Confirmed with Link: All-Purpose "Days of Our Meruelo" Talk

[TheLegend]

Before y’all scratch your heads over this it falls right in line with what the league has done.

From a legal POV, the Coyotes are now a deactivated franchise. Meruelo has an exclusive five year window now to work to get the franchise reactivated and pay the league back, or the league could then transfer those rights to someone else.

Being deactivated though means Meruelo can’t vote, but he can remain informed of any league activities (CBA negotiations, etc.)

 

[MIGs Dog]

Before y’all scratch your heads over this it falls right in line with what the league has done.

From a legal POV, the Coyotes are now a deactivated franchise. Meruelo has an exclusive five year window now to work to get the franchise reactivated and pay the league back, or the league could then transfer those rights to someone else.

Being deactivated though means Meruelo can’t vote, but he can remained informed of any league activities (CBA negotiations, etc.)

I guess we'll find out how bad he wants it

 

[TheLegend]

I guess we'll find out how bad he wants it

Yes. And the league is fully insulated from any legal action Meruelo could take.

 

[awfulwaffle]

PSA

I think we can cease the finger pointing at each other at this point.

AFAIC… Sniper’s warning at the top of the forum to outside people coming in to troll applies to everyone.

That isn’t saying we can’t have opposite opinions. But you all better keep it civil.

Tensions are high, but us fans should all stick together, we're all frustrated.

 

[AZDesertKnight]

Another thing AM can do to make us feel better:

-Name Shane Doan GM of the team

 

[LittlePipes]

Grizzlies are consistently top ten in ECHL attendance. A lot of people are underestimating SLC based on their own biases against SLC for non-sports reasons.

i worked 15 years here in Phoenix with a friend who loved skiing. When he retired, he and his wife, who also loved skiing, decided to move to SLC ( they are not Mormon). He told me local sports are the #1 item every night in local news, with very little focus on the national sports scene. High school sports, local college and local professional, as well as “local boy makes good”, i.e., Tony Finau gets 10 minutes coverage if ge gets 3rd in a pga tourney. It’s different than Phoenix. In fact, I’m not sure Phoenix is a sports town or not. SLC is. The team will thrive big time there, very unlike here.

 

[The Feckless Puck]

I don't know where to find the clip, but I heard the Steve Dangle podcast talking about the situation and he nails it. Just absolutely nails it. He thinks Coyotes fans will be mad at him for saying the Meruelo group sold us snake oil, but he's 100% right.

Paraphrased: f*** the gatekeepers. Hockey works in Arizona. The arena location needs to make sense, but it works in Arizona. But if the Coyotes are resurrected by Meruelo in 2030, how will the fans react to him lying to us so blatantly for so long?

It was actually cathartic.

The team will thrive big time there, very unlike here.

I guess you'd better hope they do...

 

[Bondurant]

Honestly, outside of this forum how many people actually know much about Meruelo and will care if he is or is not the owner of Phoenix 2.0?

 

[LAIslanderFan]

i worked 15 years here in Phoenix with a friend who loved skiing. When he retired, he and his wife, who also loved skiing, decided to move to SLC ( they are not Mormon). He told me local sports are the #1 item every night in local news, with very little focus on the national sports scene. High school sports, local college and local professional, as well as “local boy makes good”, i.e., Tony Finau gets 10 minutes coverage if ge gets 3rd in a pga tourney. It’s different than Phoenix. In fact, I’m not sure Phoenix is a sports town or not. SLC is. The team will thrive big time there, very unlike here.

Based on how little the local Phoenix media is reporting the Coyotes move you're probably right.
Although it may have a lot to do with who does the sports reporting at the local TV stations.
I think they all suck! None of them ever really treated hockey with any respect. They have the "oh, and by the way, the Coyotes..." mentality. That would never happen in a real sports market.

 

[RemoAZ]

Tensions are high, but us fans should all stick together, we're all frustrated.

I still blame @moosemeister

 

[The Feckless Puck]

Honestly, outside of this forum how many people actually know much about Meruelo and will care if he is or is not the owner of Phoenix 2.0?

Outside of this forum, Meruelo is VERY well known at this point by people in the hockey community, and for some very not good reasons. His reputation outside our bubble is cratering big time from what I gather.

