{"id":32429,"date":"2023-08-09T16:48:12","date_gmt":"2023-08-09T22:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/coyotes-consider-buy-land-for-a-hockey-arena-in-mesa\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:57:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:57:41","slug":"coyotes-consider-buy-land-for-a-hockey-arena-in-mesa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/coyotes-consider-buy-land-for-a-hockey-arena-in-mesa\/","title":{"rendered":"Coyotes consider buy land for a hockey arena in Mesa"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Fans
Fans watch as players warm up prior to the Arizona Coyotes\u2019 home-opening NHL hockey game against the Winnipeg Jets at the 5,000-seat Mullett Arena in Tempe, Arizona, on Oct. 28. (Ross D. Franklin\/The Associated Press)<\/span>Ross D. Franklin<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. \u2013 The Coyotes said Wednesday that owner Alex Meruelo has executed a letter of intent to buy a piece of land for a potential arena in Mesa, Arizona, a positive development for the NHL team in its lengthy search<\/a> to find a permanent home in the desert.<\/p>\n

The move comes months after voters in Tempe rejected a referendum<\/a> to construct an arena there. The Coyotes say they remain committed to building a privately funded rink and entertainment district and continue to explore other potential sites in the Phoenix area.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe appreciate the tremendous support that we have received from many communities, elected officials and community leaders who have expressed their desire to see the Coyotes remain in the Valley permanently,\u201d the team said in a statement. \u201cWe would also like to thank NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly for their steadfast support of the club\u2019s efforts to find a permanent arena solution and for their recognition that Arizona is a tremendous hockey market.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Coyotes are going into their second season at 5,000-seat Mullett Arena on the campus of Arizona State University. New NHL Players\u2019 Association executive director Marty Walsh<\/a> has raised concerns about the situation there and said the union would like the team to figure out a sustainable long-term solution.<\/p>\n

At the draft in Nashville in late June, team president and CEO Xavier Gutierrez said the Coyotes had identified six possible sites<\/a> for a new building in the east valley in the 101 Highway corridor that covers the cities of Scottsdale, Phoenix and Mesa \u2014 none of which would require a public vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still want to put our money where our mouth is and build something that\u2019ll be best in class,\u201d Gutierrez said at the time. \u201cWe were disappointed with the vote in Tempe, but we turned the page very quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weeks earlier at the start of the Stanley Cup Final in Las Vegas, Bettman reaffirmed the league\u2019s commitment<\/a> to Arizona, where the team moved to in 1996 from Winnipeg. The team has since played in three different arenas, initially in downtown Phoenix, then Glendale and Tempe.<\/p>\n

\"Arizona
Arizona Coyotes fans wait for the doors to open prior to the Coyotes\u2019 home-opening NHL hockey game against the Winnipeg Jets at Mullett Arena in Tempe on Oct. 28. Ross D. Franklin\/The Associated Press<\/span>Ross D. Franklin<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

follows Tempe voters\u2019 rejection of referendum<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[3586,1210],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-32429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-arizona","tag-ice-hockey"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32429"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81789,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32429\/revisions\/81789"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32429"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=32429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}