Owner Alex Meruelo ABANDONS Arizona Coyotes (Report)
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- Опубліковано 29 вер 2024
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Read Craig Morgan's report: gophnx.com/sou...
Alex Meruelo is calling it quits. Multiple sources told PHNX Sports that ownership addressed Coyotes staff on Monday, telling them that they have no plans to pursue further arena options.
The decision comes in the wake of the Arizona State Land Department’s decision to cancel an auction on Thursday. Meruelo had hoped to win that auction and purchase a 95-acre (110 gross acres) parcel of land and build an entertainment district and an arena that would house his hockey team. With that delayed indefinitely, and considerable political opposition in his path, he sees no viable options that would allow him to reactivate the franchise within the parameters set forth in the $1.2 billion sale of the team to Jazz owners Ryan and Ashley Smith.
Meruelo agreed to sell the team in late April (the sale closed on June 13) after securing an exclusive contractual right to reactivate the franchise within five years of the date of the agreement, and trigger an expansion draft if an arena was built. Reactivation would have required him to pay back the $1 billion that he received from the sale (the other $200 million was distributed to other owners as a relocation fee).
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I-think-the-NHL_wants-the-expansion-teams-in-Houston-and-Atlanta-anyway...Arizona-will-have-to-relocate-a-team-down-the-road
As a coyotes fan this was probably for the best. He was never going to build an arena. Hopefully, This is not the end for hockey in Phoenix forever
I do kinda believe he was trying to do a fast one to get land to build on. Like how do you not know about the permits in advance
The NHL should abandon PHX once and for all. Its been a cluster for 30 years. PHX, Glendale, Tempe. Different owners, same result.
It's not exactly GOOD news for us. We don't gain much but it can't get worse. I didn't want him here anymore. Just makes things more up in the air.
It is the end, don't kid yourself. No other billionaire is going to invest in Arizona unless the path to build an arena is much easier than what it has been. Arizona politicians won't make that happen unless they get a nice cut of it.
Agree @loffmanssportstalk7400...Meruelo was just another owner, who thought it would be a cake walk, to do what he wanted. Nah, the public should not have to fit the bill for what he wants. And lets be real, Hockey, takes a distant back seat, to the Cards, Suns & Dbacks. And I use to be a Coyotes Season tix holder. Fans in The Valley of the Sun, has to realistic about it.
This is peak Merullo incompetence. First it was being kicked out of Glendale for non-payment of rent. Then, not paying hotel bills this past season.
IIRC, Merullo had no idea that he was supposed to apply for special permits that led to the cancellation of the land auction.
The Marines have a word for Alex Merullo-Cluster Fuck.
The Coyotes did not fail because of the market. Awful ownership was a major factor.
It's not incompetence. It's the only business decision that makes sense. He got five times what that team was worth. He was never going to reactivate. It's better that he just came out and said it now instead of stringing it along for another 3 years.
He made 500 million dollars on the deal- incompetence? Hm.
As a navy man we’d use the term “shitbag or bag of ass”
When the Scottsdale mayor trashed the most recent Coyotes efforts for an arena site, you knew it was over. Wealthy Scottsdale people probably pushed the state to cancel the land auction.
That is interesting. Especially, since, it's the big money that constantly complained, that traveling to Phoenix then Glendale, was too far for them. Scottsdale & Fountain Hills, wanted the Coyotes. They should have foot the whole bill. I had to drive across town too to go to games, and I , by no means, are in that class bracket of Scottsdale & Fountain Hills big money who wants the Coyotes.
The snobsdale mayor went full demoKKKrat and stopped it because he couldn't line his own pockets off the deal. He's a piece of trash.
@@drewstar412 Um, wait. If Scottsdale wanted the Coyotes, they’d have them.
Wanting them would mean finding inexpensive well-located arena land. Perhaps partly paying for the arena. As if Scottsdale didn’t already reject Steve Ellman decades ago.
Its over arizona the team is dead. Your going to have to compete for an expansion team like every other city that wants a team. You arent going to win that bid as you had your chance and failed. Welcome to the wishful thinking group of Atlanta, Quebec, and Hartford.
Thanks for the great coverage I hope Craig is on soon if not today .
🫠 I’m so sorry Phoenix valley residents.
Love,
A fellow Southwest brother/Vegas valley resident
If he gives up, he gives up. If the state doesn't want them, that's their call and rightfully so. The lack of consistency and how this franchise was operated shows you that the State of Arizona didn't want them. The dream of Hockey in Arizona is now dead and it is time to move on. R.I.P. Coyotes!!!
