Coyotes' owner on how pro hockey can return to Arizona
Hockey is not dead in Arizona, the owner of the now-departed Arizona Coyotes said Thursday.
Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo hasn't wavered from trying to secure a new home for pro hockey on state land in north Phoenix.
In his first significant interview with The Arizona Republic since Tempe voters rejected his plan for a new arena there, forcing him to search for a new home that met NHL standards, Meruelo reiterated his commitment to buying over 100 acres of land.
It will be sold at an Arizona State Land Department auction in June. The opening bid for the land is $68.5 million.
After buying the land, Meruelo has five years to construct an appropriate arena in order to be granted a reactivation of the franchise. He hopes it will be done sooner, in three to four years, but he anticipates about 30 months of construction.
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The five-year requirement was negotiated with the NHL as part of a three-way deal that will take the team to Salt Lake City. In it, Meruelo keeps the Coyotes' name, logo and marketing, and Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith will take over the team. The NHL guaranteed Meruelo would get an expansion team if he could complete an arena that met standards within five years.
Keeping on track with the timeline will require cooperation with the city, he said.
"This doesn't happen without city cooperation," he said.
Along with permitting, Meruelo said he will be asking for help with implementing a "theme park district" that would allow a surcharge on items sold on the premises to help fund the development and its operations.
Arizona passed a law in 2021 to allow for a "theme park district" to be created, but at the time it was with the Arizona Diamondbacks in mind.
The governing board of that district could issue bonds to pay for maintenance or renovations. To repay the bonds, an additional 1% to 9% surcharge would be added to sales of items, such as tickets, merchandise and food. Meruelo said that arrangement would allow the project to be built without direct contributions of public money, instead funding with a voluntary fee only paid by people using the facilities.
He has not personally met with Phoenix officials to discuss the plans yet, he said, but some members of his organization met with Phoenix leaders for a "very preliminary" discussion in September.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Coyotes' owner on how pro hockey can return to Arizona
