I feel so bad for coyotes fans now they cant come back in their original form. Its unfortunate too much like the thrashers poor ownership doomed the coyotes but this time it seemed arizona didnt want them probably because they dont wanna fund an arena and the coyotes kept losing money with no guarenteed home. Shows bad owners ruin everything imo when it comes to sports.

Making his son Head of the social media for the team probably wasn’t his smartest business decision…

The absolute god awful luck this franchise has had with ownership is insane.

As an Oakland A’s fan I feel a bit of a kindred spirit connection with coyotes fans. I hope you guys can still watch and enjoy the great game of hockey, unlike how I feel about baseball now. Although I wouldn’t blame you if you checked out entirely.

You have to be a special kind of awful to be the worst owner in a franchise that has had no shortage of terrible ownership since they moved to Arizona. Meruelo needs to be put in the same conversation as Ballard, Bill Wirtz, and Atlanta Spirit for worst NHL owner in history.

To put the cherry on top: Merulo's next move is to move the AHL Roadrunners to Reno....which means he'll be in direct competition with the new ECHL team that's starting up 45 minutes away in Tahoe, and will have at least one season's head start.

Meruelo is moving the Roadrunners to Reno, Nevada

Weekly Coyotes disaster video

Once Meurelo got his billion, I knew he was not coming back with the Coyotes. I'm only surprised he gave up so quickly and showed his real intent. Get his money and runs away! Good riddance.

He still owns the Roadrunners. There are three years on the deal to be in Tucson (just added an extra year within the past two weeks). He’ll most likely move them to Reno to a new arena he’s building there once the lease is up

I heard somewhere today Maruelo is moving the road runners to Reno. Guy littlerly took all pro hockey away from Arizona

God bless Vinnie Viola for saving the Florida panthers from this same fate

Just because someone is worth $2B, doesn’t mean he has $2B in cash, most likely less than $1M in cash and rest in his businesses and stocks

I still remember the late 1990s when the club was new in Phoenix and overall they were consistently great. The team was built around the guys like Roenick, Tkachuk, Khabibulin, Tverdovsky, Numminen, Janney, Ronning, Drake, Gartner, Tocchet, and of course young Shane Doan was already there too. They really had a potential and the future looked bright. It seems to me that everything began going down the toilet for them when they moved from downtown Phoenix to that goddamned then-new arena in Glendale in 2003. Since then, they have never again been considered a contender; the cinderella run they pulled off in 2012 was "just" a one-off surprise.

The second we heard about the delays in playing bonuses, I think we knew that he wasn’t going to be a better owner than all of the past owners. Question is who does Gary go to revive this franchise? Seriously doubt Mat Ishbia wants to sink more money in another team. You don’t want the Arizona Cardinals owners involved. It could be awhile before Arizona gets a serious investment in hockey.

Rumor has it, he's eventually moving the Roadrunners. So, he may not be done destroying professional hockey in Arizona.

Local AZ media is reporting a few interesting things: - First, Meruelo intends to move the Roadrunners to Reno within three years - Second, there are two ownership groups interested in an expansion franchise in metro Phoenix - Third, name and branding for the Coyotes has reverted back to the NHL I’m waiting for other sources outside the local market confirming these things and would LOVE to get more details about potential ownership groups. I do agree that before anyone gets the reins to an AZ franchise again, that owner will have to take extra time and effort to rebuild all the trust that the Coyotes lost even before Meruelo. A new team name might not be a bad idea (even if they bring the kachina back for a third jersey). The municipalities and the fans have to be seen as just as important as the NHL in terms of stakeholders.

Also the Tucson Roadrunners will be moving to Reno, Nevada in either 2026 or 27 depending on the construction of a new arena

It's gonna be a long time before AZ gets another team, if ever.

Sure, Meruelo didn't pay for stuff. And sure, he didn't look good at that press conference with Bettman. And sure, he had the Coyotes playing in a university arena. And sure, there was no update in January like he promised. And sure, the auction was a fail.