Other cities deserve a NHL team before Phoenix gets another shot. Kansas City, Houston....
Outstanding sports journalism! Brodie! you are doing an amazing job reporting on this topic!
I feel for my fellow Coyotes fans.
What fans? there were so few of them. The majority of hockey fans in The Valley supported other teams. The Coyotes never had a sold fanbase or team ownership.
Ideal way forward (IMO):
- NHL buys Coyotes brand back from AM
- New ownership group comes forward led by an AZ native and/or someone Yotes fans trust (named Doan, Tkachuk, or Bissonette perhaps?)
- ownership group builds positive relationships with Valley metros and the remnants of Coyotes youth hockey programs while laying the groundwork for a new arena.
- build new arena and secure expansion franchise
- name new franchise the Arizona Phoenix 🔥
- secure rights to old Coyotes branding from NHL
- bring back the kachina as a throwback jersey
- win the Stanley Cup
- everyone lives happily ever after
My dream right here
I can definitely see Biz get involved. The dissolution of the Yotes really affected him.
This is good for Arizona hockey. Bringing the NHL back is now a long-term project that will require a competent owner with the money and ability to get a building done. I am reminded of how for years up here in Seattle there was an owner trying to build a new arena for bringing back the Sonics. He had the support of the entire fanbase but not city and local leaders, and between that and a couple missteps, could not get it done politically. It was voted down in 2016 and everyone mostly thought that was the end. A year later, the Leiwekes and OVG came up with the KeyArena rebuild, knew how to work effectively with city leaders and the community, got out ahead of roadblocks proactively, had tons of money, and the NHL arena was approved in relatively short order (NBA is next on their radar). There's always hope, as unlikely as it may seem now.
You're gonna be waiting a long time. The Coyotes have been a black eye for the NHL and it's a good thing they're gone. The players and staff deserved better and they're in good hands in Utah with stable ownership and playing in an environment better suited for NHL hockey than it ever was in The Valley.
It’s been a revolving door of owners trying for a better arena for 25 years. Maybe something in the water in Arizona, but at every turn there has been shady ownership, and misgivings from various councils.
@RJM1972 The flames moved from Atlanta in 1980. The thrashers didn't start until '99. Phoenix will be waiting a long time.
A billion dollars, or continued headaches in Arizona..... pretty easy choice. They clearly stated the deal isn't transferable and even limited the amount of partnership he could obtain. It was setup to fail
Yes.
Pay 425 Million, get a billion, RUN LIKE HELL out of this poor hockey market.
Sounds like this guy is a fairly successful con artist.
@@Rick-C-117he was trying hard to play the victim card in the press conference with Bettman
The new team I am currently rooting for just won the Cup. RIP Coyotes
Guessing the greatest Coyote not named Shane’s son has something to do with this decision? Lol.
@@SaintNormRIPAlways was a fan of OEL. Played hard for nothing in Arizona, never treated well in Vancouver, signs as a free agent in Florida and now has his name on the greatest trophy in sports.
Same. I feel a real affinity for the Cats and they just proved to everyone that hockey can succeed in an unconventional market. It felt like a small win for the Yotes too.
@@bendietreesI still can’t get comfortable with the cat mascot.
Only way Phoenix sees the NHLagain is if they replace Footprint with a Basketball/Hockey arena
So the Arizona land dept waited until a couple days before the auction to use a trick. They made everyone play along until rugged pulled from under / sleazy as they if so could have revealed this long ago and spared us the game they play in my opinion.
Doesn't sound like an auction at all. It was a land sale to Meruelo.
IMO, if it were a land auction there would be multiple bidders, but saying permits need to be in place makes it a sale.
If there were multiple bidders, there is no way they could cancel the auction. Logically, you buy the land THEN get the permits and zoning taken care of based on what you want to build.
This stinks to high heavens!
and auction is an auction. don't matter if its 1 bidder or 100. you put something up on auction and if only 1 bids then they win. while Meruelo is a pos this actually to me stinks of government bullshit. aka someone greased the right palm and with that all of a sudden special permits were needed for pos to actually bid and asld cancels auction. where it should have been pos buys land at auction then the city says you can build this on it but not that which can takes years of back and forth. and the winner has 2 choices build what they can or sell the land. So everyone should watch that land like a hawk and see who/what ends up with it, if all of a sudden a new "auction" happens then you can bet who wins that auction greased a palm to get the former auction canceled for "reasons" or "someone" in gov told asld to cancel it cause they don't want the yotes around.
