Relocation is possible if Coyotes can't find new arena: report
It looks like the NHL is starting to run out of patience with the Arizona Coyotes.
After a decade-long struggle to find stable ownership and an arena to play in, the league appears to be giving the Coyotes one last chance to figure things out. Current owner Alex Merulo hopes to win an auction that would secure the team a 95-acre area in Phoenix to construct a new arena. The starting bid for that plot will be $68.5 million.
Winning the auction would secure the team’s long-term future in Arizona, but if they lose, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman says that relocation could finally be a real possibility.
“We’ve reached a fork in the road for the Arizona Coyotes,” Friedman reported last night on his Saturday Headlines segment. “There is also an admission that the status quo cannot continue… relocation will be on the table.
“There are parallel conversations going on right now: one for the Coyotes to go ahead and win the auction and stay there, and the other for what happens if they don’t end up winning the auction.”
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For many, the talk of relocating the Coyotes is nothing new. The threat of the team moving has been around for a better part of a decade, with lots of rumours back in the day swirling about a possible return to Winnipeg before the Atlanta Thrashers did so.
If the team cannot secure the land for a new arena, there are a few obvious candidates where the team could move. At the top of the list has to be Salt Lake City, where Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith has been steadfast about his interest in bringing an NHL franchise to the state.Â
Former NHL player Anson Carter has also recently launched a group that is interested in seeing the league return to Atlanta for a third time.
Both the league and the team should have more clarity on the situation after the auction takes place in June.