On Sept. 27, the University of Nevada and the Grand Sierra Resort announced plans to build a $1 billion arena district in downtown Reno, Nevada. This would include a 10,000-seat arena for the university’s basketball team. However, this proposed arena reportedly can also be configured for hockey.
This brings a lot of interesting possibilities for the sport of hockey to explore the biggest city in northern Nevada for the first time in a long time. How do the Arizona Coyotes fit into this new project, and what could be a possible future between the team and Reno?
The Arizona Coyotes’ Minor League Situation
Reno is definitely more of a minor-league city, with a population of 268,851. Let’s take a look at the Coyotes’ minor league affiliates. At the AHL level, you have the Tucson Roadrunners. There is no way the Coyotes move or sell the Roadrunners due to them playing two hours down south. The NHL team definitely wants to have a presence in Tucson with the University of Arizona being located down there, along with the Roadrunners really controlling the market due to the lack of sports teams (besides U of A athletics). Plus, Tucson is only two hours away from Mullett Arena, meaning it’s easy to call players up and down.
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That brings us to the ECHL. The Coyotes currently don’t have an affiliate in the league after letting their partnership with the Atlanta Gladiators expire this past season. There are only three other NHL teams other than the Coyotes who don’t have an ECHL affiliate heading into the season. Next season’s addition of the Lake Tahoe team will decrease that number but so far there is no link between Tahoe or any ECHL team and the Coyotes. There’s no doubt that the ECHL is in expansion mode as it seems like they’re trying to expand out west to balance out the number of teams they have on the west coast compared to the east.
Reno‘s Sports History
Reno is the third-biggest city in the state of Nevada behind only Las Vegas and Henderson, both of which have pro hockey teams. Reno is home to the University of Nevada, which has an enrollment of 16,973 students and is only 22 miles away from the popular Lake Tahoe.
Reno is no stranger to minor league sports. The city has a minor league baseball team called the Reno Aces: the Triple-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. The team has been successful, winning two league titles most recently in 2022. The team averaged 5,040 fans per game this past season, which is their best since 2015.
The city also used to have an NBA G-league team called the Reno Bighorns, who were affiliated with the Sacramento Kings. The Kings later purchased the team and relocated them to Stockton, California.
Reno has actually had a minor-league hockey team as well. The Reno Renegades were a founding team of the West Coast Hockey League (WCHL). Playing out of the Reno-Sparks Convention Center, the team made it to the playoffs in their first season but was swept by the Fresno Falcons. The team made headline news around this time by signing goaltender Manon Rheaume, who was the first and to date only woman who has played in the NHL. The Renegades, however, would never finish a season above .500 again. In their final season of existence, the team changed its name to the Rage and once again made the playoffs. Unfortunately for the team, history repeated itself as they got swept by the Tacoma Sabrecats. The organization then folded.
However, the Renegades/Rage rights were bought by Larry Leasure, who sought to bring back the team when the WCHL was absorbed by the ECHL as the Reno Raiders. The issue was that there was no arena to host the team, and the plans failed. However, the city remained on the ECHL’s future market page on their website until 2016.
The city currently has a Senior A hockey team called the Reno Ice Raiders, who play out of Jennifer M. O’Neal Community Ice Arena, which has a capacity of 900 fans. The Raiders have played in Reno since 2021 and usually sell out every game.
The Coyotes-Reno Connection
You might be thinking what does all of this and Reno have to do with the Coyotes? Well, it’s about business. Alex Meruelo is the owner of the team, but he’s also the owner of the Grand Sierra Resort in downtown Reno. So this project is being headed by the one and only Meruelo.
We know Meruelo doesn’t invest in things without making them as profitable as possible, so it might be only a matter of months or years until we hear some sort of bigger rumors of pro hockey in Reno. Especially after when Meruelo was asked by the press about it.
“I would love to see hockey here,” said Alex Meruelo when asked by the Reno Gazette-Journal minutes after he announced the details of the entertainment district (from ‘Minor-league hockey, Vegas Golden Knights game are possibilities at Grand Sierra Resort’, Reno Gazette-Journal, 9/27/23).
As noted, the ECHL would be the league that would expand here for a couple of reasons. For starters, to ease the travel and finances of the western teams. You don’t have a lot of teams west of the Mississippi in the league. The Idaho Steelheads, Utah Grizzlies, Tulsa Oilers, Allen Americans, Wichita Thunder, Kansas City Mavericks, Rapid City Rush, and Iowa Heartlanders are the current teams in the western portion of the United States. But with the Lake Tahoe team coming into the league, it will be the only team in the Pacific time zone, leaving them with the worst travel schedule by far. Putting a team right next to them would help ease the pain of flying a bit more and would also help the Grizzlies and Steelheads out as well.
The second reason would be the incredible potential rivalry between the Tahoe team and the Reno team. The teams would be only 50 minutes away from each other, and they would most likely play a bunch of games against each other due to travel, leading to some pretty heated moments. I’m sure fans would love the intensity and would travel between the two arenas. Teams in close proximity to each other usually end up hating one another. Who says that can’t be the answer here?
The third reason is one I already mentioned. The ECHL has been interested in expanding to Reno. They had the city on their future market webpage for 10+ years. All that was lacking was a viable arena, and with the construction of this project, they’ll finally get it.
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Finally, the Coyotes need an ECHL team, one preferably close to them. Since Mureulo owns the building, there’s no doubt that the team that occupies the arena will be owned by him. Mureulo also won’t let the arena host only college basketball games because he’ll try to get the facility filled with people every night. NHL preseason games would almost certainly be in the books, with the obvious matchup being the Coyotes vs. the Vegas Golden Knights, but that’s only one game. A minor league team would be the obvious answer here, and judging by the success of the Aces and the Ice Raiders along with the Knights killing it in attendance down south, it’s safe to say Reno would show up.
Verdict
I think it’s safe to say it’s a matter of when rather than if for the return of professional hockey in Reno. Especially with Mureulo leading the charge on building this sports district, it’s almost impossible that the NHL and the ECHL ignore what he’s doing just north of one of hockey’s biggest success stories. The city would absolutely go crazy for the team, and who knows what could happen. There would be so many benefits to placing a minor league team here, and I think the announcement of this arena has piqued the interest of many including the Coyotes. It’s just a matter of time for a hockey culture to grow in what they call the biggest little city in the world.