I'm with you Brian. I dont think Mereulo is necessarily this bad guy everyone is making him out to be
It was for the best to Alex Murelo out. He completely ran the team into the ground and at same time screwing over the fanbase with empty promises. I really hope that someone else will buy the Coyotes and knows what they're doing build the trust to the community.
The deal to reactivate the coyotes was specific to Alex Muerello meaning it is not transferable. So now Arizona is in the same boat as anyone else that wants an NHL team. This was all very clear when they announced this deal. I feel bad for the fans whom are the ones that are affected the most
And the Arizona Coyotes as we know it are officially dead. They’re a defunct franchise, they cannot be reactivated since that was only given to Alex Mereulo (thank god it never came close to happening).
Even if they keep the exact team name and brand, it’ll be an expansion franchise and likely a start over. But I highly doubt the Coyotes will ever return due to the damaged reputation and horrible on-ice product for most of those 28 years.
To be honest, this feels very cowardly on Meraulo’s part
Perhaps if a new ownership group without the baggage that Meruelo had could get a team to at least play in Glendale as a temporary home while a new arena is being built in the East Valley or Phoenix (perhaps replacing the Coliseum at the State Fairgrounds). The question is, whether there is actually a group with the financial ability in Phoenix to pull this off. All of the Fortune 500 companies that once called Arizona home have been bought up and moved to other cities over the years, and the only people with money are (like Meruelo) real estate guys who made their fortunes using Other People's Money. (Or are cheap SOB's like Kendrick, the Bidwills or John Fisher.)
To clarify about the Arizona Coyotes regarding the reactivation process, and this is just based on my understanding of the details.
Since only Alex Mereulo was granted the right to “reactivate” the franchise, no other owner including the NHL can legally do it.
Therefore, the Arizona Coyotes, who already lost the on-ice product to Utah, are now legally a defunct franchise.
The next time hockey returns to the Valley-if ever and I hope it does come back but who knows-it’ll be a traditional expansion team with a new franchise.
No matter if the Coyotes brand ever returns or not.
The new team should have a new name. Coyotes brand should now go to Utah.
@@jeandelisi9441 unfortunately regarding the Coyotes brand, Utah is 100% going to assume a new identity for Year 2. They already have a naming contest going on for their new name, and Coyotes did not make the cut.
So as much as I would like to see the kachina return full time, I think we have seen the last of that brand.
@@jeandelisi9441 regarding a future hockey team in Arizona, I do think they’ll move away from the Coyotes brand as well. Too much of a damaged reputation to take that identity anymore.
That is correct.
Unfortunately this means if they came back it would be a new expansion team by the rules that the current owner couldnt sell the team while trying to get the team reinstated. Rip original winnepeg jets and arizona coyotes its unfortunate that like the thrashers poor ownership was your downfall as well. Both teams didnt deserve this.
The NHL let the coyotes fail. If they had just pulled an Edmonton and made the coyotes (who have been historically bad) a couple of great picks, things would have been better.
Pop the champagne, now the NHL can return to Phoenix, eventually. It was starting to be obvious no one really wanted this guy to be the one to be leading this. Since he gave up, the rights revert back to the NHL, right? I always thought that was a sweetheart deal to tempt him to just him go away. Gary is not a dumb man.
How much money did he WALK AWAY WITH? That is my question. 1.2b$ was involved
Let’s be honest, Meruelo was out the day he met with Bettman. From there it’s been ALL political theater. Meruelo, hated already, walks away with a billion bucks, Bettman can deflect all the blame on him going forward. This was a slow rip of the bandaid instead of just being honest and ripping it off quick.
Conspiracy theory: The reason Utah hasn’t named their team is because the NHL knew/suspected this would happen. Meruelo walks away, the NHL gets the Coyotes trademarks back, Utah gets them and stays as the (Utah) Coyotes.
This seems far too contrived. The question is who is the puppet master to make sure Meruelo doesn't continue?
Bingo
Of course hes done. He got a billion dollars for a team that is realistically worth 200 million tops. The st louis blues sold for 140 ten years ago. The actual vaue of teams hasnt gone up for than 10x. The guys that bought teams in the billions will lose money in the kobg term. TV rights are going to go away. The values will plummet when that happens. This is the only business decision that makes sense for him.
Welcome to the Hartford, Quebec Club
AZ joins the other expansion hopeful cities.
true, that could complicate things
What about SLC? I see them as sort term solution but wish Houston or Atlanta could get a team first.
