The Arizona Coyotes are in transition. They play their last home game at Gila River Arena in Glendale, Ariz., at the end of the month.
Next season they’ll move to a new 5,000-seat arena—by far the smallest venue in the NHL—on the campus of Arizona State University across town in Tempe, closer to where the team’s fan base and the money to support hockey resides. A club proposal to build its own $2 billion privately funded arena and entertainment complex west of the ASU campus has been locked in Tempe’s evaluation process since September. Whether or when it will be approved is anybody’s guess.
More from Sportico.com
A Tempe city spokesperson said as recently as last week that evaluation is ongoing, and there’s no timetable for resolution.
“Unfortunately, we’re not managing the process,” Xavier Gutierrez, the Coyotes’ president, said in an interview. “We haven’t been informed of a timeline.”
Even if approved, under optimal conditions it could be four years before a new Coyotes’ arena is open for business. But the team insists it is committed to staying in the Phoenix area, where it’s had a rocky existence since moving from Winnipeg in 1996. “This is where we want to be,” Gutierrez said. “We’ve proposed something spectacular that’s a permanent option, and we’re excited to move on to the next phase of that process.”
In the meantime, the Coyotes have signed a three-season lease with no out clauses to play in the ASU facility, said Tim Leiweke, the chief executive of the Oak View Group, a financial partner and operator of the new ASU arena, and corroborated by Gutierrez.
“Right now, it’s their priority to try and get something done with Tempe,” Leiweke said. “We’re supportive of that and staying out of their way. But if it doesn’t happen and we can help in any way, they obviously know where we live.”
Story continues
While ASU is building the arena for its collegiate hockey program, public documents show that the…