 

[LAIslanderFan]

Who is this dipsh*t David Leibowitz and why is he calling it "a positive development"?

 

[LittlePipes]

I don't know where to find the clip, but I heard the Steve Dangle podcast talking about the situation and he nails it. Just absolutely nails it. He thinks Coyotes fans will be mad at him for saying the Meruelo group sold us snake oil, but he's 100% right.

Paraphrased: f*** the gatekeepers. Hockey works in Arizona. The arena location needs to make sense, but it works in Arizona. But if the Coyotes are resurrected by Meruelo in 2030, how will the fans react to him lying to us so blatantly for so long?

It was actually cathartic.


I guess you'd better hope they do...

dont get me wrong, I am very unhappy with how things have gone. My son and I were big fans of the America West team that started here ( we had season tickets) and we are still big fans. I’m just saying that support of the Arizona Yotes here hasnt been overwhelming ( despite this crowd) and I’m pretty sure they will be adopted and enjoy much more support in SLC than they got here ( edit : here in Az)

 

[Bondurant]

Who is this dish*t David Leibowitz and why is he calling it "a positive development"?

Me thinks just that. A dipshit.

 

[The Feckless Puck]

dont get me wrong, I am very unhappy with how things have gone. My son and I were big fans of the America West team that started here ( we had season tickets) and we are still big fans. I’m just saying that support of the Arizona Yotes here hasnt been overwhelming ( despite this crowd) and I’m pretty sure they will be adopted and enjoy much more support in SLC than they got here.

They'll be the new toy, for sure. But I've lived there and I know this - they are similar up there to Phoenix, or how Phoenix was when the Jets came here. Phoenix was a Suns and ASU sports town... SLC is a Jazz and BYU/UofU town. SLC even has their Roadrunners analogue in the Grizzlies.

I don't want the SLC team to fail. The less failure, the more the gatekeepers of hockey will look like idiots. But I'm saying that there are a lot of unsettling parallels between the Coyotes and Utah team origin stories, and people who ignore those history lessons do so at their peril.

 

[LittlePipes]

Not that I would deem it highly credible, but I would love to read an article that is the result of in depth retrospective interview(s) with past coaches and general managers of the AZ Coyotes; Hay, Tocchet, Barnett, Gretz, etc., etc., wherein the topic is “what happened?”

 

[brentashton]

Another thing AM can do to make us feel better:

-Name Shane Doan GM of the team

I love Shane Doan and would have no issues with him being named GM as he is apprenticing with Treliving in TO. What a story that would be.

Before y’all scratch your heads over this it falls right in line with what the league has done.

From a legal POV, the Coyotes are now a deactivated franchise. Meruelo has an exclusive five year window now to work to get the franchise reactivated and pay the league back, or the league could then transfer those rights to someone else.

Being deactivated though means Meruelo can’t vote, but he can remain informed of any league activities (CBA negotiations, etc.)

Being deactivated, does that mean that SLC is only buying the player contracts and hockey ops contracts, almost a pseudo ready made expansion team? What happens with the records and franchise legacy of the Wpg/Az franchise if it is “deactivated”, to be resurrected upon AM meeting the conditions for reactivating?

 

[LAIslanderFan]

dont get me wrong, I am very unhappy with how things have gone. My son and I were big fans of the America West team that started here ( we had season tickets) and we are still big fans. I’m just saying that support of the Arizona Yotes here hasnt been overwhelming ( despite this crowd) and I’m pretty sure they will be adopted and enjoy much more support in SLC than they got here.

I disagree with your assessment on actual support for the team. The Coyotes haven't been able to put a consistent quality product on the ice for as long as I can remember. On top of that, it's difficult to latch on to a team when the threat of a move is constantly in the background. I know this from experience as a fan of the NY Islanders. There was time in the late 90's, early 2000's when the team was bad on the ics, they needed a new building and ownership was in constant flux. The average attendance for the 1999-2000 season was a little over 9,000. The nickname for their aren was Nassau mausoleum (instead of coliseum). At one point fans would come down from Quebec trying to persuade the NHL to move the Isles back there. It's a very different sitution now. Consistant ownership, success on the ice and a new arena. The Coyotes had none of that for years. I can use a local AZ example, the Diamondbacks. In 2021 the Diamondback averaged 12,000 fans aa game, in 2023 they averaged 24,000 fans a game, this year so far they're averaging 34,000 fans a game. What would you attribute that too? Winning solves everything.