@auzmo What about SLC? They have their team. And now it looks like just a relocation with extra steps to cut out Meruelo, not expansion. It's clear the league does not want to expand until at least 2030 and even then it will depend on the economy, the new deal with the players union and the hockey market.
@@auzmo All three will get teams - I think Bettman eventually wants to expand to 36 teams, and think those 3 cities would be chosen if they meet all the NHL criteria.
I wish john fisher was done with the A's. Fisher is bad for business
Get handed a free billion dollars and just walk away?
Muruelo is a pure idiotic genius 😅
The Coyotes will come back. Arizona is too big a market to give up on: it is too central to the success of other big leagues.
The arena is the only sticky point. The team has the potential for hundreds of thousands of fans with disposable income, and a huge corporate base. Do the math for the southwest.
Worst case scenario: a small market Canadian team moves there. History repeats itself.
Best case scenario: they get the new arena and team under the same ownership group in expansion. The league will do well with 33 teams. With the money involved, things do not have to be so elegant and balanced.
Calgary is getting a new arena, but that guarantees nothing when American teams regularly do better than Canadian teams in both attracting players and fans. The Arizona Flames? The Senators rebranding? The Jets moving again? hmm...
The Coyotes aren’t coming back. Alex Meruelo has folded whatever remained of the franchise.
If the NHL wants to return to the desert, they’ll have to do more expansion and get an arena built there - Desert Diamond Arena won’t work because Glendale bled millions from the arena and a boom that never happened.
I don't blame Alex Meruelo for walking away. I don't know if the State and Local politicians don’t want the NHL in the Valley or if they just don’t want Meruelo to have one. The difference between the political leadership in Salt Lake City area vs the Greater Phoenix Valley has been striking. In SLC they have been falling over each other to help secure the site and development, but here in AZ the have been falling over themselves to be the reason why it won’t work. Also I love how people keep calling him an idiot, I wish I was dumb enough to be worth $2B and then have the NHL pay me an additional Billion dollars on top of that. I don’t blame him at all, I’d take that billion dollars and go do something less aggravating, heck, maybe buy a stake in the Las Vegas A’s. But than again, maybe he should team up with the Miller Group and draw the Diamond backs to SLC - now that would be funny.
Meruelo is a bad dude. Don't trust a snake oil salesman.
Agreed Steve
Not sure how he abandoned them lol he sold them for a billion and gtfo
So the unfortunate tale of the Arizona (Phoenix) Coyotes appears to have run its course. Mr.Meruelo had used up the money he had allocated to the Coyotes (in my opinion). It just wasn’t worth the risk. The NHL will carry on, but not in the valley of the sun. The NHL has egg on its face. It can survive that.
🦈Go Sharks!!🦈
The right to reactivate was exclusive to Alex Murrello. Any new ownership group will have to build an arena prior to getting a team. Then wait and compete with every other market that's interested.
Yep, the moment Mereulo waived the white flag and walked away, the Arizona Coyotes are officially dissolved. They cannot be reactivated. It’s now a defunct franchise based on my understanding of the process.
It’s basically the California Golden Seals and the Original Ottawa Senators all over again.
The next time hockey returns to Arizona, it’ll likely be a clean slate. New name, new brand, new identity, new everything.
That is correct. Bettman was clear in the press conference that Meruelo could not resale what was sold to him.
Therefore, after the first checkpoint that Meruelo fails to meet the objective to reinstate the Coyotes, the coyotes will be dissolved
I heard Bettman say that himself at the press conference. It’s over.
He had 5 years to get an arena and he decides to give up at the very beginning? What a joke
If you factor in construction time (for someone who doesn’t want to pay the extra cost to accelerate the timeline), government approval, time to add utilities to an empty parcel, time to deal with inevitable lawsuits, and time to find partners to scam in order to actually make money from the project, yeah, five years is kind of short.
That’s mostly why buying land at the only discount Meruelo would see for two years was THE key to the whole project.
I think it's more than that. He has been met with resistance at every avenue and now he is a punching bag for us all so hes wildly unpopular. As much as i wanted him to prove us wrong and make it happen i cant blame him for leaving. I think we should give him some grace. He effed up but so did everybody - the state and us fans too.
Anyone with have an ounce of business sense, knew it was all BS. The NHL did what they needed to do in order to get him out of the mix. Once the deal was done, there was zero expectation that he would ever return.
@@tracymoon4437 your right this guy was a mess. If a owner owed money to the city of Glendale & someone in the front office said it was paid off & wasn't that person should be fired immediately & get that bill paid off. We all know he will not get a new arena site in 5 years, Bettman knows & other owners know. This team was the original Winnipeg Jets & now they are gone & is a expansion team.
