Relocation Devastation: A Look At the Coyotes’ Heartbreaking Saga 1 Year Later

One year ago today, the lives of Coyotes fans changed forever.

At 11:48 a.m. on April 10, 2024, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reported that the NHL, Arizona Coyotes and Smith Entertainment Group had made significant progress on an agreement for the relocation of the Coyotes to Salt Lake City.

BREAKING: Sources tell @DailyFaceoff– NHL, Arizona Coyotes & Smith Entertain. Grp have made significant progress on the framework of an agreement to relocate #Yotes to Salt Lake City, Utah.#NHL memo updated Governors today.

NOT done. Many layers and lawyers. Much work to do.

— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) April 10, 2024

At 1:04 p.m., Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman doubled down on the report, citing multiple sources.

In the span of hours, the dam broke on the wave that had threatened Coyotes fans for more than a decade; relocation was no longer just a possibility, but a likely reality. 

One year later, it’s still difficult to grapple with the sequence of events that unfolded. 

So how did Coyotes fans go from having a team one week and losing it the next? Let’s take a painful walk down memory lane.

April 4

The Arizona State Land Department set the land auction date for Coyotes’ arena site for June 27

After the Tempe vote failed in May of 2023, Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo had to scramble to find another arena solution. Seven months later, Craig Morgan reported that the team was zeroing in on a parcel of land in northeast Phoenix. Rather than a public vote, this particular parcel of land required an auction.

Coyotes president and CEO Xavier Gutierrez told PHNX that they originally were tracking a potential public auction notice in the early part of January or sometime within the first quarter, but infrastructure costs and requirements came back at a higher number than the team expected. In March, the Arizona State Land Department Board of Appeals approved the Coyotes’ application.

Because of the time it took for Meruelo to revise his application, the auction date didn’t get posted until April 4. The Arizona State Land Department sets auction dates a minimum of 10 weeks in advance, and June 27 fell exactly 12 weeks later.

April 10

Multiple reports came out that the NHL and Arizona Coyotes were preparing for possible relocation to Salt Lake City

As mentioned above, multiple outlets reported the NHL and Arizona Coyotes were preparing for a potential move to Utah, as soon as April 18.

Later that night, the Coyotes beat the Canucks 4-2 in overtime in Vancouver.

More: Watch the PHNX Coyotes emergency podcast break down the relocation reports with appearances from Seravalli and Friedman.

April 12

The Arizona Coyotes were informed that relocation to Salt Lake City was real, per multiple sources

That night, Josh Doan, Logan Cooley, and Matias Maccelli all scored in the Coyotes’ 3-2 overtime win over Oilers in Edmonton.

Per multiple sources, the Coyotes have been informed that relocation to Salt Lake City is real.
Now hearing it could actually be announced on April 17; the date of the Coyotes’ final game at home vs. Edmonton.
It’s going to be quite an atmosphere that night at Mullett Arena.

— Craig Morgan (@CraigSMorgan) April 13, 2024

April 14

The Coyotes played their last ever road game

In the Coyotes’ second-to-last ever game, two of the franchise’s most exciting prospects Dylan Guenther and Josh Doan scored in a 6-5 loss to the Flames in Calgary.

April 17

The Coyotes played their final game in Arizona, a 5-2 win over the Oilers at Mullett Arena

It’s hard to describe the emotion in the building during that final Coyotes game. Fans young and old, those who had been at the first ever game at America West Arena in 1996 to fans who started cheering for Arizona just that season, gathered to send off their beloved team. When Liam O’Brien (of all people) scored 2:18 into the first period, the building erupted like it was game seven in overtime.

The players understood the assignment and rose to the occasion. After the final buzzer, as fans stood in the stands with tears streaming down their faces, the players saluted the crowd, the building, all the people in the organization whether on the bench or behind the scenes, the Mullett staff, the people watching at home.

It’s a day Coyotes fans will never forget. PHNX‘s Head of Production Shane Dieffenbach produced a beautiful documentary that captured that final game.

April 18

The sale of the Arizona Coyotes and relocation to Salt Lake City was approved by the NHL Board of Governors.

April 19 

Alex Meruelo and Gary Bettman gave a disastrous press conference in Arizona, juxtaposed by Ryan Smith’s introductory press conference later that same afternoon.

More: Watch the PHNX Coyotes crew react to Meruelo’s press conference.

April 25 

Lyndsey Fry established the Matt Shott Arizona Hockey Legacy Foundation to support all youth hockey programs across the Phoenix metro area.

More: Lyndsey Fry shares how she and others in the community will ensure the future of youth hockey in the Valley.

April 29 

The final PHNX Coyotes show.

May 16 

Anniversary of the Tempe vote fail

The entire relocation saga REALLY began when Tempe voters rejected the Arizona Coyotes’ proposed arena and entertainment district on May 16, 2023. Some may even argue it began when the team moved to Glendale in 2003. But it was that date now almost two full years ago that set relocation in motion.

After the vote failed, many believed that was the end of the line for the franchise. Yet NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman gave Meruelo another chance. At the NHL All-Star game in Toronto in February, Bettman said he was “reasonably confident” Meruelo would do what he said. As it turns out, just one month later the commissioner approached Coyotes ownership to broach the idea of selling the team to the Smith Entertainment Group, with the promise that Meruelo would have an exclusive five-year window to bring an expansion team back to the Valley.

May 28 

Rio Nuevo district officials unanimously approved an alternate proposal for the Tucson Roadrunners to play six games at Mullett Area and 30 games in Tucson, nulling a proposal the AHL Board of Governors would have voted on later in the week for the Roadrunners to play 14 games in Tempe and 22 in Tucson.

June 13 

The sale of the Coyotes to Utah Jazz owners Ryan and Ashley Smith became official.

June 21 

The Arizona State Land Department cancelled the Coyotes land auction. ASLD confirmed that the proposed arena use would require a Special Use Permit and as a result, requested that Alex Meurelo receive it prior to the auction.

More: The PHNX Hockey crew reacts to news of the auction’s cancellation.

June 24 

Alex Meruelo walked away from his ownership of Arizona Coyotes

After selling the team for $1.2 billion, securing an exclusive contractual right to reactivate the franchise within five years that would trigger an expansion draft if an arena was built, Meruelo threw his hands up and walked away.

Reactivation would have required him to pay back the $1 billion that he received from the sale (the other $200 million was distributed to other owners as a relocation fee).

After the Land Department cancelled the auction that Meruelo had hoped to win and with considerable political opposition in his path, he saw no viable options that would allow him to reactivate the franchise within the parameters set forth in the sale.