First of all, I'm completely incensed to begin with that the Arizona Coyotes (sort of) relocated to Salt Lake City. The NHL forced the unconventional sale of the team to Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith. The player roster, reverse list, draft picks and hockey operations were transferred to a new Utah franchise. Alex Meruelo retains the trademarks to the Coyotes name, logos, team records and history in what became a dormant or "inactive" franchise. Meruelo plans to still attempt to win the land auction on June 27th to acquire 110 acres of state trust land from the Arizona Land Department. It is located on the north side of Arizona Loop 101 on the PHOENIX side of Scottsdale Road (which borders Scottsdale to the east). Minimum bid set at $68.5 million. To correct you, it was Scottsdale mayor David Ortega who complained and stated he doesn't want to help the Coyotes. But untruths he put there included that somehow he thought that Meruelo would be wanting access to Scottsdale's water supply and services for the property in northeast Phoenix. Then he walked back those comments, but was too late. By then, the wheels were in motion behind the scenes as the prospects of the Coyotes remaining in Arizona vanished. All just days after the team had unveiled their plan for that arena site. You are also incorrect as it was not about them not acquiring the land. That is not what triggered the move of hockey assets to Smith in the sale. The NHL lost patience because of how late this auction will be for them to plan for next season. NHLPA director Marty Walsh already aired his dirty laundry at Meruelo during the All-Star break to deliberately smear him and attempt to gain a say in the Coyotes' fate and succeeded. He was vehemently opposed to the pampered millionaire Coyotes players from playing at Mullett Arena. With their proposed arena district rejected by Tempe voters last year, it really was the uncertainty in how long they would have to play at ASU's home rink. The NHL was okay with the Coyotes' 3-year contract plus the 4th year option, but the extra year delay was too much for them to keep the Coyotes in the 4,600 seat building. With no guarantee of exactly when shovels can go in the ground and the Coyotes stating it could take until early next year for that to happen and it could be 5 or more years at Mullett Arena , the league pulled the plug. The thing is as we are learning after the move, all this was happening behind the scenes for months, maybe even going back to the failed Tempe vote. Connect the dots... Smith's public letter to the NHL on January 24th he wanted to start the process of being granted an expansion team. He also stated at the end of that letter that he can put a team in his arena next season if need be. Little did we know back then that he was referring to the Coyotes. Then Walsh's comments at the All-Star break. Then the slow process of Meruelo getting his application approved to bid on the state trust land and an auction date set. Before the announcement of that auction date, that dirtbag Frank Seravelli put out on social media that Smith was offering at least $1 billion for the Coyotes even though the team was reportedly not for sale. Then suddenly after the Coyotes unveiled those arena plans meant for if they win the auction, Arizona Sports radio host John Gambadoro revealed the league was brokering the sale to Smith. The media hysteria took off from there and next thing we knew, the Coyotes season finale would be their last game in Arizona. Once I heard the rumors come out and PHNX Sports' Craig Morgan confirming this was happening, I was so pissed off that I stopped watching NHL games. Never watched that last Coyotes game on ESPN+. Since then, I only have followed the scores of Rangers games. Basically I'm boycotting the NHL, Meruelo, Smith and especially Walsh (who I suspect is the mastermind behind all this) for the foreseeable future. I was betrayed by the league and Meruelo for the completely preventable loss of the Coyotes. The NHL did not even want to wait for the auction outcome. I still think it came down to Smith being super aggressive to acquire a team (specifically the Coyotes) after the State of Utah approved $900 million of taxpayer money toward an arena best accommodating a hockey team (appears for now, just be renovations for Delta Center). And it snowballed from there. Obviously the NHL saw the big dollar signs and pounced. They did not give a shit about Coyotes fans losing their team! It is friggin' tragic, smells rotten and I'm disgusted by the bad people involved that wanted this team gone from Arizona. But also blame much of the events of the last 5 years on Meruelo and his family for the missteps and terrible management of this franchise. He played hardball with Glendale officials where he wanted to leave even if no plan was in place for an arena elsewhere locally. Glendale opted not to renew the year-to-year lease after he didn't want to sign a 12 to 20-year extension to stay at what is now called Desert Diamond Arena. They could not stay there long term because it is financially impossible to work. Was a bad decision by former owner Steve Ellman to even take the team to Glendale to build on "free" land and the Coyotes never recovered 2 decades later. As much as it would have been great there would be lots of fans of other teams being supportive and sympathetic of the Coyotes tragic end in Arizona, but in actuality, it has been the opposite. So many haters, naysayers and people that did not want the Coyotes to exist from the day they left Winnipeg in 1996. The constant biased/slanted reporting, the trolling and smear campaigns only increased with the arrival of social media. And as the rumors swirled of the threat of relocation, they have been out in full force. It has been so vicious in recent weeks that you swear pure evil has surfaced. It worked in derailing the Tempe Entertainment District proposal last year. So no, I don't trust any fans across the league they care. Even days since the team was officially sold, the ridicule and hate continue while on the other side of their mouths, they celebrate the players and hockey personnel arrival in Utah. There have been non-supporters in Arizona that had both laid roadblocks in the way of the Coyotes finally becoming successful and also those such as the Worker Power Institute that funded the Tempe 1st opposition group, who put out lies and falsehoods about the team's Tempe arena proposal and Meruelo. But Meruelo can only blame himself for being a horrible owner and many Coyotes fans cannot stand him and resent him for selling the team off. I do not know if the Coyotes franchise will "reactivated", but time will tell. Under the terms of the sale, Meruelo has the exclusive rights for the next 5 years to win that land auction and build that arena. If enough progress is made, Gary Bettman and the NHL Board of Governors will grant that reactivation. It would have to be done 18 months in advance of a new arena being completed. An expansion draft would take place under the same format as it did for both the Knights and Kraken to fill the Coyotes roster. But for now, no NHL team in Arizona. The haters love it, the Coyotes fans are angry and heartbroken. You better hope and pray the wrongs are righted. And if Meruelo does not come through before 2029, then who knows what happens after that.