Future of NHL hockey in Arizona unclear without new arena development

26/06/2024

MANHATTAN, N.Y.— NHL commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed on Wednesday, following the league’s Board of Governors meeting at the St. Regis Hotel in Manhattan, that Alex Meruelo has terminated his right to reactivate the Arizona Coyotes.

Meruelo, who purchased the Coyotes for $425 million back in 2019, agreed to sell the team to Ryan and Ashley Smith (Utah Jazz owners) back in April. The sale went through earlier this month, and the Smiths officially relocated the Coyotes to Utah and rebranded them the Utah Hockey Club.

As part of the deal, Meruelo got the NHL to agree to offer him the exclusive contractual right to reactivate the Arizona franchise within five years of the date of agreement (back in April) pending his ability to build a new arena.

But as PHNX Sports reported earlier this week, last Thursday’s decision from the Arizona State Land Department’s to cancel the auction for the land Meruelo was bidding on for the arena project essentially killed his chances of meeting the NHL’s requirement of having construction at least 50 per cent complete by Dec. 31, 2027 before applying to the NHL for reactivation.

So Meruelo decided to walk away, which was a decision Bettman commended on Wednesday.

“Alex took over a franchise that had a number of challenges that he had nothing to do with creating,” Bettman said. “He invested a lot of himself and a lot of money in trying to turn things around, but I don’t think the stars aligned. And that franchise, well before he took over, had issues relative to an appropriate place to play.

“And so we thank him for everything he tried to do, and we had hoped and wished the situation could’ve been different. But I think the way he had focused on it and decided to put things to rest speaks volumes of the way he handles himself to try and do the right thing.”

Several reports over the years that Meruelo owned and operated the Coyotes—including this scathing one from the Athletic—painted a different picture of Meruelo’s business dealings in Arizona.

But Bettman reiterated on Wednesday that Meruelo deserved credit for coming to the decision he did earlier this week.

“I hope the commentary, and the history, treats Alex fairly,” he said. “I think he deserves it.”

When asked why, Bettman said, “Because he tried very hard and circumstances there were not very favourable or friendly, and that’s evidenced by the fact that he couldn’t get the level of support from the government to put in another arena which would’ve created jobs and opportunities for the community.”

As to where this latest development leaves the future of NHL hockey in Arizona, Bettman was non-committal.

“That’s not something we’re focused on right now,” he said. “I think there are fans there, I think it’s a good market. But somebody, before we can even have this conversation, has to solve the arena problem, and that has been daunting.”

When asked if anyone else in Arizona has expressed interest in taking on that problem and reviving NHL hockey in the state, Bettman said, “No, not to us, and that’s not something we’re interested in pursuing right now.”

With Meruelo moving on, deputy commissioner Bill Daly confirmed that all intellectual property of the Coyotes now belongs to the NHL.

“That doesn’t necessarily mean we can’t license them if they have youth hockey programs they want to do, but everything comes back to the league,” Daly said.

For the Coyotes to return to the NHL, a new arena would have to get built and prospective owners would have to apply for expansion like any other interested party.

The NHL has received a lot of other interest in expansion outside of Arizona, but isn’t prepared to act on any of it.

“We take meetings when they’re requested. We don’t turn anybody away,” said Bettman. “But as I’ve said repeatedly and Bill’s said repeatedly, we’re not interested right now in pursuing a formal process where we say, ‘Okay, everybody’s interested, file an application.’ We continue to receive expressions of interest, but we haven’t yet decided that it’s, at this point, something that we’d like to pursue.”

The Board of Governors did approve two other transactions on Wednesday.

Bettman confirmed former governor of Tennessee Bill Haslam is “continuing his acquisition of control of the [Nashville] Predators,” and that Samantha Holloway (chair of the executive committee of the Seattle Kraken) is acquiring a larger ownership share of the Kraken.

Bettman also said another order of business Wednesday was the ratification of four proposed rule tweaks the general managers pushed for coming out of their March meetings in Palm Beach, Fla.

The commissioner added he also provided an update to the governors on digital technology innovation projects the league is engaged in, that he gave revenue projections, and that the league used the meeting to “make sure the board is fully up to date and fully engaged in terms of what we do at a league level.”

When asked about projections for the salary cap beyond 2025-26—it’s expected to jump from $88 million to $92 million for that season—Bettman didn’t specify.

But he said, “We think the business prospects continue to be vibrant and we expect the cap to continue to go up.”