Coyotes Owner Reportedly Done Chasing New Arena

If recent reports are to be believed, the Arizona Coyotes — at least the version owned by Alex Meruelo — appear to have gone the way of the dodo.

Over the weekend, the team — the hockey assets of which now belong to the NHL's newest franchise, the Utah Hockey Club — announced that the State of Arizona had canceled a land auction originally scheduled for June 27 that Meruelo had hoped to win and then use for a new arena.

This new arena was one of the biggest conditions of the NHL allowing Meruelo to reactivate the Coyotes at some point within the next few years.

However, with yet another plan for a new arena coming undone, Meruelo is reportedly finished trying to keep hockey in the desert.

PHNX Sports' Craig Morgan reported that Meruelo plans to walkway from owning the Coyotes. The report cites multiple sources that say Coyotes ownership told staff that they do not intend to pursue any more avenues to build a new arena.

Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo is reportedly finished trying to find the team a new arena. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

So, if one of the conditions for re-activating the 'Yotes is a new arena… then this iteration of the team would appear to be completely dead, or, at least, functionally extinct.

However, as Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman noted on his 32 Thoughts podcast, Phoenix may still be an option for the NHL down the line, but this time as an expansion option.

Sure, ever since the original Winnipeg Jets moved to Arizona in 1996 it was far from smooth sailing, but the Phoenix area is a big market in which the NHL would certainly like to have a presence. I mean, they bent over backward multiple times to keep the Coyotes in town.

I think with the right ownership and a solid arena situation we'll see another team — maybe even a new iteration of the Coyote — back in the desert.