The Coyotes technically didn't move to Utah, rather they "sold" everyone on the team to a brand new Utah franchise (so team history and stuff like that won't transfer)
The Coyotes are "frozen" for a lack of a better term, and will stay that way until either the current owner gets an NHL arena or someone else steps up if the first one fails
Apparently they have five years to build an NHL quality arena at which point the team can be unfrozen and added back to the league with expansion. I think they're just posturing to save face, their owner gutted the franchise on purpose for crazy profit. I liked what the Scottsdale mayor said ,"Mr. Meruelo's fantasy hockey proposal was just a smoke screen as he exited after running the franchise under".
I do not, for one, think that the problem was that the team was down. I think that the problem *may* have been, that there was an arena on the stage that was in danger of being *crushed* by a *dwarf*. Alright? That tended to understate the hugeness of the object.
Coyotes 2.0 are gonna show up opening night and realize their new rink is actually a roller hockey rink and the NHL shrugs and goes “guess you’re all playing in-line in Arizona this year”
I don’t think you can donate enough to balance out “forgetting” to pay rent and taxes to Glendale. Meruelo’s chances of getting an arena built died the second he pulled that stunt.
From the stuff I read immediately after Utah became a thing....probably the same amount as the plot of land would cost by itself. Sounds like dude is absolutely clueless
It seems like they are just as much culprits as Mereulo honestly, they decide to pull the action and re order things at the last minute, and they offer up this land saying it’s for an arena and then as it gets closer they go “ohhhh a youth arena oops” at this point probably just shouldn’t be a team in AZ
The actual land size would easily fit an arena, the difference in zoning as it's relevant to a municipal government would be traffic and utility demand, especially water demand since it's in the middle of the desert.
Good to know, im unfamiliar with the site. Yes services would have to be up to par, as well as infrastructure like you mentioned. If not its going to be veeeeery expensive to install
I mean with impeccable managerial stability from a chicken and legally not Michael Jackson to a circus chimp and a giant Roomba, how could they possibly fail?
/s
If anybody wondered how Spano would have run the Islanders had he been able to actually own the team, here you have it. Sadly, everything you said is correct. It'd be funny as hell if it wasn't a damn disgrace.
At least Spano's worst transgression was he bullshitted about how much money he had, right? I'm beginning to wonder if this dimwitted dipshit has done the same thing, but got away with it for a lot longer.
It's disgusting isn't it lol.
Step 1. Move your NHL team into a 5000 seat arena where you're the secondary tenant to a university team
Step 2. make a billion dollars when the whole thing finally collapses
FWIW, I think the original Tempe complex plan was legitimate. There was little reason to believe that building wasn’t going up if the vote passed.
They just took it so much for granted that they did not make sure the vote passed.
I will never believe that he was a real billionaire before the sale of the team, I really think selling the team to someone, Utah in this case, was his end goal and a long con to become a real billionaire.
If Bettman doesn't tell Meurelo he's seen enough, tell him drop whatever legal issue he feels he has, take his cash and go away first. This is beyond an embarrassment to the league at this point.
This is the kind of thing that makes me think they're not actually purposely tanking the deal to save fave and avoid spending for a team. They're actually tying and failing miserably.
I’m floored. How do you fail this badly at basic due diligence? Next we’re going to find out there was an ancient cultural site discovered where they wanted to put all the parking.
So wait, you were just gonna build another Mullet?
Hey Meruelo family…[I’m gonna let Logan Roy tell you how I view y’all](https://youtu.be/xIauW3roDm0?si=e8_V1PBZS2f7iBHL)
There is no way the league didn’t know this. They check and double check. They would’ve been aware of the zoning and what could be built on it. So either the league knew about it and really wants Murello gone or Murello told them it wasn’t an issue and lied. I lean towards both options being true.
Meruelo never wanted to build anything, he just wanted to grift his way to the billion dollar sale. Stall as much as possible with bullshit promises and make the sale price go up and up.
The text of the zoning has to be public. Where are the research and facts, Wysh? Aren't you supposed to be a journalist?
Honestly I don't know if he was good in the Yahoo days or I just remember him more fondly. But cmon, all you have is second hand descriptions of easily verifiable facts?
