Ongoing Arizona Coyotes arena saga: Arena land auction June 27

[TheScorpion]

I think there's an outside chance that the NHL suddenly becomes even more dissatisfied and that scenario plays out ... but I really don't think the league forces a sale if they win the auction. What would the impetus be? Winning the auction is widely seen as the main hurdle to clear toward securing a solution, much like the Tempe vote would've been, even with the knowledge that there are still things they have to do beyond that.

It is very easy to speculate that the Coyotes will relocate based off gut feel — it happens once every five posts in this thread — but if the team hasn't been sold in the 10 months since the vote, it does not track to me whatsoever that the team will be sold after an auction win.

After an auction loss? It will absolutely happen, no question.

[powderjunkie]

It’s not good for business to announce a sale in the middle of a season. Perhaps less of a concern in this particular case where ticket sales are unlikely to be affected much, but there are plenty of other issues with declaring lame duck status.

I think this is all posturing at this point for the appearance of leverage. Meruelo may also be delusional, but it’s the right play regardless.

[PeteMoss]

They could win the auction and then open it up to offers - probably have more suitors if they have a place to stay in Arizona instead of just the Utah guy. Try to increase the price.

[MacDaddy77]

I find it funny how everyone thinks Arizona timeline would be 2027-2028. Flames haven’t broken ground yet on out arena and estimated timeline is “potentially” 2026 season.

I’d think it’s a lot easier and cheaper to build an event centre in Arizona desert thank DT Calgary. There’s infrastructure all around that site to tie into for services. It’s not like the land is in the middle of nowhere

[Strange Brew]

Craig Morgan is the local Phoenix media guy who has access to Coyotes management and most of their releases, leaks etc. flow through him. He posted this Q&A with the Coyotes CEO.

https://gophnx.com/coyotes-arena-pri...-need-to-know/

What I found interesting was he talks about how signifiant the infrastructure requirements will be and that they will pay for it all themselves. Estimated $3 billion price tag in total. Meruelo also has a $1 billion similar development being touted for Reno.

People can do their own research on Meruelo and evaluate his experience and success rate with projects of this scale.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

I wonder if someone, like the Suns, sends a proxy bidder to try and outbid the Coyotes on this land. Considering they helped fund the challenges to the Tempe arena plan, I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility.

[Jordan!]

The location is as perfect as it gets for this team.

If this fails, and Ishbia has no interest, I look forward to getting closure on this.

Yank em

[PepsiFree]

Wouldn’t it make more sense to move the team and grant Arizona an expansion franchise upon completion of the arena? That’s going to take 5 years.

[D as in David]

[topfiverecords]

June 27th?? That's not a Monday!

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Craig Morgan is the local Phoenix media guy who has access to Coyotes management and most of their releases, leaks etc. flow through him. He posted this Q&A with the Coyotes CEO.

https://gophnx.com/coyotes-arena-pri...-need-to-know/

What I found interesting was he talks about how signifiant the infrastructure requirements will be and that they will pay for it all themselves. Estimated $3 billion price tag in total. Meruelo also has a $1 billion similar development being touted for Reno.

People can do their own research on Meruelo and evaluate his experience and success rate with projects of this scale.

I mean he's rich.. he could build it. He's also a real estate developer so it will probably be a giant slog with tons of fights with politicians along the way.

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Wouldn’t it make more sense to move the team and grant Arizona an expansion franchise upon completion of the arena? That’s going to take 5 years.

For the NHL.. sure. For the Coyotes owner - would depend on how much he can get for the team and if he wants to keep it. I doubt he'd get another crack at the NHL through expansion - they'd try to find a different owner.

[Jordan!]

Oh I'm sure Meruelo would love to sell to an out of town buyer and they have indicated that yesterday. More $$$ ROI

But the team isn't portable without NHL approval, local owners will be preferred. I don't buy this expansion team talk.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

I think there's an outside chance that the NHL suddenly becomes even more dissatisfied and that scenario plays out ... but I really don't think the league forces a sale if they win the auction. What would the impetus be? Winning the auction is widely seen as the main hurdle to clear toward securing a solution, much like the Tempe vote would've been, even with the knowledge that there are still things they have to do beyond that.

