The Arizona Coyotes are gone, but it may not be too long for the NHL to return to Phoenix if Suns owner Mat Ishbia is to be believed.
Ishbia, a billionaire who purchased the Suns from Robert Sarver in February 2023, said recently that he has an interest in bringing hockey back to the desert after the Coyotes were relocated to Salt Lake City and renamed the Utah Hockey Club.
“I'm definitely going to be part of the community, and if I can help bring hockey back, I'll look at that,” Ishbia told Sportico. “It's definitely something I'm interested in. It's a four-sport town. I'm disappointed we don't have a hockey team, but I understand what happened, and we're going to try to fix that one day.”
Why did the Coyotes leave Arizona?
The biggest roadblock for the Coyotes was the team's home arena(s). From 1996 to 2003, the Coyotes played in what was called the America West Arena, which is now called the Footprint Center and is the home of the Suns. In 2003, the Coyotes moved to Glendale Arena (now called Desert Diamond Arena) in nearby Glendale, where the team played its home games until 2022.
After the city of Glendale announced it would not be renewing the Coytoes' lease, the team was forced to play in the 5-000 seat Mullett Arena in Tempe, the home of the Arizona State University hockey team and a much smaller venue than any other NHL arena. The Coyotes played two seasons in Tempe as team owner Alex Meruelo attempted to get a new, hockey-specific arena built. Things never worked out, though, and the Coyotes franchise was effectively bought and relocated to Salt Lake City by Ryan Smith, the owner of the NBA's Utah Jazz.
The future of the Coyotes is up in the air, as Meruelo, who had initially retained the rights to the Coyotes history and branding, relinquished his rights earlier this month after recent plans to buy a plot of land for a new arena fell through. If Ishbia is truly interested in bringing an NHL team back to Phoenix, however, the arena might not be an issue considering his Suns already play at the Footprint Center.
“I think our arena is first-class right now. I love our arena,” Ishbia said. “But at some point we're going to have to get a new arena.”
Ishbia further reiterated that Phoenix is deserving of a team in each of the four major sports.
“I’m disappointed we don’t have a hockey team here. That’s what I’ll say,” he said. “Phoenix is a four-sport town. Maybe five if you want to include soccer, but it’s a four-sports town. Baseball, football, basketball and hockey. And I hope that one day we’ll be able to get hockey back.”
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