PHOENIX — The Arizona Coyotes are playing some of the best hockey fans have seen in years.
They have won four straight games, their longest winning streak this season, and all of those wins have come over the winners of the past five Stanley Cups — Vegas (2023), Colorado (2022), Tampa Bay (2020-21) and St. Louis (2019).
However, the team's future remains up in the air as they continue to search for a new arena to call home, but a new report from PHNX Sports' Craig Morgan said the Coyotes may be zeroing in on a location in Phoenix.
Morgan's report states "multiple sources familiar with the process" have told him that the Coyotes are seriously looking at a site in northeast Phoenix, near Scottsdale.
While the report does not say the exact location the Coyotes are considering, Morgan reports "the site is closer to the greatest wealth concentration of the city in north Scottsdale and Paradise Valley, and it creates easier access for fans in the northwest Valley cities of Glendale and Peoria."
However, the site would still be a considerable distance from Coyotes fans in the southeast Valley as it would take nearly as long for fans there to get to the Phoenix site as it would take them to get to the Coyotes' former home, Desert Diamond Arena, in Glendale, according to Morgan.
This report comes four months after Coyotes' owner Alex Meruelo executed a letter of intent to purchase a piece of land in Mesa, which could have been for an arena and entertainment district.
"The Coyotes remain committed to building the first privately funded sports facility in Arizona history and ensuring the Valley as the Club’s permanent home," a statement from the Coyotes in August read. "In addition to this property in Mesa, the Club will continue to explore other potential sites in the East Valley."
Indeed they have explored other potential sites, although the team has not officially confirmed where any of these sites are.
Morgan reports that the northeast Phoenix site would allow the Coyotes to stick to the same timeline as the proposed Tempe Arena, which was rejected by voters in May and would have taken two-and-a-half to three years to complete.
The site would also include "residences, hotels, restaurants and shops, a sports book and a practice rink adjacent to the arena," according to Morgan.
The Coyotes are currently in the second year of a three-year deal to play home games at ASU's Mullett Arena, which has a seating capacity of 4,600 for NHL games. The Mullett Arena is 10,721 seats smaller than the next-smallest NHL arena, Winnipeg's Canada Life Centre.
ASU said in 2022 that they would be open to extending the Coyotes' stay "while (the Coyotes) ultimate larger home is being built."
Arizona sports
The city of Phoenix is home to five major professional sports league teams; The NFL's Arizona Cardinals, NBA's Phoenix Suns, WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, MLB's Arizona Diamondbacks and NHL's Arizona Coyotes.
The Cardinals have made the State Farm Stadium in Glendale their home turf and the Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix is home to both the Suns and the Mercury. The Indoor Football League’s Arizona Rattlers also play at the Footprint. Phoenix has a soccer team with the USL's Phoenix Rising FC.
The Valley hosts multiple major sporting events on a yearly basis, including college football's Fiesta Bowl and Guaranteed Rate Bowl; the PGA Tour’s highest-attended event, the Waste Management Phoenix Open; NASCAR events each spring and fall; and Cactus League Spring Training.
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