NHL, Coyotes make progress on framework for Utah relocation
The Arizona Coyotes could find themselves looking at two scenarios for where they play in the 2024-25 season — and one involves relocation.
Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reported that the NHL, Coyotes ownership and Smith Entertainment Group have made significant progress on the framework of an agreement to relocate the team to Utah.
Earlier in the day, Seravalli also reported that the NHL was drafting two versions of a league schedule for the 2024-25 season, with one being keeping the Coyotes in Arizona, and the other them playing in Salt Lake City in the event of relocation.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that if a move to Utah is coming, it will be known soon, partly because the arena in Utah is shared with an NBA franchise, so the league would need to know available dates in order to put together a schedule.
**UPDATE**
NHL to buy Coyotes, sell to Utah ownership for $1.2B
Salt Lake City still appears to be on the verge of landing the Arizona Coyotes, but not before the NHL takes control of them.
"The league is going to buy the Coyotes for a billion dollars, and the current owner Alex Meruelo is going to have a five-year window to prove he can put together a new arena, go to the land auction, win it, get shovels in the ground ... everything that he has to do to prove he can build a new arena," Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported on "Saturday Headlines."
The next step in the process is where Salt Lake City comes in.
"And then kind of like expansion, the league is going to sell a new team to Utah and owner Ryan Smith for $1.2 billion," Friedman said. "The (Coyotes') hockey operations (staff) are expected to go with that."
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and his deputy Bill Daly reportedly met with the Coyotes' ownership group about a month ago and told it that it could "pursue the new arena for Coyotes 2.0, but (the league's) in a position here where we can't allow this particular iteration of the team to continue any longer," according to Friedman.
On Friday, he reported the Coyotes' players were informed they're moving to Utah before their game that night against the Edmonton Oilers, which they won in overtime.
The Arizona Coyotes could find themselves looking at two scenarios for where they play in the 2024-25 season — and one involves relocation.
Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reported that the NHL, Coyotes ownership and Smith Entertainment Group have made significant progress on the framework of an agreement to relocate the team to Utah.
Earlier in the day, Seravalli also reported that the NHL was drafting two versions of a league schedule for the 2024-25 season, with one being keeping the Coyotes in Arizona, and the other them playing in Salt Lake City in the event of relocation.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that if a move to Utah is coming, it will be known soon, partly because the arena in Utah is shared with an NBA franchise, so the league would need to know available dates in order to put together a schedule.
**UPDATE**
NHL to buy Coyotes, sell to Utah ownership for $1.2B
Salt Lake City still appears to be on the verge of landing the Arizona Coyotes, but not before the NHL takes control of them.
"The league is going to buy the Coyotes for a billion dollars, and the current owner Alex Meruelo is going to have a five-year window to prove he can put together a new arena, go to the land auction, win it, get shovels in the ground ... everything that he has to do to prove he can build a new arena," Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported on "Saturday Headlines."
The next step in the process is where Salt Lake City comes in.
"And then kind of like expansion, the league is going to sell a new team to Utah and owner Ryan Smith for $1.2 billion," Friedman said. "The (Coyotes') hockey operations (staff) are expected to go with that."
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and his deputy Bill Daly reportedly met with the Coyotes' ownership group about a month ago and told it that it could "pursue the new arena for Coyotes 2.0, but (the league's) in a position here where we can't allow this particular iteration of the team to continue any longer," according to Friedman.
On Friday, he reported the Coyotes' players were informed they're moving to Utah before their game that night against the Edmonton Oilers, which they won in overtime.
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