Well, it was a misadventure that most people knew would turn out poorly, like Larry David adopting an orphan. The Arizona Coyotes are going to announce this week that they will be relocating to Salt Lake City, starting with the 2024-25 season. This comes after several tumultuous seasons which saw the team kicked out of its home venue, relocate to a college ice rink, and fail at multiple attempts to find a permanent home in Phoenix. It will also mark the first time that anyone has actually moved to Utah voluntarily.
It’s been a saga that has been painfully unfolding for years, like the 37th season of The Jersey Shore. Here’s the timeline:
–In 1995 the struggling Winnipeg Jets were sold to new owners who wanted to move them to Minneapolis to replace the just-departed Minnesota North Stars. But they couldn’t work out a lease with the Target Center, so the new owners instead moved the team to Phoenix, where fans had been clamoring for professional hockey since … never.
–The team moved into America West Arena (now Footprint Center), which was home to the Phoenix Suns, starting with the 1996-97 season. But the arena was poorly designed for hockey, which apparently took everyone by surprise, prompting questions like “why didn’t you go look at it first?” and “I thought we were moving to Manitoba?”
–The team was sold to a new ownership group in 2001, which included Wayne Gretzky. But despite showing up to the press conference in skates and full pads, the crowd seemed shocked to learn that Gretzky, now 40, wasn’t planning to actually play.
–Although the new owners wanted to move the team to Scottsdale, those plans faltered, and the team instead ended up moving to Glendale on the west side of the valley. The Glendale Arena opened in December of 2003, and served as the anchor for the Westgate Entertainment District, which opened in 2006. It was the setup that many owners dreamed of at the time – an arena with neighbors that included a froyo stand, a Cobra-Kai dojo, and a Gap for Grandparents, creating an entertainment destination for fans of all ages. Everything seemed … perfect?
–But despite some success on the ice, the team ran into financial trouble, and ended up being taken over by the league in 2009. A fight between two potential new owners broke out, including one who wanted to move the team to Hamilton, Ontario, birthplace of Martin Short and Eugene Levy. But neither of them could skate, so after some legal fireworks, the NHL ended up buying the team like a repossessed Chevy Impala and negotiating a temporary lease with the Glendale Arena while trying to settle on a new ownership group (again).
–After more efforts to purchase the team by various owners collapsed, talk of moving the team to Seattle emerged, prompting a wave of demand for Coyotes-branded unwashed plaid shirts and beard grooming kits. But in 2013 the City of Glendale rescued the team by agreeing to a new 15-year lease agreement with (yet another) new ownership group.
–In 2014 … wait for it … 51% of the team was sold to a new owner (again), making the Coyotes the second most traded asset in North America behind Pokemon cards. It was rumored that EBay wanted a naming rights deal for the new arena.
–In 2016, talks of a new stadium began again, this time in Tempe. But that deal failed when ASU pulled out as a deal partner in early 2017, instead opting to launch a graduate school for nightclub management. Shortly thereafter, the team was acquired in its entirety by its majority owner, Andrew Barroway, not to be confused with Calloway, the 80’s band that sang “I Wanna Be Rich”.
–But just two years later, Barroway sold a controlling interest in the team to Alex Meruelo, whose company owned radio and TV stations, casinos, and a company that makes tiny drink umbrellas. At this point the Coyotes started considering hosting annual reunions for past owners, but struggled to find a hotel ballroom in Phoenix that was big enough to fit them all.
–But then things really fell off the rails when, in August of 2021, the city of Glendale decided they were tired of the drama that was the Coyotes, with all of the constant talk of relocation. Like an angry romantic partner waiting for a marriage proposal that would never come, they told the Coyotes that they were not going to renew the team’s lease for the now named Gila River Arena after the 2021-22 season. They essentially threw the Coyotes clothes, suitcases, and golf clubs out on the lawn and booked a self-healing trip to Italy.
–But then it got even worse, when the City of Glendale threatened to lock the Coyotes out of their arena, just before Christmas of 2021, for not paying their tax bill to the city. The team said it was just an oversight, but not wanting to have their players booted like an abandoned Pontiac Aztek, they paid the bill the next day.
–Two months later, in February 2022, the Coyotes announced that they would be moving into ASU’s new college ice arena, which only held 5000 fans, while they looked to build a new permanent arena (again). But the good news was that 5000 fans was 2000 more fans than the Coyotes had left after all of this nonsense, so they signed a three year deal to play at the newly constructed Mullett Arena. To celebrate, every player was given a free mullet haircut and a 1987 Camaro.
–In May of 2023, the team failed to win a vote in the city of Tempe to build a new arena there on the site of a landfill, with the voters in Tempe apparently picking a trash dump over adopting the Coyotes. The team then turned its sights elsewhere, with talks of a potential arena in Mesa, Yuma, Flagstaff, Greenland, Buenos Aires, Calcutta, and Neptune.
And then, this past week, the news finally came: the NHL was moving the team to Salt Lake City, buying the franchise from Alex Meruelo, and then selling it to Ryan Smith, the owner of the Utah Jazz. Fans in Utah were ecstatic until they realized that it was Ryan Smith and not Ryan Reynolds buying the club. The team is now expected to start playing in the Delta Center in the fall of 2024.
It’s been such a ridiculous saga for so long, and one of the most drama-filled franchise tales in North American sports history.
The new plan is that if the current Coyotes ownership can acquire public land in an open bidding process in June, the group apparently has five years to build an arena on it, in which case the NHL will award an expansion franchise back to Phoenix.
If you were lucky enough to see the Coyotes play at The Mullett, then you got a treat: watching an NHL team play in a tiny venue was really a lot of fun. But with the regular season ending this week and the Coyotes missing the playoffs, it looks like you won’t get another chance. On the other hand, who knows? They could be playing in a 7-11 parking lot near you by this time next year for all we know.
But for those of you up for a new sports adventure, stay tuned for our insider guide to the Delta Center, coming this fall.
So sayonara, Coyotes. May you find better fortunes in Utah.
