Owner of the Arizona Coyotes' Alex Meruelo abandons the franchise for good

Meruelo has advised his staff that he is no longer interested in building a new arena to eventually bring the team back to the Phoenix area, following the team's relocation to Utah, where they will play next season as the Utah Hockey Club. The Coyotes franchise will be disbanded within the next month.

Recently, the Arizona State Land Commission decided to cancel an auction regarding a piece of land where Meruelo was expected to bid on, so that he could eventually build a $3 billion arena, with the hope of bringing a team back to Phoenix. Meruelo was very upset at this cancellation, and proceeded to completely abandon all hope in the team for the future.

Meruelo has owned the Coyotes since 2019, when he paid $425 million for them. Over the last five years, he has lost nearly $60 million each season, with the biggest losses coming over the last two years when they were playing at Mullett Arena that only had capacity for 5,000 fans a game. This is a very sad day indeed, as hockey may never be played in the Arizona desert again.

Credit Craig Morgan:
Alex Meruelo has agreed to and signed all of the necessary agreements and paperwork to relinquish his rights to the Coyotes.