As rumors continue swirling about the Arizona Coyotes’ future in the state, the team and league are in lockstep about the goal to remain in the Valley.
“They're dead set on trying to keep this team in market. And that's the priority that remains for the NHL as well,” said The Fourth Period Editor-in-Chief David Pagnotta.
The Coyotes are moving forward with a plan to buy state trust land in north Phoenix, though it isn’t as easy as making an offer for the land.
“Every bit of state trust land that is disposed of is sold by public auction, it's set up in the state constitution,” said Mark Winkleman, who served as Arizona State Land Commissioner from 2003-2009. “One of the challenges with this process is you can have somebody that can spend years and quite a bit of money, only to have somebody else come in at the last minute outbid them.”
According to ESPN, the land in question is a 100-acre plot, after the Coyotes downsized their initial application for 200 acres. ABC15 previously reported the land is near Loop 101 and Scottsdale Road. An auction hasn't been scheduled yet, but the Coyotes have kickstarted the process.
“That whole process typically takes at least a year, if not a little longer,” Winkleman said. “If it went at lightning speed, it would be maybe six months, but lightning speed almost never happened.”
If the Coyotes can’t find a deal, Pagnotta says a group in Salt Lake City, Utah is interested in purchasing the team.
“I believe there were some loose discussions surrounding that, so much so that even numbers were discussed, or at least brought into the equation for the Meruelo group,” Pagnotta said. “But again, the priority from their side from the league side is to remain in Arizona.”
As the rumors swirl, the team has entered a bit of a tailspin, winless since the All-Star break. The team's coach addressed some of the "noise" going around.
“In our case those rumors, that's part of the job. One day it will be something else. We want to be a championship team and one day we'll have other kinds of distractions, we need to learn to live with it,” said head coach Andre Tourigny.
