Will Arizona lose another hockey team anytime soon?
Alex Merullo, owner of the Tucson Roadrunners and likely former owner of the Arizona Coyotes brand, plans to relocate the Roadrunners to Reno, Nevada, once a new arena is completed for the American Hockey League franchise, according to reports.
The report, by Sportico reporter Barry M. Bloom, states, “Meruelo told staff on Monday that no more work will be done to build a new arena to house (the NHL's Coyotes) in the Phoenix area and that the franchise should be dissolved within a month. Meruelo will retain the minor league Roadrunners, who will play all their games in Tucson, Arizona, but will eventually relocate to a new arena being completed in Reno, Nevada.”
More on the NHL:Arizona Coyotes reaction to Alex Merullo ownership report: Good news for the NHL in the state?
The Roadrunners, the Coyotes' minor league team, play at the Tucson Convention Center Arena.
It was reported earlier this week that the Roadrunners' six games would be played at Mallet Arena in Tempe after the Coyotes left the venue to relocate to Utah, but the team has now announced that all 36 games next season will be played at its home stadium in Tucson.
After selling the Arizona Coyotes franchise assets for a move to Utah, Merulo struck a deal with the NHL that would give him the opportunity to revive the Coyotes franchise as an NHL expansion team if he could build a suitable arena within five years. Merulo retained the Coyotes brand as part of the deal.
More about Hockey:In the end, the Tucson Roadrunners did not play at Mallet Arena in Tempe.
Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports reported Monday that Merullo will stop pursuing building a new arena for the NHL franchise and step down from his ownership stake in the team.
Bloom reported that Merullo plans to return the NHL team's naming rights and branding to the league, writing: “Merullo will return to the NHL the team's mark, logo, name and Phoenix-area rights that he retained in April when the NHL facilitated the sale of the franchise.”
Last year, Meruelo announced plans to build a 10,000-seat arena as part of Reno's entertainment complex, which is described as “the centerpiece of this visionary project will be a state-of-the-art arena with a seating capacity of more than 10,000 designed to host a variety of events, including concerts, special events, basketball games and other sports. The arena will be approximately 300,000 square feet and offer contemporary amenities such as suites and a premium hospitality club.”
Related:The deal will see the Roadrunners continue playing in Tucson for at least three more years.
Since 2016, the Roadrunners have played at the 6,500-plus-seat Tucson Arena on the downtown TCC campus, which typically draws about 4,000 fans per game.
The team is scheduled to begin playing in Reno in the fall of 2026 when the new facility is completed.
Last month, the Rio Nuvo board approved a new financial agreement designed to allow the Roadrunners to continue playing in Tucson for at least three more years. The Arizona Daily Star reports, “The board voted to pay half the rent and about 18 months' worth of office expenses (approximately $180,000 and $60,000 per year, respectively) to allow the American Hockey League's Tucson Roadrunners to continue playing the majority of their games at the Tucson Convention Center for the next three or more years.”
Charles Borah wrote in the Star article: “The team 'felt the love in Tucson,' Roadrunners president Bob Hoffman told the board. The team's owners 'want to continue calling Tucson home,' he said.”
The report from Sportico appears to have cast doubt on that statement and the entire future of professional hockey in Arizona.
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Contact Jeremy Cluff at jeremy.cluff@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter). @Jeremy_Cluff.
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