The NHL's executive committee has approved a plan to relocate the Arizona Coyotes to Salt Lake City, according to Sportico , which cited unnamed sources.
If that's the case, the relocation plan will only need to clear one more major hurdle to become official: approval by the NHL's Board of Governors, which includes representatives from all 32 teams.
The deal on the table reportedly involves current Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo selling the team's operations department and players to Ryan Smith, who owns the Utah Jazz. The team would relocate to Salt Lake City and take on new branding, Sportico reported.
"Meruelo will maintain the Coyotes' name, logos and trademarks, plus ownership of the AHL's Tucson Roadrunners," the article said.
Meruelo would then work to secure a site for a new NHL arena in North Phoenix. If he can get the arena project completed in five years, he would be given an NHL expansion team, according to multiple reports.
"Under the terms of the deal being discussed, the NHL would pay Meruelo $1 billion for the organization's hockey operations assets — the same expansion fee he'd be required to fork over to bring a team back to the Phoenix area — and would then flip them to Salt Lake City owners Ryan and Ashley Smith of Smith Entertainment Group for $1.2 billion, with the extra $200 million distributed among existing NHL owners," The Athletic reported, citing league sources.
In the short term, the rebranded Coyotes franchise would share the Delta Center with the Jazz, but Smith Entertainment Group will also take on its own stadium project.
Earlier this year, the Utah Legislature approved a bill that will enable Salt Lake City to raise the sales tax to help revitalize downtown and potentially build a new NHL hockey arena, as the Deseret News previously reported.
More news on the Coyotes' potential move to Utah is expected before the end of the week.
"Nothing's done until it's done, but there is an understanding among the parties that it's preferable to try to wrap the sale up before Saturday's start of the Stanley Cup playoffs so as not to overshadow the most important part of the NHL calendar," The Athletic reported.
