NHL’s Coyotes lose, but Salt Lake Wins

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Bulls of the Week

The US$1.2 billion acquisition of the young-and-up-and-coming player roster and hockey operations assets of the Arizona Coyotes has made it a winning week for pro sport in Salt Lake City in particular and Utah in general.

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Yet it’s only the beginning of a decidedly bull market for sports fans in the state. Utah is already home to the Jazz of the NBA and Real Salt Lake of MLS, and hosted the 2002 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.

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At the centre of it all are Qualtrics billionaire Ryan Smith and his wife Ashley Smith, who purchased ownership of the Jazz for US$1.66 billion in 2020 and also hold a minority stake in the MLS franchise.

Coming down the pipeline — likely within five years — is a strong bid for MLB expansion from the Larry Miller Company, former owner of the Jazz, and IOC-preferred hosting status for Salt Lake City in 2034.

The city and the state will have one of the strongest sports business infrastructures in North America within 10 years, making it much more than the relatively small urban market of 1.2 million that it is today (the larger metro area is 2.7 million). It may be only the 124th largest city in the U.S., but it’s considered a top-10 centre of American influence, leadership and philanthropy.

That’s why the NHL is clearly in a better position in Salt Lake than it was living through the embarrassingly cozy confines at 4,500-seat Mullett Arena in Tempe, Ariz. And that’s true despite a projected wait of another couple of years before the seating capacity for hockey at the Delta Center grows from 12,000 to 17,000.

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The IOC and politicians may tell you otherwise, but any arena upgrades that don’t happen by 2026-27 will be easily facilitated in conjunction with the hosting of Salt Lake 2034. With strong contending men’s and women’s Olympic hockey teams from the U.S., they would be crazy not to stage the competition at the larger Delta Center rather than the 12,000-seat Maverik Center that hosted hockey in 2002.

Bears of the Week

The big question: What did polarizing Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo do to justify such a windfall (a US$1 billion net sales price) and soft landing (the rights to reactivate the franchise if he successfully builds an NHL-calibre arena within five years)?

From this corner, he brings precious little pro sport experience, political weight and community support. Wouldn’t the league want that to get it right in Greater Phoenix after a half-dozen false starts in ownership these past 27 years?

Meruelo purchased the Coyotes for US$300 million in 2019.

Going into this 2023-24 NHL season, his Coyotes were valued at just US$500 million, dead last among 32 franchises in the league.

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Yet here he is; selling at a premium price, more than three times what he paid for the team five years ago.

Greater Phoenix does deserve a chance to promote hockey on the east end of town that is populated heavily by snowbirds. And it’s true that the Coyotes’ most recent plan to purchase land in northeast Phoenix is the most demographically friendly proposal they’ve ever come up with.

Yet is Meruelo the person to make it happen? If he can’t even attend his team’s last game at Mullett on Wednesday, can he do the legwork required to create a winning situation for NHL hockey in that market?

Tom Mayenknecht is the host of The Sport Market on Sportsnet 650 on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Vancouver-based sport business commentator and principal in Emblematica Brand Builders provides a behind-the-scenes look at the sport business stories that matter most to fans. Follow Mayenknecht at: twitter.com/TheSportMarket.

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