Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly confirmed the Coyotes are likely to remain at Tempe’s Mullett Arena for the 2024-25 season (via Chris Johnston of The Athletic and TSN).
Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo’s current attempt to keep the team in the Phoenix area involves a bid for a public land auction involving a plot in the north part of the city, although the auction won’t occur until June.
Next season is the final one in the initial three-year lease the Coyotes signed with Arizona State University to play at the new facility, which also has two one-year extension options.
Daly said the league “probably” wouldn’t have enough time to pivot toward relocation if the bid fails and would punt an effort to move the team to a new market — Salt Lake City is the most likely — to 2025-26.
Per Johnston, both Daly and commissioner Gary Bettman did not issue a set deadline on a relocation decision for the franchise, but the former said “it’s getting late” in the process.
The Coyotes’ initial attempt to remain in the market, a multi-use development in Tempe near the Phoenix Sky Harbor airport, failed when their proposal was struck down in a public referendum last May. They have since yet to issue a comprehensive plan for a new arena in the region.
Bettman affirmed the league’s faith in Arizona as an NHL market, once again signaling the league will return if relocation becomes a necessity:
"We would’ve preferred to be in a new arena by now, but there are certain things that couldn’t be controlled. We would’ve preferred that the referendum in Tempe went the other way, but it didn’t, and so we deal with what we can deal with. Having said that, we believe Arizona, particularly the greater Phoenix area, is a good NHL market. It’s a place we want to be," Bettman said.
In the unlikely event that the Coyotes lose the auction and have no serviceable Plan B lined up, it’s hard to imagine the league issuing them any more patience.
If so, the franchise will likely not take advantage of their extension options on the Mullett lease and move to either Salt Lake City or another market with demonstrated interest, such as Atlanta or Houston, for the 2025-26 season.
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