A New Arena on the Horizon For The Arizona Coyotes?
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman was on the Pat McAfee Show Wednesday and was about the rumors with the Coyotes and their building and when we could expect news on a new arena.
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Pat McAfee: “There’s one out there in the desert. Obviously, that everybody has to talk about. But Phoenix is like a top-five city in the country. And it’s, that city’s beautiful. I mean, it is obviously a fantastic place. But that’s a big focal point. I think whenever these new cities are talking about how they would treat hockey, if they were to go we were just in Salt Lake this past weekend and I know it’s been brought up.
The people like the Hockey is Awesome segment that we do. The amount of people that came up and we’re like, Hey, we love hockey here in Salt Lake that Hockey is Awesome segment is up there. And I’m sure they’re not the only city but that city felt like and we went to the Jazz game, 251 Straight sellouts, 18,000 people in that place. It’s like those cities see what’s happening in Phoenix and they think it’s a crime almost. How do you fix what’s going on with the Coyotes and how do you kind of see that going commish?”
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman: “The Coyotes need a new arena. It’s that simple. And, and, you know, to go through the history of how they got into the situation they are, it isn’t interesting, and would take too long, but the point being, the current owner Alex Meruelo is committed to getting what he needs done in order to get them into arena, and are hopeful, that our hope is that sometime this season, we’re in a position to announce that there will be a new arena for the Coyotes coming out of the ground.
That’s the goal because as you said, it’s an awesome market. It’s top five or close to it, and it’s a place we want to be and they’re great fans of hockey and of the coyotes and we’re hoping to work it out.”