Ryan Smith, the owner of the NBA basketball club Utah Jazz, will buy the club from the current owner Alex Meruel for $1.2 billion, with whom the hockey players will alternate in the Delta Center hall. The amount of 200 million from the sale price will be divided among the other NHL clubs.
However, the overseas league does not have to say goodbye to Arizona. Part of the agreement is also a provision whereby the management of the competition undertakes to assign Meruel a new club if he manages to build a suitable hall within five years.
Arizona has long struggled with uncertainty about its position and the club’s future. Until the year before last, the Coyotes played in Glendale in a hall for more than 17,000 spectators, but the city terminated the contract with the club. The team then relocated to Tempe, whose residents last year rejected all three proposals to build a new arena as part of a $2.3 billion entertainment district.
In early April, Meruelo unveiled a plan to buy land in Phoenix and build a privately funded hall. However, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said that due to the uncertainty of when the new hall will be ready, the competition management “will be looking for other options for the club”.
The Coyotes are the successor to the original Winnipeg Jets club, which played in the competitive WHA since 1972 and joined the NHL in 1979 after its demise. In 1996, the club from Canada moved to the USA and played under the name Phoenix Coyotes, since 2014 it bears the name of the state of Arizona.
2024-04-18 20:48:37
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