- The Coyotes have not been able to find a new home since they were expelled
- Now the team is working on a way to move to Salt Lake City in Utah.
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The Arizona Coyotes’ potential move to Salt Lake City, Utah, has been approved by the NHL’s executive committee, a key step for the team to leave the desert.
After giving the franchise as much leeway as possible (some might say a lot more leeway than necessary) to find a new home, it appears the NHL is fed up with attempts to try and find a new home, with the executive committee giving the approval. light to move to Utah.
In a complicated move, Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo will sell the team to Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith in a deal worth $1.2 billion.
But the team will change its name in time for the 2024-25 season, and Meruelo will retain the rights to the Coyotes name, logos and trademarks.
Meruelo will maintain these brands in hopes of establishing an expansion franchise in Arizona. He will move forward with construction of a $3 billion stadium in north Phoenix, and the NHL will give him five years to do so.
The Arizona Coyotes are one step closer to moving to Salt Lake City, Utah for next season
After being kicked out of its old stadium in Glendale, the team played at a university venue.
But now the team is about to play at the Delta Center, home of the Utah Jazz
Of the $1.2 billion, Meruelo will keep $1 billion, while the remaining $200 million will go to the NHL, which is negotiating the deal. If he gets the expansion franchise, he will pay $1 billion to the NHL as a franchise fee.
Meruelo will also maintain ownership of the Tucson Roadrunners, the Coyotes AHL affiliate.
For years, the Coyotes have been one of the worst-performing teams in the National Hockey League, and those problems have been compounded by the franchise’s expulsion from its former home in Glendale, now known as Desert Diamond Arena.
Since that eviction, the team has struggled to find a new, future home with multiple plans for different sites in the area falling apart.
The Coyotes have been playing their games at Mullett Arena, the home of the Arizona State University hockey team. It is a measure that has been criticized because the facilities are not up to par with professional hockey.
But those problems will soon be behind the team as they move to the Delta Center, home of the NBA’s Jazz for next season.
Meruelo bought the Coyotes for $425 million in July 2019. At the time, Arizona was the least valuable NHL franchise: $675 million.