National Hockey League (NHL) franchise, the Arizona Coyotes, is looking into the possibility of building its own arena with the lease on its current home running out.
The team currently plays in Glendale’s Gila River Arena – its home since 2003 – although the lease is due to expire at the end of the 2016/17 season.
During an NHL Board of Governors meeting earlier this week, Coyotes co-owner and president Anthony Leblanc said the circumstances opened up the possibility of the franchise building its own facility, potentially with Arizona State University.
According to
NHL.com, Leblanc said: “We’re in very progressed talks with the city of Phoenix and as well we forged a tight alliance with Arizona State University and we’re having discussions with them about a potential facility. We’re exploring those pretty aggressively.”
Leblanc earmarked downtown Phoenix or the East Valley, where Arizona State is located, as potential areas of interest. He said a move would be “positive across the board” in terms of ticket sales, merchandise and the overall marketing of the team.
Phoenix mayor Greg Stanton contacted the hockey team – after the City of Glendale backed out of a 15-year lease agreement for the Gila River Arena – to talk about the possibility of the development of a new arena in downtown Phoenix which would be used by the Coyotes, the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Phoenix Suns and WNBA team Phoenix Mercury.
He also suggested a potential move back to its old home, Talking Stick Resort Arena, which is currently being used by the Suns.
For Leblanc, the ambition is to accelerate the plans over the next six to nine months. If a new arena is built, the Coyotes may have to extend the current lease while construction takes place.
“We’ll figure that out,” said Leblanc. “If I have a list of 10 problems, that’s not on it. The real situation we need to figure out is long-term. Once we figure out long-term, short-term will work itself out.
“We’ve seen this in other markets in various sports, if there is a commitment of a new facility coming, we’ll be able to figure it out.”
