As the Arizona Coyotes continue to search for a permanent arena in the Valley, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has provided fans with an encouraging update.
As the Arizona Coyotes continue to search for a permanent arena in the Valley, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has provided fans with an encouraging update.
The Arizona Coyotes arena situation may be closer to being resolved than many originally anticipated.
Since the Coyotes plan to build a sports and entertainment district in Tempe failed to pass in a special election vote on May 16, the organization has been searching to find a permanent home in the Valley.
Despite a number of relocation rumors that spread rapidly throughout the rest of the hockey world, both the Coyotes organization and NHL have stayed committed to keeping professional hockey in the Valley.
Gary Bettman, the NHL commissioner, provided an encouraging update on where the Coyotes are at in their hunt for a new home.
“They are in the process of exploring a number of parcels of land that can host an arena and entertainment retail district project, and my belief is in the next few months, they will finalize something, and they're looking for situations that don't require a referendum. There are a number of locations that would be great,” Bettman said.
“Their view was Tempe was a win-win for everybody — 26,000 people voted, which is all that it was, and Tempe still has a landfill downtown that was going to be remediated with private funds. My guess is there's nothing that's going to happen in Tempe that's going to deal with that for the foreseeable future, but we move on. It was going to be a great opportunity, but there are other locales that are certainly as attractive, if not more so, and suitable.”
While the Coyotes are set to play at Mullett Arena this season, the goal is to begin construction on the team’s new arena as soon as possible.
“The answer is certainly sooner rather than later. You've got to tell me when they're going to get the land resolved, which I think will be in the next few months,” Bettman said. “They've already been working on plans for a building, so my hope is the end of the season, next summer. Building in Arizona is probably a little bit easier than building in a colder climate.”