Commissioner Gary Bettman addresses the future of NHL hockey in Arizona

SALT LAKE CITY — Before the puck dropped on the Utah Hockey Club’s first NHL game on Tuesday, Gary Bettman had a message for Arizona Coyotes fans in mourning.

“We wish we didn’t have to leave,” the NHL commissioner said. “I think everybody knows that nobody could have stood behind the franchise or community under difficult circumstances as long as we did.”

For the better part of a quarter century, Bettman ran neck-and-neck with former captain Shane Doan as the man most responsible for keeping the Coyotes in Arizona. He was roundly criticized and ridiculed for his steadfast devotion to the Valley, but amid constant ownership instability, decades-long arena uncertainty, and annual financial struggles, he always shrugged it off for one simple reason.

“I’ve always believed that Arizona was a good market, ” Bettman said. “Otherwise, we wouldn’t have stood behind the franchise for 25 years.”

That doesn’t mean the commissioner is in a hurry to return to Arizona, however. 

“Talk to me when there’s an arena that a hockey team can play in, or the realistic possibility of an arena, and then we can have a conversation,” he told ALLCITY Network in Salt Lake City on Tuesday. “Short of that, there’s nothing to really think about or discuss.”

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The NHL is listening to expansion overtures from multiple cities, most notably Atlanta, which has formally requested that the NHL begin the expansion process and boasts two groups competing to bring a team back to a market that the Flames and Thrashers once called home before relocating to Calgary and Winnipeg, respectively. But Bettman cooled talk of further expansion at the recent Board of Governors meetings in Manhattan, insisting that the topic was never broached in those meetings.

“We feel no compulsion to do it right now,” he said then. “We just came off our most successful season in our history, we’ve got collective bargaining to deal with. We’ve got new media arrangements to do in Canada in the next couple of years.”

There are plenty of national pundits who don’t believe Bettman. They think the league is playing coy when it comes to expansion. They believe the commissioner would like to put those expansion fees directly into the pockets of team owners. Expansion fees do not count toward hockey-related revenue (HRR), which means that players currently do not get a share of what is likely to be more than a $1-billion fee per new team.

With the collective bargaining agreement set to expire on Sept. 15, 2026, that could change if new NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh pushes for that concession in a new CBA. As for a new media rights deal, the US deals expire in 2028; two years after the Canadians rights deals expire. Adding more markets would mean greater leverage at the bargaining table for the league when it comes to dollar demands.

Bettman did not broach those topics, but he did acknowledge the league’s continued openness to dialogue regarding expansion.

“If somebody comes to us and can check all the boxes, then we’ll take a look at it,” he said. “But it’s not our manifest destiny today.”

Even so, when looking specifically at the Phoenix market, the commissioner said that the same issues exist now that existed under former ownership groups.

“I think what people need to focus on before anything else is: Is there a realistic prospect of an arena and a realistic plan for it?” he said. “Short of that, there’s really nothing for anybody to focus on.”

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Multiple recent reports have suggested that the Valley could get a team back within the next five years. PHNX Sports is aware of at least one group with the same goal — a group that insists that it has a viable plan in place including an arena site, the political backing and the financial wherewithal to get it done, but when asked if he had received significant expressions of interest regarding the Valley, all Bettman offered was, “a couple phone calls, but everybody understands a new arena or a suitable arena is the show stopper.”

Deputy NHL commissioner Bill Daly seemed to indicate the league’s arena preference in a recent interview with THN director of digital media Michael Traikos.

“I would say if you’re writing on a clean slate you’d love to have a hockey-specific arena that’s designed predominantly for hockey,” Daly said.

If another group does hope to bring NHL hockey back to the Valley, it will have to navigate a local minefield that includes the following:

• Political and voter opposition to public subsidies for pro sports arenas
• The combined costs of expansion fees, construction fees for a new arena and a new practice facility, which could approach or exceed a combined $3 billion
• The ill will that previous Coyotes ownership groups fomented in the Valley

Bringing NHL hockey back to the Valley would require someone with the ability to rebuild bridges and bring together a coalition of political, business and civic leaders. It would require someone with strong local relationships.

It’s a path that the Utah Hockey Club ownership group of Ryan and Ashley Smith has adroitly navigated, as evidenced by the broad coalition of such dignitaries who turned out at the celebratory news conference before puck drop on Tuesday at Delta Center.

“We always regret leaving a place, but what’s going on here in Salt Lake City is terrific,” Bettman said. “You see it yourself firsthand, and it’s a great celebration for the sport. So under difficult circumstances, we’ve been able to land in a good place.”

Top photo of Gary Bettman with Utah Hockey Club owners Ryan and Ashley Smith on Tuesday in Salt Lake City via Getty Images

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