Coyotes, NHL Have Made “Significant Progress” On Salt Lake City Relocation

[DelHowLich]

The Coyotes, in conjunction with the NHL, have made “significant progress” today on an agreement to relocate the team to Salt Lake City and sell the club to Smith Entertainment Group, owners of the NBA’s Utah Jazz, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reports. The league reportedly sent a memo to its Board of Governors today after a report from Seravalli this morning said the NHL was preparing a contingency plan for a Coyotes relocation, including two distinct schedule matrices. A relocation is not final, but reports indicate the tide is turning that way.

Neither the Coyotes nor the league, who have routinely been quick to respond to developments in their arena saga as they become public, have commented on today’s reports. Subsequent reporting from ESPN’s Emily Kaplan and Greg Wyshynski says the NHL would act as an intermediary between Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo and Ryan Smith’s SEG in a sale, purchasing the club from Meruelo for $1B before selling to SEG at an increased $1.3B. The $300K difference would be split among the league’s other 31 owners as a relocation fee, less than half of the $650MM fee Seattle Kraken ownership paid for an expansion franchise in 2021.

Seravalli says that Coyotes players have possibly “been informed that something of a ’verbal’ agreement is in place to relocate to Salt Lake City” but has “received pushback on that characterization of talks.” Wyshynski reports that the team has not formally informed its players of any sale agreement and that they’re following relocation developments through social media. Regardless, an official announcement on relocation is likely to come before the end of the month, per Kaplan and Wyshynski.

There is no indication that a Salt Lake City relocation would end Meruelo’s bid for a plot of land in north Phoenix that’s set to be awarded at a public auction on June 27. Kaplan, Seravalli and Wyshynski all report that “Meruelo would be first in line to purchase an NHL expansion team should the league decide to return to Arizona,” a decision that would be contingent on a suitably located arena to avoid the attendance issues that plagued the team when they operated out of Gila River Arena in Glendale from 2003 to 2022. Meruelo could also retain the branding and naming rights to the Coyotes franchise as part of this transaction, per Seravalli, which could be applied to an expansion franchise after the north Phoenix plot is developed.

Upon relocating to Salt Lake, the franchise formerly known as the Coyotes would play 2024-25 out of the Delta Center, which is shared with the Jazz. However, much like the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where the Islanders played from 2014 to 2020, the arena isn’t optimized for hockey and has significant sightline issues at either end of the rink. Kaplan and Wyshynski say that “NHL leadership has made it clear to Smith they would need hockey-specific renovations for the Delta Center to be a permanent NHL home,” something Smith has agreed to carry out. Utah lawmakers have also approved the construction of a new downtown venue in advance of the 2034 Winter Olympics, which will be optimized for use by both the Jazz and an NHL team, although it still needs to be approved by Utah Governor Spencer Cox.

Over the past few months, Smith has been quite forward and public about his desire to acquire an NHL franchise, including submitting a formal request to initiate an expansion process. Speaking over the All-Star break, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said that “the Utah expression of interest has been the most aggressive” among prospective new markets.

[DelHowLich]

Breaking NHL News: Coyotes Move Out Of Arizona Close To Done
It appears that next Wednesday’s season finale will be the Coyotes’ final game in Arizona. Reports say there is a deal making “significant and meaningful” progress that would see the team sold, rebranded and relocated to Salt Lake City as soon as next Thursday. In fact, the deal is so close that the NHL is said to be drawing up an alternate schedule for next year that includes Salt Lake City rather than Arizona.

Freidman:
https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/nh ... n-to-utah/

[winged wheel]

Sounds like it's all up in the air right now. Thought this was interesting...

According to the ESPN report, there could be two layers at stake here regarding the Coyotes’ transition from Arizona to Salt Lake City.

First, the NHL would purchase the Coyotes from Arizona’s owner Alex Meruelo for a deal worth around $1 billion.

League sources linked to ESPN say that the NHL would then sell the Coyotes to Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith for as high as $1.3 billion.

https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/arizona-c ... relocation

[Pop Zeus]

$1.3billion.
Jesus

[Barbrady]

Salt Lake City Latter-Day Saints?

[DelHowLich]

Friedman indicated the league is working as a broker with Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo and prospective Utah owner Ryan Smith. He claims multiple sources said a real scenario has the league paying Meruelo $1 billion for the Coyotes, then selling the club to Smith for $1.2 billion.

Meruelo would also be offered a five-year exclusive window to bring an expansion team to Arizona.