The Arizona Coyotes announced Thursday the club has reached a multiyear agreement with Arizona State University for the team to play at the Sun Devils’ new multipurpose arena starting next season.
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The Arizona Coyotes announced Thursday the club has reached a multiyear agreement with Arizona State University for the team to play at the Sun Devils’ new multipurpose arena starting next season.
The Coyotes will play their home games at the venue from 2022-23 through the 2024-25 NHL season with an additional option for the 2025-26 season.
The arena is scheduled to be completed early this fall.
“We are thrilled that we have arranged to play our home games in Arizona State University’s new multipurpose arena starting next season,” Coyotes President and CEO Xavier A. Gutierrez stated. “This will be an incredible, intimate and exciting fan experience in a state-of-the-art new arena in a fantastic location in the heart of Tempe.
There were obvious signs the franchise’s era in Glendale — their home since 2003 — was drawing to an unceremonious end.
The city of Glendale, which owns Gila River Arena, and the franchise were far apart on terms for a potential new lease after the team’s current lease expires at the end of the NHL season. The city was looking for a long-term agreement, and the Coyotes were looking for shorter, more temporary term lengths while the franchise was planning its expected move to a new Valley city, although without a home in which to play in the interim.
By the end of 2021, Glendale had threatened to evict the team in the middle of the season with a Dec. 20 deadline unless the franchise made good on its outstanding tax bills and back rent in excess of $1 million, including $250,000 owed to the city. The Coyotes brought their debt current that same month.
As recently as last August and facing the possibility of not having a home to play in after the Glendale lease expired yet before their expected new arena in Tempe would be built, the franchise was still open to a potential temporary agreement at Gila River Arena.
“We remain willing to reengage in good-faith negotiations with [the city of Glendale] for an interim lease extension while we pursue a more permanent long-term arena solution elsewhere in the Valley,” the Coyotes said in a statement.
By early January, even as the franchise continued to look for options beyond the 2021-22 season, the city of Glendale took itself out of the running as a potential temporary home, expressly stating that the city would not negotiate for an interim deal.
The reality remained, however, that the Coyotes were facing a prospect of having no arena to call home.
Speculation came to an end with the team’s Thursday announcement about ASU’s new multipurpose arena.
The Coyotes struggled drawing fans to home games during most of their tenure in Glendale. The team has never ranked higher than fourth from the bottom among NHL franchises in home attendance since 2007-08, including finishing dead last three times.
The Coyotes currently sit in last place in the Central Division with a Western Conference-low 28 points.
A decade ago the franchise clinched the playoffs three straight years, a run that included a division crown in 2011-12. The team has advanced to the playoffs only once since then.
As for Gila River Arena’s post-Coyotes future, the city announced in January architectural and engineering firm HOK will lead a modernization of the arena at the conclusion of this season. That will focus on adding big events to its newly available open slots on the calendar without hockey. City Manager Kevin Phelps has explained previously the NHL required the arena to hold “200 dates” to coordinate its season with each team in the league.
That obligation, Phelps said, hurt the arena’s ability to schedule events beyond just the 41 scheduled regular season home games.
“We’re going to free up a lot of dates,” he told the Independent this past August. “We’re going to invest in the arena to really make it an incredible experience for the people who are attending shows. And that’s just the beginning part of what we’ll be working on.”
Gila River Arena has 18,000 seats and is managed by ASM Global.
The Coyotes have 19 home games left in Glendale, including a 7:30 p.m. puck drop Friday, Feb. 11 against Tampa Bay to begin an eight-game home stand.
The franchise’s last regular season game in Glendale will be Friday, April 29 against Nashville.
Steve Stockmar has been with the Independent Newsmedia team since 2017. An NAU alum and Peoria resident, Steve’s community journalism pursuits focus mostly on arts & culture, education, and profiles of neighbors making a difference. In his spare time Steve plays in a vintage baseball league using uniforms and rules from the 1860s, and also acts (badly) in community theater. In addition, he has an unhealthy obsession with baseball and the Chicago Cubs.
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