Coyotes relocating to Salt Lake City

[rataylor22]

The NHL knew the Arizona situation for years, saying it needs to move "now" only has legs because of the lack of action. Like the arena issues the last 10yrs is enough to put out a backup plan if the NHL was pro-active and not re-active.

So I'm not going to give any legs to the "the move needs to happen and SLC is the only feasible place ready right now".

To pretend like the situation now is the same as it has been for the last 10 years is....something.

The Coyotes had an NHL arena to play in, with NHL level facilities, until last year.

The Coyotes had a viable plan to have NHL caliber facilities (in Tempe) until this year.

The NHL did not have a viable relocation market until...this year.

The situation in Phoenix ~right now~ is exponentially different than it has ever been.

[2014olympicgold]

To pretend like the situation now is the same as it has been for the last 10 years is....something.

The Coyotes had an NHL arena to play in, with NHL level facilities, until last year.

The Coyotes had a viable plan to have NHL caliber facilities (in Tempe) until this year.

The NHL did not have a viable relocation market until...this year.

The situation in Phoenix ~right now~ is exponentially different than it has ever been.

For the last 10yrs they didn't have a permanent home, they were in constant flux if they were getting something.

In 2013 they had a plan to move the team to a new city like Seattle but didn't need to because of a 15yr lease with RSE.
In 2014 Scottsdale sued to team for reneging on a sponsorship deal.
In 2014 it was sold again.
In 2015 the Glendale Council voted to terminate the 15yr lease because 2 former city employees that worked on the lease, now worked for the Coyotes. Later on it was agreed on a 2yr lease.
In 2016 it was announced they had plans to build an arena in Tempe which would be finished for the 2019-20 season. It was withdrawn with ASU pulled out in 2017. (NHL facility was dependent on the University being involved....)
In 2019 it was sold to Meruelo.
In 2021 Glendale chose not to renew their operating agreement beyond 2021-22 season. Coyotes started negotiations with Tempe on a new arena.
In 2021 they didn't pay rent.
In 2022 they signed a 3yr lease with a 5,000 seat arena where they couldn't put their logo at center ice.
In 2023 their Tempe arena proposal was rejected.
They spoke to Mesa about an arena and that never went anywhere.
In 2024 the Scottsdale Mayor said they didn't want the Coyotes.

They've been homeless since 2021. They've been in flux since 2015. And they had a 15yr lease terminated after 2yrs within their last 10yrs. So "right now" isn't the last yr. It's been brewing for a decade.

[rataylor22]

I mean if you want to pretend, go ahead. You still believe Quebec City is a viable market so it's all fantasy land anyways lol.

[tweetdrivr]

The Utah Yeti
The Salt Lake Sasquatch
The Salt Lake Saltaire
The Utah Hive
The Salt Lake Swarm

Just spit ballin’

[2014olympicgold]

Coyotes weren't paying their hotel bills early this season according to Serevalli

[Pengwin7]

Meruelo's group has a serious history of IOUs for quite a while. This is very true.
[article above also references theathletic having 50+ people call Meruelo's workplace as "toxic". Like... yikes.]
The guy sounds like he's cut from the same cloth as Donald Trump.
I'd guess that Bettman and the entire owner's group are absolutely annoyed with Meruelo and want that to end that ASAP.
(Sometimes you don't realize who you are in bed with until you are in bed with them. Big ouch for Bettman/NHL... but a latino/minority owner in hispanic-heavy Arizona seemed like a great fit at the time for the NHL in 2019.)

There's so many things wrong with Meruelo/Coyotes.
Many have been wrong for a while... but it's only been clear within the last 14 months or so that an arena is NOT close.
Meruelo's own reputation probably didn't help with arena/land negotiations. And the public was pretty clearly informed not to trust him either - voting down his efforts to secure land for future arena.
(Arena owners would know... I'm sure every major arena ownership group has a good who's-who of corporate moguls. Shorter version - trouble for this guy finding an arena... what a shock - knowing what we know now.)

Whichever argument people want to reference... the sum of the parts is that Meruelo-ArizonaNHL has-not/is-not working at all.
An internal keep/sale in Arizona seems way nastier than a clean-break to a neighboring state.

[finnys_fanatsy]

The Utah Yeti
The Salt Lake Sasquatch
The Salt Lake Saltaire
The Utah Hive
The Salt Lake Swarm

Just spit ballin’

god no..lol

i don't have any good ones either but those are , lets just say....not appealing to me..

Utah (SLC) Wolves...little bigger than Coyotes

[Pengwin7]

Short list (wow, didn't think it would be so short) of sports teams in Utah - from the general utah.com website:
https://www.utah.com/things-to-do/attractions/sports/

[2014olympicgold]

The coyotes will likely announce their relocation to Utah on April 18th - John Gambadoro

[rataylor22]

The players finding out about all of this from social media is the most Coyotes thing of all time.