@@bendietreesWhen 1 percenter welfare queens want taxpayers to foot the bill for their vanity projects, they should be met with resistance at every turn.
Thinking about how Coyotes merch might join the long history of "really cool" NHL merch now retired. I was thinking how Hartford Whalers jerseys are ~still~ being sold (Just for people's information, they are now the Carolina Hurricanes.)
Wait until the jerseys become hard to find and they become “rare” jerseys for like $3,000….
Joining the Quebec Nordiques and Hartford Whalers as the unforgotten teams of yesteryear.
He was never going to build anything, you could tell just by how he talked, his demeanor and his past.
And you wonder why the Atlanta Hawks said no to Alex Mereulo over a dozen years ago.
I knew he was fishy from the very beginning
Every owner of the Coyotes, since they arrived in Phoenix, has been sketchy. They are trying to force a sport, that, will not have support, UNLESS they come out of the gate, winning, like Vegas. Zero reason for the NHL to treat a future team in Arizona, like they did with Vegas. It has to be an owner, who has a solid genuine vision with a hockey mind, to make this work. Enough of this half stepping ownership types.
they had 30 years to make a good team. they did make one for a year or two, then completely blew it up.
Oh come on. Good riddance. This was not ever about an arena. This was not ever about the Coyotes. The Phoenix/AZ Coyotes have had a series of terrible owners who only wanted an "arena district / casino development". Muerelo is just the latest and most incompetent one. But he gets a Billion dollars to leave. So he's fine. Of course he's walking away.
Maybe someone who just wants to operate an Arena and an NHL team will appear. But if I were an AZ NHL hockey fan, I would not want to hear the words "real estate development" again.
Take the money and run. Muerelo's laughing all the way to the bank.
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat? Shocking. I feel shocked. Dude got $1.2B for running that team further into the ground, of course he's walking away.
I wonder if Meruelo didn't get the correct permits on purpose to lose the auction and give him an out, so he can run away with his 1 billion dollars.
He clearly only cares about profits more than relationships
I'd actually go with that he did want to win the auction, start prepping the land, then reveal the permit issue as to why he couldn't build an arena there when I pivoted to building something he could have a better return on investment for.
@@EditorVJAS he still only cares more about money than relationships. You can’t be an owner of a professional sports franchise and treat it like a casino or a watered down media company.
That’s the problem
Of course
@@samuelfrick3475 No argument there at all, my comment was to @TheBoyer19 original comment. As far as your comment, It's all about $$$, there is no doubt he doesn't care about the relationships he is clearly turning his back on.
He's the John Fisher of hockey. #sell
The only organisations that should be allowed to take over the opportunity should be the city or the state.
But the NHL won’t dare risk that.
I think the ASLD didn't believe Meruelo would've been able to fulfill his promise to finance and build the district project he proposed, so it wanted to buy more time to get another qualified bidder to build another development on that site and used the lack of the appropriate permitting as an excuse to delay the auction. Another possibility: Meruelo got cold feet re. building that district after he sold the team, so he didn't bother initiating the permitting so he'd have an excuse to bail.
Good Riddance. Now return the history and records of the original Winnipeg Jets to the current Jets franchise. It's ridiculous Gary Bettman wouldn't give Winnipeg their history back. Now's the time.
Alex Scamerulo isn’t permitted to re-sell the name and rights to the logos of an entity to be known as ‘the Arizona Coyotes’, by specific agreement with the NHL.
Gary Bettman and Bill Daly are far from stupid people: they obviously saw the city, and the state, wanted nothing to do with this guy and anticipated a move like this cancellation was likely to happen. I think the hockey ops was kind of forced on Ryan Smith with the ‘you want a team this is your only chance, take it’ arm twisting.
Anyone who thought this was going to end any more positively was delusional, period.
He always seemed to be more interested in all the stuff surrounding the stadium, all the hotels and other stuff. He didn't want the team unless he could own half a city along with it. Also, any tax he was talking about going to kids wasn't real if he had his way of making it into an amusement park or whatever, because he would have kept nearly all of the taxes
Unforunately that's where you make most of your money. But you won't have the surrounding stuff with a shit product from the anchor. kinda goes hand in hand.
I find the Panthers about as exciting as watching paint dry, so once it became apparent it was a Panthers kind of game, which left virtually no chance of Edmonton coming back, I was much more interested in this story and the Ullmark trade.
I called this the minute he got his billion from the league. He will take the money and run.
