Coyotes file bid for new arena in Tempe

The Arizona Coyotes are eyeing a Phoenix suburb as a potential site for their new home.

Two weeks after the city of Glendale told the Coyotes the upcoming season would be their last at Gila River Arena, the team submitted a bid to build an arena in nearby Tempe.

“We remain incredibly excited about this extraordinary opportunity,” the club said in a statement the Arizona Republic’s Paulina Pineda obtained. The Coyotes confirmed the proposal but declined further comment, according to Pineda.

The site is a 46-acre plot near Tempe Town Lake. The city took other bids as well and required submissions by 3 p.m. PT. Thursday. A committee of city staffers will now review the proposals and make a recommendation to city council, which can then approve or reject it.

The Coyotes and the city of Tempe have reportedly been negotiating for at least two years.

Glendale informed the club in mid-August it wouldn’t renew the operating agreement for the city-owned Gila River Arena. That pact expires at the end of the 2021-22 NHL campaign.

The Coyotes have played at their current facility since 2003-04.

49ers could share Cardinals’ stadium amid new restrictions

The San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals could share State Farm Stadium in Glendale due to new COVID-19 restrictions in California’s Santa Clara County, sources told NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

Amended protocols in Santa Clara County – where the 49ers reside – ban all contact sports and require individuals to quarantine for 14 days if traveling into the region from 150 miles away. The rules take effect Monday and apply to professional, college, and recreational sports teams.

The 49ers said Saturday they are working with the NFL on operational plans.

Arizona has long been viewed as a potential partner for the 49ers if COVID-19 protocols in the Bay Area tightened. The NFL calibrated the 2020 schedule such that the 49ers and Cardinals never play home games on the same day, allowing them to share a venue if necessary.

San Francisco has three home games remaining. If the 49ers do move into State Farm Stadium, they’ll need to figure out where to practice and house the team. They could reportedly move to Texas if the Arizona contingency falls through.

Bettman to AZ Legislature: Coyotes need new arena to succeed

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is asking the Arizona Legislature to pass a bill – Senate Bill 1149 – that would provide public funds for a new arena for the Coyotes.

In a letter submitted Tuesday, Bettman maintained the Greater Phoenix region represents a “strong hockey market which we are proud to have included in the NHL.” At the same time, however, the current home arena situation is untenable at best.

Bettman wrote:

The Coyotes current location in Glendale at Gila River Arena is not economically capable of supporting a successful NHL franchise. For the past 15 years a succession of ownership groups have have tried everything imaginable to make the Glendale location financial sustainable. Our combined efforts have all yielded the same result – a consistent economic loss.

The simple truth: The Arizona Coyotes must have a new arena location to succeed. The Coyotes cannot and will not remain in Glendale.

On Feb. 3, Arizona State University pulled the plug on a proposed new home for the Coyotes in Tempe.

The passing of Bill SB 1149 would open up $225 million in public funds for a $395-million arena project in the East Valley area of Phoenix.

In the meantime, the Coyotes remain on a year-to-year lease at Gila River Arena.

Coyotes making progress in search for new arena

With an exit from the city of Glendale looking more likely, Arizona Coyotes co-owner Anthony LeBlanc gave local fans reason for optimism that – if the team has to move – they’ve had discussions with many groups to at least keep the team in the area.

“I don’t think anything has progressed to a point where it would be prudent to state what options look like but things are moving pretty quickly; in particular with a couple of these options,” he said, according to Craig Morgan of Arizona Sports.

“The city of Phoenix has been the most vocal. They have an NBA franchise (the Phoenix Suns) that they are very tied to and they want to ensure there’s no hiccup in regards to that.”

The Coyotes have played at Glendale’s Gila River Arena (formerly Glendale Arena and Jobing.com Arena) since 2003, but the city voided a 15-year lease and management agreement in June, creating speculation that the troubled franchise could be on the move.

The Suns are seeking a new arena and the mayor of Phoenix has pushed to build a facility both teams could share. A Native American tribe expressed interest in building an arena in nearby Scottsdale, Pierre Lebrun of ESPN reported Tuesday.

The Coyotes are currently 26th in attendance, averaging 13,682 fans through four home games.

Phoenix mayor contacts Coyotes about potential return to downtown arena

As the Arizona Coyotes prepare for a legal battle with the city of Glendale over the decision to nullify the team’s lease at Gila River Arena, the mayor of Phoenix is reaching out to the organization.

Mayor Greg Stanton contacted the Coyotes after Glendale city council voted 5-2 in favor of ending the lease agreement on Wednesday night.

“After the vote, I appropriately reached out to representatives of the Coyotes (and) I reached out to the Phoenix Suns and asked if they would be willing to at least engage in conversation, and both sides want to engage in conversation,” Stanton told local radio station Arizona Sports 98.7 on Friday.

“We’re at a very preliminary stage, but … of course the Coyotes should pursue all regional options to stay here in the Valley of the Sun.”

Stanton confirmed that the club is considering a potential return to his city.

“I know that the team is going to be pursuing conversations with the city of Phoenix relative to our building, US Airways Arena – soon to be Talking Stick Resort Arena – in downtown Phoenix.”

The Coyotes played in that facility upon relocating from Winnipeg in 1996, before moving to Glendale in 2003. The Suns have used the arena since it opened in 1992.

The mayor said he views the hockey club as a valuable commodity and he wants to keep it in the metropolitan area.

“It would be only smart of (the Coyotes ownership group) to pursue all opportunities,” Stanton said. “I don’t know how it’s going to end up … but I don’t want to lose any important regional assets, and I view the Coyotes as an important regional asset.”

Report: Glendale exploring possibility of voiding arena deal with Coyotes

City officials in Glendale, Ariz., are losing patience with the Arizona Coyotes.

Glendale city council members are looking into the possibility of getting out of their arena contract with the NHL club, TSN.ca’s Rick Westhead reports.

The current agreement requires taxpayers to funnel $15 million per year to the club over 15 years, but city officials claim that money isn’t going toward managing Gila River Arena.

From the report:

When the city council in Glendale voted to give the owners of the Coyotes $225 million (all U.S. dollars) over 15 years, the money was supposed to be used by the team to manage the 12-year-old Gila River Arena, where the Coyotes play their home games.

The deal helped narrow the losses of a club that sports investment bankers say is a perpetual money loser, bleeding some $50 million or more per year.

But nearly two years after council approved the controversial pact, city officials claim the money that cash-strapped Glendale is paying to the team’s owner IceArizona is instead going directly to Fortress Investment Group, the New York-based asset manager which financed holding company IceArizona’s purchase of the Coyotes.

Glendale vice mayor Ian Hughes said using taxpayer funding to pay down debt rather than for arena management constitutes a breach of contract. Hughes wants to convince his fellow council members to look into whether the city can extricate itself from the deal.

“The taxpayer got the short end of the stick,” Hughes told Westhead. “If they call this an investment, you’d think there would be a possible return. I’m hard-pressed to see the benefits to the city of Glendale.”

A source told TSN.ca that misreporting financial losses could also be considered a breach of contract, and a consultant delivered a confidential report to Glendale city auditors alleging the NHL team has done exactly that.

Meanwhile, Hughes and Glendale mayor Jerry Weiers said neither of them has been able to land an in-person meeting with new Coyotes owner Andrew Barroway in Arizona.

An NHL owner, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Westhead that he could see the Coyotes relocating to a certain city that is building a new facility.

“I think it leaves us with Las Vegas as our best alternative,” the owner said. “I could see them moving the Coyotes there when the new arena is done.”

Earlier this month, an MGM executive told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the league will vote on expansion to the city in September.