As Coyotes Shift to Utah, Ripples Affect Minor Leagues
Will the AHL sail away from Tucson? Will the Grizzlies go to the other side?
After endless drama and two seasons playing out of a college arena, the Arizona Coyotes are all but confirmed to relocate to Salt Lake City, Utah for the 2024-25 NHL season. Ryan Smith and the Smith Entertainment Group have been very public about bringing an NHL expansion franchise to the Wasatch Front for just over a year now. However, after a number of year with no arena guaranteed and stories of hotel bills going completely unpaid this season, the league is set to announce Arizona's relocation to Utah as soon as April 17.
SINKING FAST IN THE SOUTHWEST?
While things are shuffling at the NHL level, pieces in the minor leagues are starting to pivot as well. The Tucson Roadrunners, Arizona's AHL affiliate, is owned by current Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo. If Meruelo were to sell his NHL team, he would still own the AHL farm team. Reports are that Meruelo has significant interest in moving the Roadrunners to Mullett Arena in Tempe, replacing the Coyotes as a tenant while sharing the facility with the Arizona State men's college hockey team.
That leaves the City of Tucson potentially with a 10-year lease negated two years early. The cost to do so is estimated between $3 million and $4 million, covering both the last two years of rent and the prior renovations modernizing the Tucson Convention Center to host an AHL franchise. For the record, Tucson city officials have yet to hear of any official news of a Roadrunners move to Tempe.
If the team were to get relocated, there would be immediate interest in hosting another franchise at the TCC. The Rio Nuevo Board, instrumental in bringing Tucson an AHL franchise back in 2016, had chairman Fletcher McCusker commenting on a possible Roadrunners move (and vacant arena) to the Arizona Daily Star.
“I believe if they were to do that, we’d be very interested in replacing that team with another hockey team, given that we have these facilities, the fan experience (and) new ice.”
With the AHL remaining at 32 teams regardless, does a possible Roadrunners dash out of Tucson mean a possible opening for an ECHL franchise in Pima County? Loosely Affiliated has already reported on the league’s desire to hit 32 teams and pull even with the NHL and AHL team count. Another ECHL presence in the west would be a welcome expansion…or would it be a relocation?
WHERE DOES THE HONEY FLOW?
The ECHL's Utah Grizzlies are the biggest question mark concerning this offseason's minor league plate tectonics. With the green light imminent for the NHL in Salt Lake City, the tentative Utah franchise will play out of the Delta Center in downtown SLC. With the Maverik Center – home of the Grizzlies since 1997 – just a 15-minute drive away, it raises the question: what will become of Utah's ECHL team when the NHL rolls into town?
There are a few options for Elmore Sports Group, the Grizzlies’ ownership collective, to weigh with the NHL to SLC looming. ECHL Utah could stay put for a couple seasons, testing the waters to see if both a top-tier and ‘AA’ pro clubs can co-exist successfully in a metro market of 1.26 million people (2.71 million if you include the Salt Lake City-Provo-Orem Combined Statistical Area). Another option could be a “franchise swap” reminiscent of some teams involved in the AHL western expansion in 2015 – one market receiving an AHL franchise (Salt Lake) while “trading” its ECHL club to the other (Tucson). A third option would be to suspend operations and let another market purchase the former Utah Grizzlies franchise, leaving the Maverik Center without a hockey tenant.
DO THE RIPPLES EVER COME BACK?
As Tony Androckitis of Inside AHL Hockey relayed back on April 10, there is an agreement in place for the ASU men's hockey team to share Mullett Arena with the Coyotes for the 2024-25 season with a 2025-26 option. Should Meruelo and Arizona State revise the agreement, the Roadrunners could call Tempe home next AHL regular season. It keeps a competitive tenant sharing the building while the powers that be put a plan in place to bring an NHL team back to The Copper State via expansion.
As for the Utah Grizzlies, they have occupied the Salt Lake area in some way, shape, or form since the 1995-96 season. Six seasons in the IHL, four in the AHL, and 19 in the ECHL add up to nearly 30 years of minor league hockey for the Grizz. Combine that with 25 years of WHL/CHL/IHL hockey from the Salt Lake Golden Eagles, and you have over half a century of minor pro hockey in the Salt Lake Valley. Why squander that by throwing in the towel when The National (not the indie band) comes to town?
If the Grizzlies (and the Elmore Sports Group) can make it work, they should stay put in the Maverik Center until it isn't financially feasible anymore. Having a less expensive ticket option for hockey can remain a solid alternative for SLC metro folks. Being spoiled for choice isn't the worst thing, especially when it comes to the top pro level and the minors (see: Winnipeg/Manitoba and the Calgary Flames & Wranglers playing out of the same building, as well as the San Jose Sharks & Barracuda arenas being a stone's throw away from each other.).
My prediction is that the Roadrunners do end up moving to Tempe, but the Grizzlies stay put in West Valley City. With no hockey team in Tucson, I say the ECHL steps up either this offseason or next to put a franchise there. Hopefully, in the next few years, there will be a brand new arena in Arizona and the Coyotes return as an expansion franchise…as well as an in-state NHL-AHL-ECHL pipeline.
Special thanks to Chad Koscak and Marie Sexton for chatting about this topic with me and fleshing out ideas for direction.