Bettman defended the Yotes instead of the Thrashers, only for this to happen. I have no sympathy.
Bettman defended the Yotes instead of moving them back to Winnipeg in 2011 or putting a team in Quebec City instead of Vegas.
It was reported originally that the 5 year exclusive contract was non-transferrable. So he cant double dip and get paid again
In April, Alex Meruelo sold for $1 billion the hockey operations that in March were worth $500 million. Somebody made off like a bandit.
New ownership has one major advantage over Meruelo in securing an arena deal for the team: no burned bridges in Glendale. The arena in Glendale isn’t perfect, but it’s an arena, and potential new team ownership isn’t Alex Meruelo.
The killing Meruelo made is unfortunate, but likely was intended as an incentive for him to take the money and run, thereby getting him out of the picture.
The Glendale arena is not an option for hockey. It was a failed attempt to invest in the West Valley and a big factor in why the team went bankrupt. Season tix holders in Scottsdale/Tempe/Chandler do not want to drive 1.5 hours one way to see hockey games.
I wish there was an early quitting penalty so that Meruelo didn’t get to walk away with a full Billion.
Unfortunately, the $1B came from the sale of the hockey operations staff and players to the Ryan Smith and family corporation (Utah). So once the Coyotes hockey product left to Utah, it was too late. He was going to keep his cash no matter what, and that’s the sickening part about it.
@@samuelfrick3475 why is it sickening? You jealous?
@@CubeInspector the sickening part is the fact a bad owner gets 1 billion dollars for being terrible at his job and showing no respect.
Alex Meruelo is a clown 🤡
John Fisher is a clown too
@@swissbeats2kI wish he walked away too….screw that guy as well.
But he's a Billion dollar clown
Yeah well that "clown" was worth $2B before the sale and worth $3B now - man I wish I was that big of a clown
pob42 is a clown.
AZ gm made the best business decision.
Ever since the election fraud, the demoKKKrats have done nothing but run us into the ground unless they can skim enough off the top to set up their families for generations.
Stick a fork in it and get some good chipotle sauce!
This should not be a surprise to anyone. He was given $1B, considerably more than what the franchise was worth, with no real incentive to build an arena. If he didn’t get it done, he keeps the $1B
@RJM1972 very fair points you make. I invite you to consider that he just doubled his money in only 4 years and was given a “walk away free” card. If he stayed to build an arena he would have no other revenue coming in for 5 years while also having to spend money on the arena. After all of that he might have broken even. Walking away was the better business decision.
Scrap this ridiculous “dormant” franchise situation. The Jets/Coyotes are in Utah now and they should have claim on all of the statistical history and Coyotes nickname and colors.
Future Arizona team will be the Phoenix Gila Monsters with the colors of brown black and yellow
This should finalize the "divorce" between the state of Arizona and former A.C. owner Alex Meruelo. If Meruelo was indeed the sour ingredient in the mix, then someone should quickly come forward and continue NHL hockey in Arizona. But realistically, the Coyotes have had MANY owners, and several arena troubles...hey, even Gretzky walked away! Meruelo was NEVER the creation or the cause of the financial problems with the Coyotes. I think Arizona thought another professional sports franchise was too much to support with too little support.
Dbacks will be the next to move. Phoenix should not have any major league teams. Phoenix thrives on events like NASCAR and the Waste Management Open.
@@jeandelisi9441 Phoenix is a transplant city. Most people would not root for the local teams. The Coyotes were the perfect example of this. They had fan support in the beginning in 1996, but that quickly dwindled to the point that most of the fans at home games rooted for the visiting team.
Arizona will ALWAYS be home. But, sports wise, this state is a joke. Yes, I am including the D-Backs, Suns and Cardinals. The fanbase is luke warm, the ownership of each team is mediocre and the marketing is subpar. Oh well.
Call the next team, the Arizona Phoenix & build the arena in Phoenix Arizona. Lol
That’s my vote for a new name. AZ hockey rising from the ashes!
I love this idea. It's perfect!
Or the Kachinas!
Shocking. I’m am not surprised. Now it’s time for Fisher to abandon the A’s, please!
Alex Scamerulo isn’t permitted to re-sell the name and rights to the logos of an entity to be known as ‘the Arizona Coyotes’, by specific agreement with the NHL.
Gary Bettman and Bill Daly are far from stupid people: they obviously saw the city, and the state, wanted nothing to do with this guy and anticipated a move like this cancellation was likely to happen. I think the hockey ops was kind of forced on Ryan Smith with the ‘you want a team this is your only chance, take it’ arm twisting.
