Over the past couple of months, the Arizona Coyotes have been through the rumor mill arena-wise. The team is still playing out of Mullett Arena: the 5,000-seat arena originally built for Arizona State’s NCAA D1 hockey team and hasn’t announced any plans to purchase land as of late. Many have called for the team to try to play in Footprint Center: the 18,422-seat arena that is home to the NBA’s Phoenix Suns. However, that’s not as easy as it seems. Here are three reasons why the Coyotes won’t move to downtown Phoenix.
The Arena is Built Solely for Basketball
A few years back, the New York Islanders played out of Barclay’s Center (Cyrgalis, 2020), home of the Brooklyn Nets. It wasn’t a good experience for the fans as there was awful seating as the arena was solely constructed for basketball. Hockey arenas are constructed mainly in an oval with no angles, while basketball arenas are built with corners. Of course, a lot of the arenas in the United States are built to host both the NHL and the NBA, but most of those are built in ovals. Barclay’s wasn’t one of them with the jumbotron being off-center and a car being randomly put in another corner.
The Coyotes don’t need a reminder of what it’s like to be forced into an NBA arena. They were in that situation at one point. In fact, that situation was in Footprint Center when the team first arrived in Arizona from Winnipeg. It was a disaster and hastily thought out. Part of the stands hung over the actual ice. Due to that, other seats couldn’t see the corners of the ice where those stands stuck out. As a result, the capacity was slashed to become the second smallest NHL arena during that time, and sections were curtained off to try to keep fans from getting bad views.
Then why not renovate the arena to fit hockey? Well, it’s not that simple. The arena would probably need a whole reconstruction to get rid of those jagged sections, which would take a decent amount of time. Not to mention, the arena was renovated heavily recently. The renovations started in 2019 and ended at the beginning of the 2021-22 season. The city probably doesn’t want to spend more money on renovations as they own the arena, especially as complaints about nearby Chase Field have arisen.
There’s just simply no way Gary Bettman lets another team play in a basketball-constructed arena again. None of the other teams play in that style of arena anymore after the Islanders completed the construction of UBS Arena. It’s not good for the game and not good for the fans.
Prior Troubling Relationships
Up until recently, the Coyotes and the Suns didn’t have a great relationship. It started when the Coyotes moved into Footprint Center when they came to the Valley in 1996. The Suns managed the arena and gave the NHL team a horrible leasing deal.
Former Suns owner Robert Sarver hated the Coyotes. It’s not entirely clear why the two didn’t have a good relationship, but the Suns did oppose a shared arena with the team in 2017. In 2022, Bettman came out and said the Suns have no interest in sharing their arena with the NHL team. Of course, the next season, Sarver was forced to sell the team due to multiple inappropriate workplace actions.
Mat Ishbia bought the Suns in 2023 and left the possibility of a potential sale of the Coyotes open. However, Alex Meruelo just recently purchased the Coyotes, and the NHL seems to like the businessman quite a bit. Meruelo also most likely doesn’t want to sell the team, especially with the upward trajectory it’s on.
The other partner in the relationship is someone that Meruelo probably doesn’t want to partner with. The city of Phoenix has hampered the Coyotes’ ability to build their own arena in the past. The most recent example is when they teamed up with Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport to help create problems for the proposed Tempe Entertainment District, including a lawsuit that the city of Phoenix brought upon Meruelo. The plan failed, and there’s no doubt part of the reason why the numerous senior citizens who showed up to vote no for the project was because of the airspace that the two were concerned about.
Revenue and Money
Meruelo knows how important it is to have his own arena, which is probably why Footprint Center has never been in public discussions for the Coyotes. There’s no doubt that he’s losing money with the team operating out of Mullett Arena despite it being better for the fans and the actual team. He only gets 4,600 seats sold per game, and that includes limited suites as well. The arena lacks a team store the team can operate out of, long-term advertising of the team around the arena, and a sports betting booth (due to the facility being on a college campus). The team also has never played in a preseason game at the arena, probably due to the NCAA men’s schedule, which is more money that Meruelo isn’t getting.
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Meruelo absolutely wants all the above things to recoup some of the money he’s lost since buying the team and moving them to the Sun Devils’ arena. He also probably wants an arena he controls, so he receives a majority of the money that comes through parking, tickets, and concessions, along with revenue from events that come through the venue, like concerts and potentially other sports teams that could move into the potential new arena. On top of all of that, he’ll get more revenue from suites in his own arena, due to it most likely having double the amount that Mullett has.
If Meruelo goes to Footprint, he’ll have to share revenue with Ishbia, and that’s if he’s not forced to sell part of the team to the Suns owner as well. After hemorrhaging money for the team, Meruelo wants to reap all the awards, especially if the team starts consistently making the playoffs, which means more money.
While Footprint Center might look like a good location for the team, especially in downtown Phoenix, it’s not an option. Ownership-wise, it’s not good for Meruelo personally and financially. Hockey fan-wise, it’s not a good place for the team either. There’s a reason why the team moved out of the arena back in the early 2000s. Most likely, a reunion between the two will not be in the plans for either the Coyotes or the Suns.
