Coyotes' three-year relocation agreement to the state of Arizona is complete, the report said. The temporary move of the Arizona Coyotes to Arizona State University is officially complete, PHNX Sports reported Thursday. This comes after the Arizona Board of Regents approved the relocation plan in February. The Arizona state stadium will host about 5,000 fans, easily making it the smallest stadium in the NHL.
The Coyotes will start playing there next season, and the deal announced Thursday has an option for the 2025-26 season. The worry and rush to find a new home for the team before next season wouldn't be easy, but the team, NHL and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, have made it clear that the Coyotes are in Arizona to stay. However, if the whispers are true, it won't be the first time the Arizona Coyotes have moved. After the NHL approved the team's plan to play outside the ASU, Gutierrez met with the Coyotes players, and NHLPA special assistant, Mathieu Schneider, to try to reassure them about the coming period.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has repeatedly supported the Coyotes, closing any conversation about the team's relocation or possible questions about short-term housing in Arizona. The Coyotes released a statement last summer expressing their determination to find a new home in the state. And things between Glendale and the Arizona Coyotes had been messed up for years when a late rent payment brought disruption to national attention late last year. Glendale has an obligation to taxpayers, while both AEG and the Coyotes are companies with an obligation to maximize profits for shareholders.
The Coyotes will play in a stadium on the Arizona State University campus, with a capacity of around 5,000 fans, for at least the next three years. But last August, the Gila River Arena notified the team that they would not renew the Coyotes' lease after the end of this season. Los Coyotes, whose current lease at Gila River in Glendale expires on June 30, is seeking to build a new venue for the club and their proposal would include a stadium, hotels, apartments, retail stores and a sports bookmaker. The Arizona Coyotes and the city of Tempe will move forward in negotiations on a new stadium and entertainment district after the city council voted 5-2 in favor of the offer Thursday night.
When the Coyotes first moved from Winnipeg in 1996, the team shared the America West Arena with the NBA's Phoenix Suns in downtown Phoenix. Nor would it take long for them to accommodate the Arizona Coyotes, which is an attractive reason to move. The executive director of the Arizona Coyotes, Xavier Gutierrez, called the reports “incredibly frustrating,” and said that any talk about relocation is “totally and utterly false.”.
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