Just have them play in the youth arena while they go build another one somewhere else, it's bound to work
The coyotes are just a russian doll at this point with infinitly smaller areans all the way down
When are season tix going on sale for when they play in your back yard ODR
I'm prepping for the standing-room only tickets at the air hockey table
I hear the pregame festivities are pretty lit at the bubble hockey table
Probably a sick tailgate at the basement with the hockey puck dented washer/dryer combo
You think they can afford the combo? The tailgate is outside by the clothesline
Im so confused, must have lost the thread somewhere. Who is this arena for with the yotes moving to utah
The Coyotes technically didn't move to Utah, rather they "sold" everyone on the team to a brand new Utah franchise (so team history and stuff like that won't transfer) The Coyotes are "frozen" for a lack of a better term, and will stay that way until either the current owner gets an NHL arena or someone else steps up if the first one fails
Apparently they have five years to build an NHL quality arena at which point the team can be unfrozen and added back to the league with expansion. I think they're just posturing to save face, their owner gutted the franchise on purpose for crazy profit. I liked what the Scottsdale mayor said ,"Mr. Meruelo's fantasy hockey proposal was just a smoke screen as he exited after running the franchise under".
I’ve got some ice cubes in my freezer.
At the very end is where Ferris State plays, and below that a literal barn
They just did that
Every time you think this coyotes debacle can’t get any more embarrassing they find a way…
It is, however, hilarious that Arizona Coyotes drama survived them literally leaving Arizona
Reminds me of when Spanos would wire John Pickett $1,000 instead of one million dollars.
A data entry error reminds you of having crappy/no lawyers? One is a simple mistake we can all make. The other is pure incompetency.
I feel bad no one is setting you straight, just downvoting. Google John Spano + John Pickett + New York Islanders.
It’s gets more embarrassing
🥾🗑️
Ironic reply.
Well to be fair, Meruelo ran the Coyotes like a youth organisation
There's quite a few youth hockey directors offended by this comment.
I haven't heard about him covering up for sexual assault, either in or outside of the form of "hazing"
Meruelo is the answer to the question "What if the movie Spinal Tap was a guy?"
I love this comment so very much
So you're saying that Meruelo is going to spontaneously combust/choke on someone else's vomit/suffer a bizarre gardening accident? I'm on board.
I do not, for one, think that the problem was that the team was down. I think that the problem *may* have been, that there was an arena on the stage that was in danger of being *crushed* by a *dwarf*. Alright? That tended to understate the hugeness of the object.
The season ticket list goes up to eleven?
Surely that can be solved by a rezoning application?
That's too much work, just put them in a youth hockey arena
Coyotes 2.0 are gonna show up opening night and realize their new rink is actually a roller hockey rink and the NHL shrugs and goes “guess you’re all playing in-line in Arizona this year”
Does the municipality and its residents want a massive arena and entertainment complex there? Rezoning isn't usually a quick or simple process.
Land use attorney in the American southwest, here. Rezoning is 100% political. Mereulo is reportedly very bad at politics.
How much you figure does he need to donate to political campaigns to get it rezoned?
I don’t think you can donate enough to balance out “forgetting” to pay rent and taxes to Glendale. Meruelo’s chances of getting an arena built died the second he pulled that stunt.
From the stuff I read immediately after Utah became a thing....probably the same amount as the plot of land would cost by itself. Sounds like dude is absolutely clueless
It seems like they are just as much culprits as Mereulo honestly, they decide to pull the action and re order things at the last minute, and they offer up this land saying it’s for an arena and then as it gets closer they go “ohhhh a youth arena oops” at this point probably just shouldn’t be a team in AZ
This is a political issue. If Mereulo were better at politics, it wouldn't be an issue.
Yes but also how big is the land lol, can it fit 17k people
The actual land size would easily fit an arena, the difference in zoning as it's relevant to a municipal government would be traffic and utility demand, especially water demand since it's in the middle of the desert.
Good to know, im unfamiliar with the site. Yes services would have to be up to par, as well as infrastructure like you mentioned. If not its going to be veeeeery expensive to install
[Its basically this plot](https://www.google.com/maps/@33.6752117,-111.9387967,7008m/data=!3m1!1e3?authuser=0&entry=ttu)
Pretty big for a youth arena lmfao wow
**If** we get our new arena I vote we forever call it Youth Arena
Yes there’s more than enough land here, that’s never been the problem
No guarantee that such a massive change would be approved
Not even joking, John Spano was a more legitimate NHL owner than this guy, and actually accomplished more keeping the team in the city.
The Yakuza did more with the Lightning.
I mean with impeccable managerial stability from a chicken and legally not Michael Jackson to a circus chimp and a giant Roomba, how could they possibly fail? /s
If anybody wondered how Spano would have run the Islanders had he been able to actually own the team, here you have it. Sadly, everything you said is correct. It'd be funny as hell if it wasn't a damn disgrace.
I would argue Spano was way more interested in running a successful team than cashing out.