Coyote fans, you are loved, you are appreciated, you will not be forgotten

"Atlanta" people that are mad, or skeptical, need to understand just how far from Atlanta the presumed arena is or relatively cheap the land is

I would like to add that there was the whole debacle regarding the previous GM, John Chayka, and the way he left the team.

Him being a latino owner had zero impact on the latino community here in AZ. He never reached out to any communities and totally alienated the west valley fans.

Every time someone gets into hockey, part of my crash course includes characterizing the owners as 32 Scrooge McDucks

Why has it been such a challenge to find competent ownership in AZ? It's been like this since they moved

The NHL hated the OG Winnipeg Jets so much that they kept them on life support for an absurd amount of time only to kill them in the end instead of keeping the franchise alive in Utah.

Alex Merulo has $2 Billion the same way youtuber websites say TheHockeyGuy has $250,000-750,000😂

@TheHockeyGuy, you left out an important fact. The Coyotes did not leave Glendale for unpaid bills. Despite all of the toxicity that took place over the previous 13 to 14 years, the City of Glendale actually asked the Coyotes to sign a 12 to 20-year arena lease extension and Alex Meruelo said no. He wanted to take the Coyotes to the East Valley. Only THEN was when the city decided to not continue the year-to-year lease renewals after the 2021-2022 season. This has been confirmed by PHNX Sports' Craig Morgan and on the record from Glendale City Manager Kevin Phelps. The media has deliberately omitted this fact because it did not fit with their anti-Coyotes narrative. And as for the future, I expect Meruelo will relinquish the intellectual rights of what was left behind of the inactive Coyotes franchise to the league. Trademarks, branding, team name and franchise records hopefully will be kept intact until the next owner/ownership group commits to the NHL returning to Arizona. Morgan DID report there are interested groups to do just that, but how and when are the big question marks. Depends on so many moving parts. Regarding the Tucson Roadrunners, that has to be dealt with separately. There is even the possibility he keeps them and eventually moves them to Reno after the current lease runs out at the Tucson Convention Center. The Roadrunners were supposed to play 6 of their 36 home games next season at Mullett Arena and then canceled that plan after the auction was canceled. So lots of uncertainty with the AHL club, where we should not expect them to remain the top affiliate of the Utah Hockey Club after next season (but not confirmed yet). Of course the trolls will call me stupid because I'm not slandering them like many regularly do on your videos. They can screw off.

Heard that the Roadrunners are moving to Reno, Nevada in 2026 or 2027.

Roadrunners will be moved to Reno, NV. Will play in a 10,600 seat arena at the Grand Sierra Resort, which is owned by Alex Meruelo.

As a coyote fan im glad its finally over.

Time to restore the original Jets lineage to Winnipeg

Thank you the hockey guy for following the coyotes story. I am gutted my favorite team is done but you did a wonderful job.

I run Dry Ice Nation on Facebook...which covers all levels of hockey in AZ...and I can tell you...the high majority of the group members HATED murello.

He's moving the RoadRunners to Reno, where he is building an arena.

Bateman and the NHL getting in bed with Mareolo is God's way of telling them they have too much money.

Great video! Just one thing with the Glendale terminating the lease: the city terminated the lease because Meruelo and the coyotes didn’t want to sign a long term lease to stay. Unpaid bills were NOT the ultimate factor in that decision. Craig Morgan of PHNX has reported on this several times and even the Glendale city manager is on record multiple times confirming it was for a long term lease, not unpaid bills

How's turning $300M into $1B in 5 years not a success from Meruelo's perspective? That's an amazing RoI. Wouldn't be surprised if he was deliberately mismanaging things, especially towards the end, so that he can get out of the whole situation AND come out ahead money-wise. Not defending the owner, but the NHL/Utah offer was too good to turn down.

Is he in the top 5 worst owners in the history of the NHL?

Been a Yotes fan since 2012. First NHL game I went to was Yotes Rangers at Madison square garden. Yotes come back from a 3-0 and win in OT. From Chayka doing illegal scouting/workouts to Meruelo being a snake oil salesman yes man I’ve had enough. The players are all gone and Meruelo kept the name just to bail out. I think it’s time I start to look for a new team to support. Any fan bases open to a new fan?

