Coyotes face likelihood of one final game in Arizona

The Coyotes have one game left in the 2023-24 season, and the question hanging over the organization is whether that will be the last game the franchise plays "with the kachina logo on their sweaters" before relocating to Salt Lake City, according to Taylor Seely of the ARIZONA REPUBLIC (4/14). TSN's Pierre LeBrun reiterated that the NHL wants the move "done if possible before the Stanley Cup playoffs begin" on April 20. Work on the deal continues and the "hope is to be able to finalize things by the end of this week, but no guarantee of that" (X, 4/15). ESPN's Emily Kaplan cited sources as saying that Coyotes players "were informed Friday that the team is relocating to Utah." Players and staff members "will be invited to visit Salt Lake City after their season finale to check out the city and facilities" (ESPN.com, 4/12).

DETAILS OF THE PROPOSED DEAL: Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported the NHL is going to buy the Coyotes for $1B and current Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo is going to have a “five-year window to prove he can put together a new arena.” That includes winning the June 27 land auction and everything else “he has to do to prove he can build a new arena.”  Should that take place, the league will take an expansion-like stance and “sell a new team” to Ryan Smith for $1.2B. The Coyotes’ hockey operations “are expected to go with that,” as the Salt Lake City group “has indicated that they value continuity." NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly about a month ago “met with Coyotes ownership and said, ‘Look, It’s time. You’re going to be allowed to pursue the new arena for Coyotes 2.0. But we’re in a position here where we can’t allow this iteration of the team to continue any longer.’” People are “really excited” to see Smith and his Smith Entertainment Group in the league. Smith has a “great reputation for creativity” and they are “happy that he will be a member of ‘the club’ if this closes” (“HNIC,” Sportsnet, 4/13).

IT PAYS TO PLAY: In Salt Lake City, Alex Vejar wrote Smith’s push to get an NHL team “coincided with the unraveling in Phoenix.” While the Coyotes’ “push for a permanent arena teetered,” Smith “leveraged his desire to the league.” Smith in January “formally started the process with the NHL to get a team to Utah.” There were other cities “jockeying for a team before Salt Lake” -- including Houston, Quebec City, Atlanta and others -- but Smith “has jumped the line.” At least one reason is “he’s able, and willing, to pay more” (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 4/12). THE ATHLETIC’s Mendes & Jones writes Smith’s passion for basketball “is well-documented.” He is a "lifelong fan who is present with a courtside seat for virtually every Jazz home game.” Smith is involved in key decisions for basketball operations but said that he allows his leadership team “to have the loudest voices in the room.” He has acknowledged he “will adopt a very similar approach” if he secures an NHL franchise in Salt Lake City (THE ATHLETIC, 4/15).

IS THE SUPPORT THERE? In Utah, Dennis Romboy wrote whether Salt Lake City “would support an NHL team remains to be seen.” Sports managing expert Eric Schulzsaid that Salt Lake City “could be a viable hockey market.” Schulz: “But it would be tough sledding for a few years after their inaugural season and the newness wears off.” Schulz said that there is a “finite group of companies sponsoring sports in Utah,” and he is “not sure they will pour more money into hockey.” They “may carve some dollars out of current sponsorships to move over, but probably won’t throw in more money.” Schulz said that the “one advantage” Smith’s group has is that it “can bundle Jazz and NHL sponsorships to leverage the Jazz to get some NHL sponsor dollars” (DESERET NEWS, 4/12).

FINALLY TIME TO LEAVE THE DESERT: In Toronto, Bruce Arthur noted Bettman “fought very, very hard” to keep the Coyotes in Arizona; “too hard, you could say.” The franchise “has been bleeding money in the desert for well over 15 years.” The Coyotes could have been moved to either Hamilton or Quebec City, but they were instead "left to rot in the desert” (TORONTO STAR, 4/13). THE ATHLETIC’s Eric Duhatschek wrote the Coyotes have been a “corporate clown show for so long mostly because Bettman couldn’t let go of his obsession with the market.” Many people “couldn’t understand Bettman’s obsession with the market, but it really isn’t hard to explain.” Bettman’s “forever vision” for the NHL has always involved a geographic “footprint” that had teams “strategically sprinkled across the United States.” Phoenix is the “fifth-most populous city in the U.S.” and supported minor hockey “years before the NHL arrived on the scene.” It “was supposed to work” and would have if not for the "arena and ownership instability.” Bettman is not completely giving up on the market, as he is "just giving it a chance to breathe -- which is right out of his playbook.” If a new NHL franchise ever re-emerges in Arizona, it “will get a chance to start from scratch and be free from the history of league and ownership mismanagement that has been a constant for almost 30 years” (THE ATHLETIC, 4/13).

RETURN COULD THRIVE IN RIGHT SITUATION: In Boston, Jim McBride noted a “natural question is why would the NHL award an expansion franchise to Arizona?” The reason is it represents a “major television market” and the NHL believes that a “team can thrive there with proper leadership and infrastructure.” Hockey is a “popular youth sport in Arizona” and former league MVP Maple Leafs C Auston Matthews is one of several star players from the state (BOSTON GLOBE, 4/13). In N.Y., Larry Brooks wrote there is “every chance” that when the NHL is ready to "dilute its product" by adding another two teams and perhaps a sum of another $2B to “divide among the existing 32 ownerships’ respective bank accounts, Arizona and Atlanta will be waiting to give the league a back-to-the-future vibe.” Arizona “did not fail as an NHL market nearly as much as multiple ownerships failed the market.” That is why Bettman “won’t put a white flag on his door when it comes to the league’s interest in this Southwest outpost.” Brooks is unsure if Salt Lake City "adds much cache to the league," though "removing this ongoing embarrassment of an eyesore in the desert … addition by subtraction for the league” (N.Y. POST, 4/13).

FANS THE BIG LOSER IN THIS: In Phoenix, Leah Merrall wrote "heartbreak, anger and grief prevail as the overwhelming sentiments" for Coyotes fans. It is a "deep, emotional pain because losing a fandom, a team, a community, is a loss of identity." If the Coyotes leave, it is “at the expense of a lot of people who have supported this team through years of turmoil and bullshit just for the hope of it one day working out” (PHNX SPORTS, 4/12). In Pittsburgh, Mark Madden wrote it “makes 100% sense to move the Coyotes.” However, there “will be several thousand absolutely heartbroken hockey fans in Phoenix” should they relocate. A lot of those fans “did their part.” Madden: “They showed up. They supported. They spent. They cared.” Fans who attend games at Mullet Arena do not “deserve to be abandoned” (TRIBLIVE.com, 4/13).