Anyone who thought this was going to end any more positively was delusional, period.
PHX will never see another hockey team unless an arena is built or being built FIRST, but even then they will have to stand in line with every other possible city and owner group who wants an expansion team. At least with Murello PHX was at the head of the line automatically
You're delusional if you think any owner will line up to bring a team there when they can bring a team to real hockey markets. You're done in the NHL. I can't believe it was this quick
I dont understand how so many people fail to see this. More people doesnt automatically mean the team will be successful.
I said it in your last video. He was going to sell the rights to the team eventually I just didn’t believe he would give up this quickly.
This is one sketchy guy. The rights of the name, logo, etc should show to the NHL. No way he should be allowed to now sell the rights
I agree with your ethical point of view, but he did make a business deal, and he can now sell the rights, as well. If there’s any silver lining, this is not the kind of guy you want owning your sports franchise.
Gotta respect when someone realizes and admits when you’re in over your head. Just wish it had happened before they moved away.
Craig speculated that Meruelo will keep the Roadrunners in Tucson till the contract ends in three years. Then move them to Reno where they will continue to be a farm team for Utah. Meruelo really is the grim reaper for hockey in Arizona. I just hope we can finally get an owner who really wants a Hockey team and can build an arena in the east valley.
It was almost made official yesterday or day before, once the new arena is built at Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Tucson will be moving to Reno to play
Might be best nhl doesnt go back to the desert. Just give utah the rights and they can use their jerseys for a vintage look here and there
Virtually certain that Meruelo’s whole pivot point with the North Phoenix project was getting the land at a sub-market price. That plot is worth double the proposed auction price.
By the way, if anyone’s inclined to check in on the Portland baseball proposal at the golf course, same deal, same lack of progress.
soon as alex figured out he probly isnt getting his hand outs he wanted he peaced ...was talking out both sides ..saying he paid for it all but also he needs the theme park district
lol Alex Meruelo got $1 billion from the NHL and was like on second thought I’m out Arizona, good luck! And oh btw I’m taking the naming rights to the Coyotes name and uniforms!
The NHL is not coming back to the Phoenix market. It doesn’t matter who the ownership group has been over the years there have always been struggles. If I was Muerelo knowing the past history of ownership groups struggles I would take my billion and walk away!!
Bettman wants hockey in AZ. It WILL happen.
Alex Meruelo is like if Gill from the Simpsons had a team.
This is like Ron Burkle walked away when Sacramento was ready to play in the MLS
It feels like closure. No need to worry if he could pull it off anymore. I hope the fans realize a new ownership group doesn't mean things will be sunshine and lollipos.
Nope, but it’s certainly better to conclude this saga now than 3-4 years from now. I couldn’t imagine having to deal with this idiot of an owner for another 6-8 months let alone 3 more years.
Of course not, but Meruelo set the bar so low that an ownership group who simply cares and is competent will outperform him
Expansion down the road. Welcome the the NHL, the Arizona Phoenix!
YES I’m so happy to see that name floating around
Fans found it to be the final straw.
Why does this not surprise me? Who is the enemy he made in government or the NHL? Or perhaps I should ask, "How many enemies did he make?
I blame mostly Meruelo and his bad relationships with the government at all levels. However the laws and the roadblocks in Phoenix and the state didn’t help him either. Like needing a permit as an amusement park. If I remember right, Phoenix has a law saying two stadiums can’t exist at the same time. That way to avoid competition between the two.
@@dsarmy1 aka "you need to grease (gov official)my palm and ill get by the rule"
I don’t think he knows how to make friends
WITHOUT A STADIUM ITS DEAD.....
“Coloured me shocked! 😮 “ button.
most uniquely awesome logo AND jersey design in NHL history.
Not even close. The Kachina design was an aberration and looked minor league. The howling Coyote logo and uniforms they wore beginning in 2003-04 with Sedona red and white colors and the AZ state shoulder patch were much better and they looked like a proper NHL team.
@@sjdrifter72
The howling coyote logo looked ok, kinda....but that logo ya don't like is the one that the fans by majority preferred....my guess is that it had a rather cultural appeal to it that after its absence, was reassessed and apparently welcomed back with much enthusiasm.
In some ways the other coyote logo looked like he was coughing. Don't expect that one to ever return as the regular go-to logo.
Wonder of Meruelo will sell the Roadrunners to Smith since they are now the AHL affiliate of the Utah hockey team...?
I think there is a possibility that he will sell the Roadrunners. What I understand is that after Tucson's lease expires after the 25-26 season they were going to move to Reno(Meruleo is building a arena there)-I wonder if Meruleo is now going to sell the team.
