Will Taxpayers Front the Bill If Coyotes Relocate?

The Arizona Coyotes have been in limbo for the past two years. The team has been playing in Mullett Arena, the home of the Arizona State Sun Devils since the 2022-23 season.

The stadium only seats 5,000, a miserable attendance for a Major League program Because of this, the NHL sees two options. Either the Coyotes build a new stadium, or be forced to relocate.

Read More: Is Hockey leaving Arizona?

The Plan for a New Coyotes Stadium

The planning for a new Coyotes arena has been in the works since 2022. Through 2023, the team planned to build a new entertainment district in Tempe, funded by Arizona taxpayers. The funds racked up to around $2.1 billion, which almost immediately shut down the project.

The proposed project would only see a 37% return on investment, and the city of Tempe shut it down immediately.

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Revised Plan to Keep the Coyotes in Arizona

Once the Tempe project fell through, things started to get drastic. The NHL began to discuss relocating the team to Salt lake City, Utah, who has been desperate for an NHL expansion team for years.

In order to avoid this, management changed their tune.

The new plan was to fund the entertainment district privately, and the first step of this was finding land. The team is currently signed to an auction in June for a 110 acre plot of land outside Phoenix, which, if won, would allow the Coyotes to begin development on their new $2.3 billion entertainment district without the support of the taxpayers.

Read More: Coyotes Future Will Be Decided in June

The Move to Salt lake City

The most recent development to unfold may see the team leaving the state sooner rather than later. The NHL has designed a contingency plan for the program if they are unable to come away with the $68.5 million plot of land in Phoenix.

In this case, Ryan and Ashley Smith, the Utah Jazz owners, would buy the team and relocate them to Salt lake City by next season. While no formal decision has been made, the NHL plans to announce their intent by the end of this month.

How Will Either Affect Taxpayers?

Luckily, neither situation will lose taxpayers a cent. As I stated earlier, the new stadium plan in Phoenix will be privately funded by management and the NHL, while the move to SLC will be taken care of by the new management and the SLC taxpayers.

While so many would prefer Arizona's premiere hockey team to stay in the Valley, you can rest easy that the decision and consequences are out of your hands.

[The Center Square]

[Reuters]

[ESPN]