The two sides have been using one-year extensions much of the past decade in the wake of being unable to come to an agreement on a long-term extension.
This is two-fold. First, the Coyotes have not been very competitive, only having made the playoffs once since 2012. This was in the “Covid Bubble” in 2020, where they won a qualifying round series, but lost to the Colorado Avalanche once the traditional Stanley Cup tournament began.
Second, you do not see many more markets more dysfunctional than Phoenix. The Coyotes left the America West Arena in 2003, having shared the building with the NBA’s Suns. The Suns have remained in the same building, which opened in 1992. Gila River is a gaming commission run by the local Indian tribe, making the tribe the first ever to hold naming rights for an arena for professional sports in North America.
The Coyotes actually terminated their agreement with Jobing.com--a locally-based job-search company--in 2014 for Gila River to take over.
Normally when teams leave venues, they have another deal in place, or are in the process of constructing a new facility. We’ve seen it when the NBA’s Warriors left Oakland for San Francisco. We saw it when the NFL’s Raiders left Oakland for Las Vegas. The New York Islanders will move into UBS Arena after vacating Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, only after the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum needed so many renovations that it could no longer be profitable to host an entire NHL regular season of 41 home games, on top of whatever playoff games the Isles would add on with their Stanley-Cup winning potential.
This is the first time I can honestly remember a city evicting a team from a venue. The Coyotes have currently entered into negotiates with the city of Tempe for a new venue to be built on an old solid compost waste site. Geographically, Glendale to Tempe is only about 20 miles. However, Phoenix sits right smack in the middle of both.
Should this deal come to fruition, you would have three NBA or NHL-ready arenas all within a 10-mile radius. New York cannot say that. Los Angeles/Anaheim still would not be able to say this when the NBA’s Clippers are expected to finish construction on a new arena in Inglewood.
This would give Phoenix the 18,422-capacity Footprint Center for the Suns, Gila River’s 19,000 seats would be abandoned, and you would think at least 17,000 for the new arena in Tempe, which currently has the 14,100 seat Desert Financial Arena for Arizona State athletics. More than likely Desert Financial would be demolished sometime after the new arena is completed, having been open since 1972.
The other question is after this season where would the Coyotes be forced to play. Some have talked about moving the team to Portland, Oregon and putting them in the Rose Garden with the NBA’s Trail Blazers. Others have suggested the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, which would house just over 15,000. With the NHL realigning divisions for the 2021-22 season with the debut of the Seattle Kraken, the Coyotes have been moved to the Central Division, where they will be seated with teams in Denver, Dallas, St. Louis and even Chicago.
With their original “Kachina” logo being painted at center ice for the first time in franchise history, the Coyotes were hoping turning back the clock on their appearance would help provide a spark to move forward.
Sadly, being vagabonds for the next few seasons will do nothing but dredge up the old conversation of whether or not hockey can succeed in the desert.
-JC24