I mean Spano actually cared about the team and wanted to own them. AM has yet to prove either of those points true in his case.
At least Spano's worst transgression was he bullshitted about how much money he had, right? I'm beginning to wonder if this dimwitted dipshit has done the same thing, but got away with it for a lot longer.
The Coyotes, making the late 90s Islanders look not so bad since... the late 90s
Bettman: "Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice... can't get fooled again."
Alex Meruelo eats crayons for breakfast
That’s disrespectful to the 200,000 USMC soldiers who would love a tasty box of crayons for dinner.
Found the chairforce guy
We lost the hottest jerseys in the league to this guy.
And this guy made a billion dollars??!?!
It's disgusting isn't it lol. Step 1. Move your NHL team into a 5000 seat arena where you're the secondary tenant to a university team Step 2. make a billion dollars when the whole thing finally collapses
FWIW, I think the original Tempe complex plan was legitimate. There was little reason to believe that building wasn’t going up if the vote passed. They just took it so much for granted that they did not make sure the vote passed.
It became clear that he didn’t have the money for the Tempe deal after all. He had to sell the team to be able to bid on the land.
I will never believe that he was a real billionaire before the sale of the team, I really think selling the team to someone, Utah in this case, was his end goal and a long con to become a real billionaire.
Every mistep he takes makes me seriously question how this fool was able to successfully run a damn hotdog stand.
Ah, come on now, don't go telling me the Yotes are above playing in a youth hockey arena!
A billion dollars to get out is starting to look like a steal
lol. lmao, even
with a dash of ROFL on top.
Watch this be a conspiracy by the league and State of AZ so Meruelo can't bring back the Coyotes
The best kind of collusion
Watch the NHL bring them back as soon as the exclusivity window with Meruelo ends
If Bettman doesn't tell Meurelo he's seen enough, tell him drop whatever legal issue he feels he has, take his cash and go away first. This is beyond an embarrassment to the league at this point.
This is the kind of thing that makes me think they're not actually purposely tanking the deal to save fave and avoid spending for a team. They're actually tying and failing miserably.
This is embarrassing. Like honestly. Meruelo should not be allowed in the NHL.
He was already blacklisted by the NBA BEFORE the NHL sold him the team. It's the NHL's fault.
It’s also not a good look for Arizona as a hockey market that it’s only people like Meruelo stepping up to own the team.
Oh for fucks sake.
I’m floored. How do you fail this badly at basic due diligence? Next we’re going to find out there was an ancient cultural site discovered where they wanted to put all the parking.
That's the soccer stadium in Indiana.
How can people this stupid have this kind of money
So wait, you were just gonna build another Mullet? Hey Meruelo family…[I’m gonna let Logan Roy tell you how I view y’all](https://youtu.be/xIauW3roDm0?si=e8_V1PBZS2f7iBHL)
How does this only come up now? Why didn't this come up before Meruelo even put in a bid?
"Well Ray, as you know, the best way to generate offence is play in the offensive zone. Ya gotta shoot to score."
There is no way the league didn’t know this. They check and double check. They would’ve been aware of the zoning and what could be built on it. So either the league knew about it and really wants Murello gone or Murello told them it wasn’t an issue and lied. I lean towards both options being true.
Can we have an office style sitcom about the Phoenix Desert Dogs?
I want a Ted Lasso style drama. The owner is trying to get the team moved to get revenge, but the league keeps giving them one more chance.
lmao
lol. What the actual fuck
Keeps getting funnier
This definitely wasn't on my Bingo board
https://preview.redd.it/ixvwwq9pm08d1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=13cb883ed073bb34831e05eb35ec6e0de7ef598b 😶🌫️
Indoor hockey arena is a hilarious statement considering its Arizona.
Dude just wanted to build his own Mullett Arena, nothing wrong with that
What the fuck is going on in the desert
why can’t he just take his money and fuck off? This guy is so unserious
And still won't sell it out.
Just give up on Arizona already and be done with this embarrassment.
lmao. Classic
Meruelo never wanted to build anything, he just wanted to grift his way to the billion dollar sale. Stall as much as possible with bullshit promises and make the sale price go up and up.
The text of the zoning has to be public. Where are the research and facts, Wysh? Aren't you supposed to be a journalist? Honestly I don't know if he was good in the Yahoo days or I just remember him more fondly. But cmon, all you have is second hand descriptions of easily verifiable facts?
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2024/06/21/auction-canceled-for-north-phoenix-land-eyed-by-coyotes/74173772007/
It’s almost like you’re reading a tweet instead of an article.
lol
lmao
I only want the Cyotes to work because they have the coolest uniforms in the league.