[metaldude26]

Ian Mendes had an article on The Athletic this week in which he had some proposed team names:

Yeti
Stag
Mountaineers
Golden Eagles
Hive
Stingers
Saints
Pioneers
Olympians
Blizzard

I like the Utah Yeti or the Utah Blizzard. Either lean into the mythical creature thing that the Kraken got going or throw back to the weather phenomena thing that a number of teams jumped on in the 90's.

[rataylor22]

Michael Remis @mremis 5h

On today's 32 Thoughts Podcast @FriedgeHNIC speculated that as part of the sale the Coyotes would become an "inactive" franchise and Utah would not be getting the team name & trademarks.

https://x.com/mremis/status/1778803111638806709

Maybe something that is only interesting to me, maybe something where I'm just reading into this.

What's kind of been reported is that the way this transaction would work is that the league buys the team, and then Smith buys the team + relocation fee from the league.

Now being speculated/reported that Smith will be buying all the contracts that come with the team. Does this theoretically imply there are contracts he can choose not to buy? Essentially quasi-compliance buyouts? The contracts he wants transfer to the new franchise, the ones he doesn't stay with the league, where then the league pays them out? The Coyotes cap sheet for next season is pretty bleak (no defensemen currently signed for example), so I imagine they would take all active player contracts, but this would help them get rid of the Weber LTIR, OEL retained, Kassian and Nemeth buyouts and give them a cleaner, quasi-expansion cap sheet? Again, I just don't see the league not finding some "new owner" perks to give to Smith/SLC.

[Axeman33]

Ian Mendes had an article on The Athletic this week in which he had some proposed team names:

Yeti
Stag
Mountaineers
Golden Eagles
Hive
Stingers
Saints
Pioneers
Olympians
Blizzard

I like the Utah Yeti or the Utah Blizzard. Either lean into the mythical creature thing that the Kraken got going or throw back to the weather phenomena thing that a number of teams jumped on in the 90's.

Bighorns!

[LawMan]

For the last 10yrs they didn't have a permanent home, they were in constant flux if they were getting something.

In 2013 they had a plan to move the team to a new city like Seattle but didn't need to because of a 15yr lease with RSE.
In 2014 Scottsdale sued to team for reneging on a sponsorship deal.
In 2014 it was sold again.
In 2015 the Glendale Council voted to terminate the 15yr lease because 2 former city employees that worked on the lease, now worked for the Coyotes. Later on it was agreed on a 2yr lease.
In 2016 it was announced they had plans to build an arena in Tempe which would be finished for the 2019-20 season. It was withdrawn with ASU pulled out in 2017. (NHL facility was dependent on the University being involved....)
In 2019 it was sold to Meruelo.
In 2021 Glendale chose not to renew their operating agreement beyond 2021-22 season. Coyotes started negotiations with Tempe on a new arena.
In 2021 they didn't pay rent.
In 2022 they signed a 3yr lease with a 5,000 seat arena where they couldn't put their logo at center ice.
In 2023 their Tempe arena proposal was rejected.
They spoke to Mesa about an arena and that never went anywhere.
In 2024 the Scottsdale Mayor said they didn't want the Coyotes.

They've been homeless since 2021. They've been in flux since 2015. And they had a 15yr lease terminated after 2yrs within their last 10yrs. So "right now" isn't the last yr. It's been brewing for a decade.

Agreed, this team has been THE problem child for the NHL for a long time. Bettman has been adamant about the team staying in Az for a long time.
In my opinion this is all about Ryan Smith bullying his way into the picture, to the top of the relocation options and making the league an offer it couldn't refuse.
Looking back SLC was not even on the short list of potential cities named (Atlanta, Houston, Cleveland, Quebec City) are listed on repeat... never more than a whiff regarding SLC
From January to next week Smith has managed to make it happen, full credit to him I hope he is a great owner who pumps money and effort into the team so it can succeed for a change.

[pmorrow]

Elliotte Friedman
@FriedgeHNIC
·
8m
There is word tonight the Arizona Coyotes players were informed in a meeting they are going to Utah. Players and staff may be headed to Salt Lake City right after Wednesday’s game to check out the facilities and the city



Craig Morgan
@CraigSMorgan
·
12m
Per multiple sources, the Coyotes have been informed that relocation to Salt Lake City is real.
Now hearing it could actually be announced on April 17; the date of the Coyotes’ final game at home vs. Edmonton.
It’s going to be quite an atmosphere that night at Mullett Arena.