What is the Roadrunners' future in Arizona?

Alex Meruelo will maintain ownership of the Tucson Roadrunners after the sale of the Coyotes to Ryan Smith, with the Roadrunners continuing to serve as the AHL affiliate of the NHL team. Multiple sources have confirmed that leaving the Roadrunners in Meruelo’s hands was one of the concessions that Smith had to make to acquire the Coyotes for $1.2 billion  — $200 million of which will be distributed to the other NHL owners as a relocation fee — and relocate them to Salt Lake City; a move that should officially be announced on Friday.

Sources confirmed that the Meruelos want to move the team from Tucson to Tempe to maintain connectivity with the Valley fan base and help maintain support for local youth programs while the Meruelos pursue a land auction, the construction of a new arena and the right to bring an expansion franchise back to Arizona. Part of the sale to Smith provides Meruelo with a somewhat elastic, five-year right of first refusal and the rights to the dormant Coyotes brand for an expansion team in this market, provided he reactivates the franchise within 3.5 years; a requirement that also includes a 50-percent completed arena.

Moving the Roadrunners to Mullett Arena is part of a business plan that the Meruelos hope will bridge the gap to that expansion NHL franchise.

There are multiple complications with the move, however. First, the AHL Board of Governors must approve the move. Second, sources at Arizona State University and with the City of Tucson said that the Meruelos have not contacted them about such a move. That silence may come via directive from the NHL until the sale of the Coyotes is official.

The Roadrunners are in year eight of a 10-year lease at Tucson Arena (part of the Tucson Convention Center). As part of the contract signed by the Coyotes in the original deal, the ownership group must provide the city 180 days notice before moving the team. The ownership group would also forfeit a little more than $3 million if it chooses to break the lease, per the agreement.

Andy Squire, the public information officer for the City of Tucson said the Coyotes have not approached the city about breaking the lease and moving the team.

“We absolutely have not had any notification or awareness of any change that would be coming,” Squire said. “In fact, [Roadrunners president] Bob [Hoffman] has been working with Glenn Grabski, who runs the TCC on contract for us, on talking through what it would take to do extensions of that contract.” 

The Roadrunners are two wins and four points away from setting franchise records for both categories in a season. They have secured home-ice advantage for the first round of the Calder Cup Playoffs which begin later this month. The entire coaching staff is on expiring contracts.

Tucson expects to average about 4,100 fans this season, an increase from 3,625 last season, and 3,564 the previous season. This late in the season, the Roadrunners have almost certainly taken money from season-ticket holders for next season. 

With the Coyotes already relocating, the Meruelos’ decision to relocate a second team could have a major impact on the city.

“We have a large Tucson base that has always loved hockey and they’ve been thrilled to have the Roadrunners with us since 2016,” Squire said. “We are certainly hopeful that we will be able to keep the Roadrunners in our community and continue to have great ice hockey for the community and be able to support such a fantastic team.

“The mayor and council, the city of Tucson, all of our folks would be really disappointed to see them leave. And of course, that would also have an economic impact, at least initially until such time as we could make other arrangements to have something else.”

Even if that part of the process is secured, the Roadrunners also face hurdles to playing in Tempe.

The Coyotes signed a three-year agreement to play games at Mullett Arena with an option for a fourth year. The Coyotes will complete the second season of that agreement on Wednesday. The Coyotes pay $820,000 annually to use Mullett, with payments due on Sept. 15.

However, they also paid a $3.5 million deposit upfront to protect ASU in the event of non-payment of bills; an issue with the Meruelo ownership group in Glendale and with multiple vendors. The amount was greater than the cost of the three annual payments because the Coyotes were adding elements such as the annex and better tech to make Mullett Arena NHL compliant. ASU wanted to make sure it wasn’t left with the completion costs of any of those projects.

In addition, and per the language of the deal, ASU was careful to note that the deal only pertains to the “NHL Team known as the Coyotes.”  ASU was anticipating that this day might come when it signed the original deal. Per a source familiar with the deal, Alex Meruelo does not have the right to simply replace the Coyotes with the Roadrunners this upcoming year. A Roadrunner deal would be a completely separate arrangement outside of this deal.

Multiple ASU stakeholders have expressed anger at the idea of Meruelo being allowed to put the Roadrunners at Mullett Arena.

Peter Luukko is the chairman of facilities and alliances for Oak View Group, which manages Mullett Arena. When reached by text, Luuko said he had not heard anything about the Roadrunners moving to Mullett next season, but two sources said that the Meruelos had preliminary discussions with Oak View Group about a month ago.

Meruelo has violated the terms of contracts in the past that he inherited from the previous ownership groups. The fear expressed by some in Tucson is that he will follow the same path and then try to negotiate a lower price. Such an approach could compound his efforts, however, to maintain a fan base and business relationship already soured by the relocation of the Coyotes and the missteps of the past five years. 

If the Roadrunners leave, there is also concern from some locals that the Tucson Convention Center will not maintain ice. The University of Arizona’s club teams, some recreational leagues and the Junior Roadrunners all use the ice. While the Pima County Board of Supervisors approved plans for a new, three-sheet iceplex in Tucson, the builders have not yet broken ground so an opening date is uncertain. There are no other sheets of ice in Tucson, forcing many kids to commute to the Valley to play.

The Junior Roadrunners have a membership of about 225 kids that is entirely reliant on Tucson Arena for roughly 10 hours of ice time per week. Other events at the Tucson Convention often make the ice unavailable, leading to periods during the season when the Junior Roadrunners can’t practice or play locally.

“Hockey people who have been around here know the TCC never really wanted hockey,” Junior Roadrunners hockey director Ryan DeJoe said. “I remember they were wanting to kind of get out of the hockey business until the Roadrunners kind of got shoved down their throat. That’s what makes me nervous is that without the Roadrunners, does the TCC want to pull the plug on hockey and ice? I hope not, but it wouldn’t surprise me a great deal either. They want to do more shows rather than run hockey.”

Aside from the availability of ice, DeJoe said the Roadrunners have built a relationship with the city that has helped foster youth hockey growth.

“They may not be critical to our survival, but it’s close to that,” DeJoe said. “We had hockey before the Roadrunners, but if my worst fears are correct about the TCC, then we are joined at the hip. We can’t really rent ice in Chandler on weekends or anywhere up there in the Phoenix area with any kind of consistency so youth hockey will die.”

Top photo of fans via Tucson Roadrunners

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