Xavier Gutierrez made clear that the Coyotes will avoid a public referendum in their search for a new arena while ensuring they will follow the NHL's deadline.
The Arizona Coyotes are still searching for a new arena that the organization can call home in the Valley.
Coyotes’ president Xavier Gutierrez provided an update on what the team is looking for in a potential arena on Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo.
“It comes from the requirements that were imposed on us by the NHL that we find a location and pursue a path that would not subject us to a public referendum vote, and really that has squared in finding a piece of land that that is zoned for an arena so we can still move forward,” Gutierrez said on Friday. “We still envision this to be a landmark project, privately funded, we’re gonna buy the land and build the buildings and maintain them ourselves like we’ve said all along.”
The Coyotes pushed to build a sports and entertainment district in Tempe but their plan failed as they lost in a public referendum vote, so it seems that the organization is trying to learn from past mistakes and take a different approach this time around.
There have been a multitude of reports coming out about where the Coyotes might move, the most recent one coming from PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan stating they are zeroing in on a parcel of land in northeast Phoenix, adjacent to Scottsdale in purpose to build a new arena.
Gutierrez made clear that he still intends to obey the NHL’s deadline for the team to finalize a deal which is by the end of the 2023-24 season.
“We did commit to the NHL that by the end of this season we would have this in place,” Gutierrez said. “But the first step is to just make that public announcement of saying ‘Here’s the location, here’s the project, here’s the deal,’ and then get it done and closed by the end of the season. That’s still our timeline.”
Morgan also reported that the Coyotes are aiming to make an announcement pinpointing the specific location for an arena around the new year, but it could stray into the first quarter.
This means there should be some sort of news coming out sooner rather than later.