So, a little truth about the postponed land sale debacle. The blame goes partly to the NHL. While the team was stuck at ASU after the Tempe failure, he was under a lot of pressure to find a new place from the NHL who wanted out of ASU. There wasn't much land available to build on but that land they picked was a long shot. And it was appropriated for "amusement" but not a 20K arena. So there's a lot of gray area if it was acceptable or not. If Meruelo went the safe route and tried to get full amusement zoning, it would have taken more than a year. That would be unacceptable to the NHL. Once the team was sold he was stuck with that decision because to go backwards would take too long in the 5 year plan. So the gamble failed and he was left with nothing. Hence, he tried and walked away when the problem came up. I'm not saying he's blameless but some of it goes back to the NHL pressure. And like most things, the truth lies in the details.

Alex Meruelo gives me vibes of a Cartel front businessman. I picture him lying hungover on bags of cash and cocaine and telling his subordinates "OK, take this bag of cash, go sell this cocaine and pay whatever we owe to those Arena people".

A city like like Metro Phoenix is sprawled out and car dependent. It is usually wiser to build any sports stadium/arena with access to rail transit, or pedestrian-orientated downtowns. The Coyotes wanted to build on empty land near a freeway, requiring driving to the rink. I'm surprised the NBA team and Coyotes couldn't partner with a downtown arena, that is what killed hockey in the desert, so many NBA/NHL arena work well together. Oh, and Quebec City has passionate fans and close to one million people, they just need a business plan that works with the Videotron Centre. Marcel Aubut didn't do a good job, the fans were fine

I would be open to trying again in Arizona down the road. But I think right now they need to recover and think that other places should be considered for Expansion over Arizona.

I feel bad for Arizona Coyotes fans I felt the same way when they stole the Seattle Supersonics to Oklahoma City when they stole the team that in Seattle they did not move they were stolen

Guys like Murelo (and a certain fellow at Mar-a-Lago) got their money by using OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY.

The worst sports owner in Arizona history

IMHO I see 4 New expansion teams in the next 5-7 years. Atlanta & Quebec in East then Phoenix & Houston in the West

The NHL can work here. Again, look at the Three playoff seasons from 2010 to 2012 and the attendance was good and even though the majority of fans live in the East Valley the drive was worth it. Then you experience a decade of poor hockey without a star or playoffs and then top it off with the location of the arena and any team would have experienced poor attendance. Most fans live in the East Valley and if they come back, they either need to be in a new shared arena with the Suns or I don't see it happening.

The NHL was so desparate to find an owner that would keep the team in the Phoenix area that they completely forgot to do a background check on all of these owners

What a disgrace that the first Latino owner in NHL history ends up being this shyster.

Imagine the city being like "nah we are happy with our landfill here gtfo" 😂

If they were smart, they would of done where Fiesta Mall in Mesa use to be.

If they go back to Arizona they have to change the name of the team. There's way too much baggage associated with the name "Coyotes" at this point. If we get the Coyotes 2.0 I give that team slim odds of weathering the storm. I believe that hockey can succeed in the desert if they get good ownership and management, but they need to do a hard reset on the branding when they return

Damn I wanna find $2.7 million in my couch cushions. Also, no more expansion. 32 teams is just right. Relocation if neccesary, but no more teams are needed.

Arizona is the best example of why so many people want to own professional sports teams , he bought the team ran it as cheap a possible , ran it into the ground created enemies from the local government and community , but in the end walks away with a billion dollars ,actually a really , really good investment from a financial perspective

Meruelo is currently building a minor league arena in Reno, NV. He may try to brea k his lease in Tucson. Watch out!

Again, we got a lot of hate as fans. Look what we went through. Shit storm after shit storm. We did our best. We put up with everything with all the trolls hating and laughing all the way. Well I wouldn't wish this on anyone and all you trolls should feel lucky you never have a carrot constantly dangled and ripped from you on a year to year basis, when all you want to do is support the boys and watch hockey. Congratulations to Oel for getting that cup. I'm wishing the boys well in utah they will be a playoff team very soon. I'm just going to take a break from hockey. These wounds need to heal.

