PHOENIX — The NHL is working to possibly move the Coyotes to Salt Lake City.
The NHL and Arizona Coyotes are working to possibly move the team to Salt Lake City, multiple sources tell 12Sports.
Sources are telling 12News there are three possible outcomes for the Coyotes’ future:
Team owner Alex Meruelo can sell the team, relocate the team or sell the team and bring an expansion team back to the Valley if they win the upcoming land auction and build an arena.
A source tells 12Sports players are aware of the reports out there, but most of the organization has been kept in the dark about all of this. An announcement could come as early as April 18th, the day after the regular season ends. The Coyotes declined to comment.
Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reported Wednesday morning that the league is currently making two versions of the Coyotes 2024-25 schedule. One version has the team staying in the Valley, the other for a Salt Lake City-based team. Reports from at least two sources say the league sent a memo to the Board of Governors indicating talks of a potential move, but no deal is done.
Last week, Arizona Sports John Gambadoro reported owner Alex Meruelo has spoken to multiple potential buyers.
But the Coyotes have been publicly touting their desire to stay in the Valley. The team has publicly expressed interest a 95-acre parcel of state-owned land off Scottsdale Road and the Loop 101 near Desert Ridge in North Phoenix to build a new arena. The team says the arena will be privately funded. The starting bid is $68.5 million. The Coyotes or anyone else could have the winning bid. Last week, CEO Xavier Gutierrez told PHNX Coyotes insider Craig Morgan that if they don’t win the June 27th land auction, the team will be out of options in Arizona and have to explore relocation. The goal would be to have shovels in the ground by this time next year in 2025, and to open the arena in the fall of 2027.
On Monday and Tuesday, Scottsdale Mayor David Ortega issued strongly worded statements challenging the Coyotes’ arena plans.
The Coyotes’ social media this week has been playful, rallying fans and giving no hint there were discussions. At 12:30 p.m., . Wednesday on X, formerly known as Twitter, the team posted “Committed to keeping Coyotes hockey in the desert and building an arena in Phoenix.”
The NHL's deputy commissioner, Bill Daly, issued a statement Wednesday afternoon to The Athletics Pierre LeBrun:
``The League is continuing to work on a solution to what has been a challenging and difficult situation. But we are not in a position to comment beyond that.''
