The long, arduous and sometimes hilarious process of finding a home for the Arizona Coyotes past this season will likely reach a higher level of clarity soon. A public summary of an upcoming Arizona Board of Regents meeting states that Arizona State University will officially review the Coyotes’ plan to play home games at the school’s currently under-construction multipurpose arena this upcoming Thursday.
There are multiple things of note in this plan. The most pertinent one is the question of financial responsibility. As rumored earlier, modifications to the original construction project will need to be put in place to accommodate an NHL franchise. Per the plan, the Coyotes will be financially responsible for building a 15,000-square-foot facility annexed to the northeast end of the arena, including NHL-caliber locker rooms, training areas, team storage and coaching offices. The team will also foot the bill for increasing broadcast capabilities, improving ice surfacing equipment, replay capabilities and other technological aspects to meet NHL standards.
However, the most striking part has to do with the completion date of the project. While the original plan is still on track to be completed in November 2022 to house Arizona State’s hockey team, the NHL modifications will take until December to complete. That, according to the document, appears to be when the Coyotes would play their first home game of the 2022-23 season. If that holds true, the team will be faced with a similar situation as the New York Islanders this year and would likely need to play 10 to 15 straight games on the road to open the season, something that could be seriously detrimental to a team that depends so much on gate revenue.
That may not have to be a reality, though. Coyotes insider Craig Morgan reports that an NHL source believes a workaround could be in place to host Coyotes games there prior to the completion of NHL facilities, allowing them to host home games prior to December.
The Board of Regents document confirms the team’s intention to play home games there for the 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25 campaigns.
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