Thank you so much for calling out the "snake oil" as you call it of how much revenue sports complexes bring to a city. They are a bauble for the city to talk about, but revenue..........not much if any residual revenue from having a big sports complex in a city. I'm wondering if the owners of these teams ever get into the nuts and bolts of how much revenue gets sucked out of a community because of the money that goes into new roads and upkeep of those roads and then there are the traffic snarls caused by these billion dollar baubles. Do they ever mention litter or home value devaluation caused by proximity to these things? I listened to all the hoopla of the Dallas Cowboys Stadium and how much development was going to be spurred on by the Cowboys moving from the Cotton Bowl to Texas Stadium......which never happened and now that stadium is only a memory. It's all smoke and mirrors. But we gotta have our sports fix..... I love hockey, but........I can get mine at the NAHL level.

My guess is that he will sell the Roadrunners to the Smiths, who will probably move it to Provo or the Maverik Center in West Valley City (a suburb of SLC). This is a shame, because they were drawing more fans in Tucson that the Coyotes were in Tempe (albeit because the Tucson Convention Center was a bigger facility).

10 or 12 land options? I’ve heard the number starts at 17.

On Arizona: I do feel for the fans, but also agree that maybe a little extra time for the dust to settle and the wound that was allowed to fester for so long maybe heal a little. Perhaps there are interested parties who were simply waiting for Meruelo to be out of the picture? I suppose time will tell, but I would like to see them return again in the near future. On the mention of Atlanta: There's no fewer than three interested groups that we're aware of here (Vernon Krause's group, Anson Carter's group, and one currently unknown group) that has the financial wherewithal to do anything. In a recent interview with the AJC, Daly made it sound like there were even more than that who have approached the league about bringing a team here.

the 30 for 30 about the coyotes is gonna be elite

The benefit to the other owners is valuing any franchise at no less than 1.2 billion dollars.

It would be great to hear the story about how “getting competent leadership” in Florida turned the franchise around. I don’t know that story.

Treat the team badly, don't pay bills, infuriate fans and become billionaire. Sad!

I think they go back to Arizona, but they will 100% require a new stadium first

Poor Arizona can never catch a break

Hes a pure business man. It seems pretty simple it was a money scheme. And it paid off. 1 billion dollars to walk away. I don't think anyone would turn that down.

I cannot remember any ownership in sports history that was more of a mess.

Hey Shannon, I think that the history needs to be reverted back to Winnipeg. Just let Utah be a new franchise. Then when the NHL returns to the desert it will be something that doesn't have a Coyotes taste...

It's better for them now the fans likely won't have to wait out the 5 year period for meruelo to build the arena or more likely not built it so they can try for a new ownership group and new arena without a hardcore time limit. Now good luck getting any public money for it or begging for handouts. Also they had to beg people to buy the team and they all regretted it so good luck fooling someone to pay a huge expansion fee and a new arena and then prepare to lose millions as the market is very suspect the coyotes never made a dime in its entirety.

Quebec needs to come back but the remparts generate a ton of money alone for the QMJHL and NHL does generate tons of cash from Quebec despite them not having a team anymore. It’s just hard to find a team in the east to relocate to Quebec for division reasons and still trying to expand the America market for more cash.

Imagine if the NHL had let Balsillie move the team to Hamilton...

The fact that Alex Murelo said that it was his decision to move them because HE didn't want the players to continue to play at the Mullet that was the final straw for me with him being a POS. The NHL and NHLPA made that decision.

Houston yes. Atlanta no.

It's crazy how quickly he folded. The first speedbump in getting an arena after selling the team to Utah and he throws in the towel. Did he think there wouldn't be any obstacles to overcome to build a huge arena and surrounding district? It makes one question if he was ever serious about getting it done in the first place.

I gotta buy those kachina jerseys because it’s the best thing that franchise produced aside from Austin Mathews.

Since the mid 90s, Phoenix area voters have been very suspicious of all stadium deals. The Diamondbacks owner struck at shady backroom deal with some politicians and got a TON of free public money. A council member was shot over it

How does the timeline go from December 9th 2021 to August 19th 2021. Did you mean for the second to be 2022?

