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Alex Meruelo

Old Coyotes Ownership Sues For $3.5MM Mullett Arena Security Deposit

March 12, 2025 at 2:45 pm CDT | by Gabriel Foley 6 Comments

Time has passed and one year after pulling in screaming crowds at Mullett Arena, the Arizona Coyotes have now transformed into the Utah Hockey Club, taking their crowds to Salt Lake City’s Delta Center. But remnants of the old Coyotes club are still kicking, evident by a lawsuit filed by the team’s former ownership group, IceArizona, in Maricopa County Superior Court on Friday. The suit demands the return of the $3.5MM security deposit they paid to OVG Venues – the overseeers of Mullett Arena – and Arizona’s board of regents, per Zach Buchanan of the Phoenix New Times.

According to the lawsuit, the Coyotes organization and former owner Alex Meruelo were compelled by the NHL to sell their team rights in the final days of the 2023-24 season. Per IceArizona, the unique circumstances of the sale should have triggered the force majeure clause in their lease with Mullett Arena – a clause that mutually breaks the lease in the event of any uncontrollable events, such as war, labor stoppages, or environmental damage. IceArizona also added that they offered to let the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners play in Mullett in lieu of the Coyotes – but the original lease only allowed for NHL games, not minor-league appearances outside of a few exceptions. Any change to that clause would have had to be approved by the Arizona Board of Regents.

No comments have been made on either side of the aisle – but this newest push continues to widen the gap between Arizona’s local hockey and the Meruelo-owned IceArizona. In January, the NHL met with a newly formed group of community leaders to discuss the steps needed to return an NHL team to Arizona. The new group doesn’t yet have an ownership group identified, though Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia expressed interest in owning an NHL franchise in the wake of the Coyotes’ departure.

Ishbia will join forces with local hockey personalities like Paul Bissonnette and Kenny Corupe to try and bring back the Coyotes, without the interference of the club’s previously failed ownership. Meanwhile, that latter ownership will push to get back whatever they can, after prematurely breaking their lease with their sale of the club. Arizona State University has taken over full control of Mullett Arena since the Coyotes moved out. They host routine youth hockey games and practices, and adult-league hockey, as well, operated through the Mountain America Community IcePlex.

Arizona Coyotes Alex Meruelo

6 comments

Alex Meruelo Officially Dissolves Remaining Coyotes Assets

July 10, 2024 at 5:00 pm CDT | by Josh Erickson 47 Comments

7/10: Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports reports that Meruelo has signed all necessary paperwork to relinquish his assets to the Arizona Coyotes. As of today, the National Hockey League owns all branding and intellectual property of the Coyotes’ franchise and can sell it to a prospective buyer.

6/25: Alex Meruelo, the owner of the inactive Coyotes franchise, informed staff yesterday that he’s walking away from the club, PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan reports. The news comes less than a week after the Arizona State Land Department canceled an auction for a parcel of land Meruelo intended to use for a new arena for the franchise, which was officially deactivated this month after its hockey operations were sold to the Salt Lake City-based Smith Entertainment Group.

Meruelo told Coyotes staff yesterday that the franchise has “no plans to pursue further arena options” after the canceled auction, per Morgan. The City of Phoenix attested that Meruelo’s group did not attain the zoning permits necessary to acquire the land in time for the auction.

The news brings a swift end to the initial plan NHL commissioner Gary Bettman laid out in April when he announced the initiation of the transfer of the Coyotes’ hockey ops to SEG, which would then establish a new franchise – the Utah Hockey Club. Meruelo received a reported $1B for Arizona’s players, reserve list, draft picks and front office staff, which he would then pay back to the league as an expansion fee if he was able to construct a new arena within five years. That plan hinged on a contingency of Meruelo having an arena at least halfway built by the end of 2027, which is now impossible without the already last-ditch effort for the parcel of land in question in North Phoenix.

Meruelo retained the branding rights to the Coyotes and ownership of the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners as part of the sale. It’s unclear if he’s able to transfer the Yotes name and logo to a new owner, who could then try again to establish an expansion franchise in the Phoenix area. As for the Roadrunners, which will remain the minor-league affiliate of the Utah Hockey Club next season, they’ll play all of their home games in Tucson next season. A plan announced last month would have seen the Roadrunners play six regular-season home games out of the 4,600-capacity Mullett Arena on Arizona State University’s campus in Tempe, where the Coyotes played for the past two seasons. However, in line with the cancellation of the auction, that’s no longer the case.

Notably, Morgan reports there are “at least two groups with interest in bringing an expansion team back to Arizona.” However, without a dedicated arena, the timeline for expansion back to the state is likely extended past the five-year window of exclusivity initially afforded to Meruelo.

Meruelo intends to resolve the remaining assets that comprise the Coyotes, Sportico’s Barry M. Bloom reports. That process will involve returning the Coyotes name and logo to the NHL, which will theoretically allow them to sell the branding rights to the next ownership group to apply for expansion in the Phoenix area. He is retaining ownership of AHL Tucson but intends to relocate them to Reno, Nevada, after completion of a new 10,600-capacity venue there, likely ahead of the 2026-27 season.

Arizona Coyotes| Newsstand Alex Meruelo

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