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Arizona Coyotes owner sets $1 Billion price tag for NHL team's sale: Reports
As per Arizona Sports' John Gambadoro, the owner of the Arizona Coyotes, Alex Meruelo, has engaged in discussions with various potential buyers, both local and out-of-state, to assess their interest in acquiring the NHL franchise from him.
Meruelo reportedly seeks to sell the team for more than $1 billion and met with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman recently to deliberate on the team's future in the league.
Alex Meruelo purchased the club in July 2019. After facing a setback in a vote last May concerning the team's plan for an entertainment district in Tempe, the Coyotes redirected their efforts towards identifying a new arena site in northeast Phoenix.
The Arizona Coyotes, under the ownership of Meruelo, had plans to acquire state land through an auction. However, if the announcement was made in April, the auction wouldn't take place until at least June.
For the past two seasons, the Coyotes have been playing their home games at Arizona State University's Mullett Arena, which has a capacity of only 4600.
After departing from their previous home ice venue in Glendale at the end of the 2021-22 season, the club has been actively searching for a suitable location to construct a new arena.
Coyotes organisation 'prefer not to leave' Arizona, as per NHL insider
The Arizona Coyotes' next move in securing a permanent home appeared to involve vying for the Phoenix land at an upcoming auction. Yet, there remain potential challenges to address before the team can obtain the land.
According to the Arizona state constitution, there is a requirement of a minimum 10-week advertisement in print media before the auction can be conducted. The anticipated timeline for the land auction is not before mid-June, with the possibility of a delay until November.
The Coyotes' future in the National Hockey League remains uncertain. However, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman believes that the Arizona Coyotes are determined to stay in the league and that if they do leave, they are likely to return:
"Arizona has made it very clear. They want to keep the team there. In a perfect world, the league wants the team kept there. The league wants to have a team in Arizona. I've said a billion times on this podcast if they leave, they're coming back, but they prefer not to leave."
Friedman added:
"In a perfect world, Arizona stays in the NHL market. It's a big market; it’s a good market, in the right area; they want to stay there."
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