According to a cause with knowledge of the situation, Arizona Coyotes user Alex Meruelo has informed his remaining directors that he is dissolving what is left of the NHL franchise. Nearby activities website PHNX Sports first published the story.
Meruelo told his team on Monday that he would no longer seek creating a new market in the Phoenix location and that the company may become disbanded within a month. Meruelo will keep the small league Roadrunners, who will now play their whole 30- game 2024- 25 home schedule in Tucson, Ariz., before finally moving to a fresh arena when it is completed in Reno, Nev.
Three days prior, the Arizona State Land Commission halted an upcoming auction for a plot of land where Meruelo intended to construct a$ 3 billion arena and entertainment complex in the wake of a reborn franchise in north Phoenix.

At the starting price of$ 68. 5 million, the bidding for 95 hectares of north Phoenix area was scheduled for Thursday. The commission claimed it had determined that Meruelo may apply for a Particular Use Permit to construct an arena on the property, which had already been designated for that purpose in what was described as a very political process.
Mayor of Phoenix, Kate Gallego, stated that she was not interested in helping Meruelo construct an area that would compete with the city-owned Footprint Center in city Phoenix, where the NBA’s Suns and WNBA’s Mercury enjoy.
At Thursday’s NHL Boards of Governors appointment, it is likely to be a topic of discussion about this choice. Meruelo is expected to give the group’s signs, brand, name, and right to the Phoenix area back to the NHL, which he retained in April when the NHL facilitated the franchise’s sales.
After the 2023-24 winter ended, the sports activities and people were transferred to Salt Lake City in a package that closed on June 13. Utah Jazz user Ryan Smith purchased the assets for$ 1.2 billion a moment. The team will play at the Delta Center in October, after changing its name to Utah Hockey Club.
Meruelo received a salary of$ 1 billion, which is way above the franchise’s current value, but he still had the rights to an expansion team if he wanted to construct a new arena in five years. In that event, he would’ve had to pay back the$ 1 billion to the NHL and start from scratch.
Meruelo bought the team in 2019 for$ 425 million and has since lost between$ 30 million and$ 60 million a season, the source said. The group played the previous two months in Mullett Arena, a 5, 000- seat school tower on the school of Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz., after being evicted from what’s then called the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Ariz.
In Sportico’s most recent NHL valuations, the Coyotes were valued at$ 675 million, last in the league.