competition during the 2002 Winter Olympics. It’s ironic considering the Coyotes left America West Arena because of a similar problem with sightlines. It’s not going to be resolved until a new arena is built that properly accommodates both sports.
Ryan Smith took advantage of two factors in attracting the Coyotes. He owned his arena which meant that a team could conceivably come there rent-free, and having two teams will boost any new arena efforts. You may be surprised to find that there are only a limited number of arenas that house two major pro sports tenants.
⁃ Los Angeles, former Staples Center (3 teams)
⁃ Chicago, United Center
⁃ New York, Madison Square Garden
⁃ Boston, TD Garden
⁃ Washington DC, Capital One Arena
⁃ Dallas, American Airlines Center
⁃ Detroit, Little Caesars Arena
⁃ Philadelphia, Wells Fargo Center
⁃ Toronto, Scotiabank Arena
– Denver, Ball Arena
Salt Lake City is much smaller than all of those markets. Most of those markets also benefit from large legacy cable RSN deals, which aren’t in place in Utah. The arenas in Los Angeles and Las Vegas were privately financed, so given that SLC will have two teams to fill dates, it may be worth debating if a new arena there will need public financing. Smith is reportedly buying the Coyotes from Meruelo for $1.2 Billion, of which $1 Billion will go to Meruelo and $200 million will go to the rest of the NHL as a relocation fee. That large outlay will probably translate into a great debt load for Smith Entertainment Group, the entity that will own the Jazz, Real Salt Lake (MLS), Delta Center, and the Coyotes. That’s before any substantive talks about a new arena are to begin. Smith is rich, but not on the level of Steve Ballmer, who is paying for the entirety of the construction of Intuit Dome in Inglewood, with enough leftover to buy the Forum from MSG. If there are conflicts in the Jazz/Coyotes scheduling or logistics, the Maverik Center in West Valley City should be able to handle it. The Maverik Center was used as the hockey venue for the 2002 Olympics and is home to the ECHL Utah Grizzlies, with a proper hockey rink-shaped seating bowl.
Meruelo is expected to keep Arizona operations going in hopes that the North Scottsdale process results in a winning bid for land there and an arena. After that, Meruelo would presumably get the NHL next expansion franchise, whenever that occurs. He also owns the Tucson Roadrunners, the Coyotes’ AHL affiliate. A 33rd NHL team in a market that ran out of willing cities to provide stadium subsidies? I have my doubts.
Franchise relocations are fairly infrequent in the 21st Century. Baseball had the Expos in 2005 and the A’s in 2024. The NBA had four relocations in the past 20 years (Hornets/Bobcats, Sonics/Thunder, Nets to Brooklyn, Warriors to SF). The NFL’s LA/San Diego shuffle happened less than a decade ago. The aforementioned Thrashers became the second iteration of the Winnipeg Jets. And that’s all for now. Most of the teams that got new buildings in the 90’s-early 2000’s are coming up on the end of their original terms. Many of those teams negotiated lease extensions with improvements or better revenue sharing terms baked in, like the San Jose Sharks. Others like Golden State Warriors built anew to get away from “onerous” lease terms, and to follow the money. In both the A’s and the Coyotes’ relocation sagas, the league stepped in to make a crucial assist. They’ll do it again despite the protests (A’s) or lack thereof (Coyotes). The leagues’ main responsibility is to ensure their respective sports are healthy, which starts with individual teams. You’re only as strong as your weakest link, right?
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P.S. – If Phoenix media guy John Gambadoro is right, I can only conclude that the NHL needs the Phoenix market, at least more than MLB needs Oakland. 🤷🏾♂️
That said, if MLB put the same conditions on Oakland, could Oakland deliver?