An announcement regarding the Arizona Coyotes’ future plans for a new arena may take longer than originally anticipated. It was reported by hockey insider Frank Seravalli that news about the Coyotes’ arena situation is ‘imminent’ and could be announced as early as this weekend. That may not be the case anymore. “There was a lot of noise this week about the Coyotes, no question about it, and some of us thought, and I was one of them, that we might get an announcement this weekend about where things are going with their next potential building or any kind of future of the team,” Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said. [https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/clarity-on-arizona-coyotes-may-take-a-bit-more-time/] 20240208_Hayton_PostGame_FTP “Now I don't think that's going to happen. I think that it might be a little bit of time before we get any clarification from the team, which did discuss the potential of a new building with the state this week.” It was confirmed last week that the Coyotes applied to buy state trust land in north Phoenix. While this is a step in the right direction, there will be an open auction for this piece of land where Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo will have to be the highest bidder in order to secure the land. Friedman also reported that Meruelo has told employees he will address them about current developments next week. There is no indication from Friedman on when there will be an announcement about the Coyotes’ future plans.