It expires after the 26-27 season. The Smith's were interested
My feelings for this are strange. When the team first arrived in AZ, I absolutely hated them for leaving Winnipeg (where I had lived for a couple years), but found myself loving the look and logo of the Coyotes which softened my view. This was finally put to rest after the Thrashers became the new Jets and I was able to enjoy both clubs.
I still remember the one evening watching a city council meeting that could have moved the team 12 years back when the Yotes "had the trucks packed" to head towards.... Portland??? (It was supposedly somewhere heading Northwest, Seattle and Vegas weren't ready at the time, and the Trailblazers arena would have been possible.)
The reality is the fans in Phoenix, are getting a raw deal, Say what you will about about hockey in the desert, that team was there almost 3 decades, building a fan base, shaping the sport in that state. I'm not a huge proponent of further expansion, but A) they do deserve to have a team and, B) With VAN and SEA, having a team in Portland to double up the Cascadia Cup rivalry (MLS: Whitecaps, Sounders, Timbers) would be pretty sweet.
I'm just concerned now for the Roadrunners. It would be easy for the leagues to have a clause that should Meruelo abandon the Yotes that he is forced to sell them as well (I'd assume the Smith Group would get first right at refusal) but I would hope they would stay to give AZ fans something.
Didn’t Bettman say specifically at the press conference that the franchise reactivation right is personal to Meruelo and cannot be sold?
Bettman is so hellbent on the Coyotes staying in Arizona, he'll never acknowledge ever saying those words. There's no doubt he'll try to bribe some wealthy sucker to help bring the team back.
With Murello gone, NHL itself can now sell that brand to a new owner. If they want to.
Yes he did.
It's for the best.
I think this is a good thing. It may not seem like it right now, but I think long-term the NHL is very happy that he’s walking away. Great video as well.
If Arizona ever does get an expansion team down the road, they should use a different name than Coyotes. There’s now so much baggage with that name that a clean slate might be best for all.
GILA MONSTERS!
I still think it would be cool for a new team to have the rights to the Coyotes name and branding so they could use the kachina as a third jersey.
@@tombraiderstrums09they can create a new kachina!
I agree. We need a fresh start
One thing that needs to be done right now is return the history and records of Jets 1.0 to Jets 2.0.
I believe this proves that as much as taxpayers resist, no city or state wants an arena built without public financing.
not really true it just has to be done correctly. NYCFC is financing their entire stadium out of pocket, the public funding is only going towards revitalizing the area surrounding the stadium. They’re building affordable housing, a new school, a new library, a bunch of green spaces, etc. all around where the new stadium is being built. There’s a way to make both parties happy.
@@Fatblue246I’m not familiar with nycfc, but if they are spending three or four billion dollars on an arena for a team I’ve never heard of, I tip my hat to them.
Not true. Robert Kraft built the Patriots stadium out of his own pocket. He is planning to build a soccer stadium outside Boston again with his own money. Robert Kraft learned that Massachusetts can and will tell him to go pound sand if he wants public money.
@@ahoneymanKraft negotiated with Boston, Connecticut and Rhode Island for years trying to get a taxpayer funded stadium. He eventually paid in the neighborhood of three hundred million dollars to build a stadium outside Boston. Football, unlike other major league sports are consistent profit generators, and can successfully exist outside of city centers. If an NHL owner wanted to build an arena in, say, Queen Creek or Florence, that approval would be pretty easy to accomplish.
@@tombraider2500 Why the Suns and Coyotes hate each other and can't share a stadium is beyond me. The Bruins and Celtics do it.
Why do I keep getting these Arizona Coyotes stories in my feed. Is time going backwards? I swear I've heard this exact same stuff year after year for over a decade... and I thought they had moved to Utah. It's all so nauseating
I'm not the one to defend an owner that gets salty when something doesn't go their way, but in this instance I feel he was justified to be upset.
1) The idea you have to get zoning permits for a parcel of land you don't own, but want to buy, shouldn't be on the interested buyer, it should be on the seller.
2) They had ampul time to ask for this requirement months in advance of the auction, but waited until a week before to say "Nope, we don't have this thing we forgot to ask you to get, so we gotta cancel the auction.
I honestly can't fault him for being done.
Eh the Coyotes have had so many chances and kicks in the balls that it's best for the city and the NHL to just part for a while. Let a new group come in, in like 5 years. Let the NHL build in SLC and then they can finally have a team in Houston and KC since they have an arena and no team