It is very easy to speculate that the Coyotes will relocate based off gut feel — it happens once every five posts in this thread — but if the team hasn't been sold in the 10 months since the vote, it does not track to me whatsoever that the team will be sold after an auction win.

After an auction loss? It will absolutely happen, no question.

I don't know. Is it really "widely seen" that winning this auction is the main hurdle in completing a $3 billion development?

It would be interesting to hear from people outside of the Coyotes organization as to how achievable their plan is. There sure seems to be evidence that the NHL is skeptical, as their tone has changed remarkably over the past year.

[Joborule]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

I don't know. Is it really "widely seen" that winning this auction is the main hurdle in completing a $3 billion development?

It would be interesting to hear from people outside of the Coyotes organization as to how achievable their plan is. There sure seems to be evidence that the NHL is skeptical, as their tone has changed remarkably over the past year.

The language the NHL is using now compared to the past is the signal. If the NHL had confidence that team would still be able to stay there as the current situation unfolds, they wouldn't give any sense of doubt about the team's future there.

In fact, I would say that the NHL wouldn't have even allow suitors in Salt Lake and Atlanta to make their interests in getting an NHL franchise known. They would've advised them to keep quiet for now until the Phoenix situation was more stable.

Having talk of other cities interest, while Phoenix situation isn't sustainable - with no future is solution secured - doesn't help.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Jim Balsillie.... c'mon down!

Can the situation get anymore ridiculous?

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by MacDaddy77

I find it funny how everyone thinks Arizona timeline would be 2027-2028. Flames haven’t broken ground yet on out arena and estimated timeline is “potentially” 2026 season.

I’d think it’s a lot easier and cheaper to build an event centre in Arizona desert thank DT Calgary. There’s infrastructure all around that site to tie into for services. It’s not like the land is in the middle of nowhere

2026 is optimistic but not impossible for Calgary presuming they break ground in mid July. Sacramento built in 23 months, Milwaukee was 26 months.

Coyotes would still have a ton of hurdles before breaking ground. With their history of not paying bills promptly I doubt they'll even get interest from the best design and construction firms (or if they do the process will probably be a bit slower with more payment stage gates) - and lessor firms will almost certainly be slower.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

2026 is optimistic but not impossible for Calgary presuming they break ground in mid July. Sacramento built in 23 months, Milwaukee was 26 months.

Coyotes would still have a ton of hurdles before breaking ground. With their history of not paying bills promptly I doubt they'll even get interest from the best design and construction firms (or if they do the process will probably be a bit slower with more payment stage gates) - and lessor firms will almost certainly be slower.

They still need to get the land rezoned, too. And what if the city doesn't allow that? Then where are they at?

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Joborule

The language the NHL is using now compared to the past is the signal.

That's the big flag for me as well. The tone has changed and the messaging sounds way less confident than in the past.

I think the NHL has probably been presented with interesting offers in other markets and aren't interested in any more lifelines for Arizona. I am sure Bettman would love for this last attempt in Arizona to work, but I get the sense they aren't against it not working at this point.

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by Sidney Crosby's Hat

They still need to get the land rezoned, too. And what if the city doesn't allow that? Then where are they at?

Some say that may not be an issue, but they'd still need building permit - and with my theory about landing 2nd tier designers that is the kind of process that can run into delays (whereas top tier firms have already learned from various mistakes).

And you never know if some citizens will launch some sort of legal challenge. And it seems highly unlikely that Meruelo will actually just want to build this on his own dime so you can probably bake in some political delays, too. And let's not forget the absurdity of building a 3rd event centre in a metro area which turns the dubious business case to preposterous.


Tonight is the yote's second last home game of the season before a 5 game road trip and then the finale at home. It's plausible that we could hear some news basically anytime now.