The sad truth of the Coyotes is that Jerry Moyes was the most well-"heeled" non-deadbeat owner they ever had (by a fair bit)...and he wanted out after three years and tried to sell the team behind the league's back.

I know the relationship between the Coyotes and Gila River Arena ended so badly, but what would be stopping a new owner with ample funds making the proper payments and doing things the right way in putting a new team back into Gila River Arena?

My thoughts are getting him out as owner is probably better in the long-run. So many people didn't think he would pull it off. Looks like they were right.

they will back. i hope so and same with houston and atlanta

As a fan of the coyotes this really suck lol. I remember good memories being a kid watching game at stadium and getting a signed hockey stick for fan event. Remember when they moved to Glendale watching games with my dad every once in a while. Always loved the coyotes and when I thought the team was finally gonna get better terrible owner ruins it all. Sigh…..

Remember, they were doing extremely well this season until and I guess this was a rumor, the players heard about the move to Utah and then they immediately lost 14 in a row and never recovered and didn’t make the playoffs. What a shame, I can’t even say let’s go Yotes anymore. Love the jersey, though, still the best logo.

Definitely feeling bad for the Coyotes fans in which now they'll have to wait a bit longer for a better, decent owner or ownership group willing to bring hockey back to the Arizona desert. But there's promise and hope on the horizon for an NHL Arizona hockey club in which Meruelo won't be back to ruining this new team.

If Phoenix replaces Footprint (or whatever it is called these days) with a basketball/ hockey arena and a hockey ownership group to be determined. Arizona might get a second chance in NHL

feel bad for the fans sheesh

RENO Roadrunners soon.

With all the tax dollars a municipality wastes, I don't see partially funding an entertainment district in that category at all. It's money well spent imo. It offers value to the people.

They will have a team just need good ownership from the start

Too far down the road to pivot and use the name Coyotes at this point, but Utah fans were really wanting that name. The old Wiley coyote and roadrunner cartoons is exactly what half of Utah looks like. The name just made sense but it’s too late now.

so happy the Coyote era finally over... :)

Crazy how he could buy the team for $300 million and only 5 years later walk away with $1 billion in return. Has that teams value seriously tripled in that time span considering they didn't have an arena nor a franchise that was winning? Without knowing how this works behind the scenes this seems very suspicious and potentially illegal.

not a yotes fan i thought he would be different but from what Craig Morgan he burnt bridges

I don’t think there is a future. None of the municipalities around there seem to want an arena or a team. They’ve made that pretty clear. Also this team has struggled with ownership almost its entire existence (even being owned by the league at one point). So if in all these years they couldn’t get a good owner, where is one going to magically materialize who is also going to build an arena while simultaneously getting local politicians and the voters on their side? I think the people of Arizona have had it and wanted off this ride. The league is going to struggle to find anyone that wants back on. If they want to expand then look to other more suitable markets that actually want a team.

I can't blame Uerualo for walking away. At some point you just have to say that it's not going to work... I can't say whether the problems were ownership, government, or what.. but this has been an issue for a while.. long before Alex Uerualo. The reality is.. this team has been a dumpster fire since 1979... Yes, when they entered the league. The NHL screwed them over when they came into the league out of spite over the WHA (where they were champs often) and they never fully recovered. Sadly, it didn't get any better in the desert, infact is seemed to get worse. I think the Yotes were doomed long before Alex. This is a great market.. but even when I was still back east.. The Yotes seemed to have problems when they first got here, getting the Gila River arena.. dealing with Glendale during the backruptcy years.. I don't know how much of the angst with government was Alex or previous ownership.. or all of the above.. But its clear.. Alex probably was doomed in 2019 and if 2020 didn't tell you anything.. 2021 sure didn't help (Hello Covid).. I just think this franchise was doomed here.. Maybe the fact that the history stayed while the team moved.. Maybe that black cloud that's been over this team since the 80's will just die a quick death and the team can go on to greatness.

Lessons learned here Dont be a snake oil salesman Always have a plan B Don't put all your eggs in one basket Dot your I's and cross your T's Pay your bills and employees Never double cross Gary Bettman