The Coyotes were dealing with a trifecta. No permanent home, lack of steady ownership and lack of success on the ice. I imagine most business schools would tell you that's a recipe for disaster and if you haave a business you don't want to be in that position.

 

[Bondurant]

I love Shane Doan and would have no issues with him being named GM as he is apprenticing with Treliving in TO. What a story that would be.


Being deactivated, does that mean that SLC is only buying the player contracts and hockey ops contracts, almost a pseudo ready made expansion team? What happens with the records and franchise legacy of the Wpg/Az franchise if it is “deactivated”, to be resurrected upon AM meeting the conditions for reactivating?

History stays in Arizona. This would replicate what happened in the NFL when Modell "moved" the Browns to Baltimore.

 

[SniperHF]

There are so many variables in this harebrained reactivate scheme I hesitate to even speculate on it too much, but the biggest thing that I'd like to see sorted out first is what extent the "right of refusal" is. Because if essentially NHL hockey ONLY belongs to Meurelo for 5 years in this market I could easily see a scenario where that actively harms our chances at getting an expansion team not helps it.

Let's envision in 2 years what happens when Houston is ready, Meurelo is even in an extremely optimistic he wasn't just full of shit scenario is actively trying to get his arena built and reactivate. Why would you choose AM unless you HAD to? If the language of this reactivation isn't so clear as to guarantee such a reactivation I don't see any reason why the NHL would choose this "bid" over a clean slate market like Houston or other expansion contenders.

 

[The Feckless Puck]

Not that I would deem it highly credible, but I would love to read an article that is the result of in depth retrospective interview(s) with past coaches and general managers of the AZ Coyotes; Hay, Tocchet, Barnett, Gretz, etc., etc., wherein the topic is “what happened?”

A tell all about this team's history would be ENORMOUS, enormously readable, and perhaps one of the greatest farces ever put into print.

 

[brentashton]

History stays in Arizona. This would replicate what happened in the NFL when Modell "moved" the Browns to Baltimore.

That’s a positive move. I like that.

 

[Summer Rose]

There are so many variables in this harebrained reactivate scheme I hesitate to even speculate on it too much, but the biggest thing that I'd like to see sorted out first is what extent the "right of refusal" is. Because if essentially NHL hockey ONLY belongs to Meurelo for 5 years in this market I could easily see a scenario where that actively harms our chances at getting an expansion team not helps it.

Let's envision in 2 years what happens when Houston is ready, Meurelo is even in an extremely optimistic he wasn't just full of shit scenario is actively trying to get his arena built and reactivate. Why would you choose AM unless you HAD to? If the language of this reactivation isn't so clear as to guarantee such a reactivation I don't see any reason why the NHL would choose this "bid" over a clean slate market like Houston or other expansion contenders.

First right of refusal, it sounds like to me (which is the same phrasing they used in the season ticket contract for playoff tickets, when I had season tickets). When the NHL expands again, they are contractually obligated to offer an expansion franchise to Alex Meruelo in the Phoenix market, if he meets the criteria set for him.

 

[RemoAZ]

There are so many variables in this harebrained reactivate scheme I hesitate to even speculate on it too much, but the biggest thing that I'd like to see sorted out first is what extent the "right of refusal" is. Because if essentially NHL hockey ONLY belongs to Meurelo for 5 years in this market I could easily see a scenario where that actively harms our chances at getting an expansion team not helps it.

Let's envision in 2 years what happens when Houston is ready, Meurelo is even in an extremely optimistic he wasn't just full of shit scenario is actively trying to get his arena built and reactivate. Why would you choose AM unless you HAD to? If the language of this reactivation isn't so clear as to guarantee such a reactivation I don't see any reason why the NHL would choose this "bid" over a clean slate market like Houston or other expansion contenders.

It will be completely over as soon as he conveniently loses the bid on the land and is never to be seen in the state again with his outstanding ROI. I just wish there was a way former owners could put together a lawsuit to gum up the works for not letting them sell for relocation. I know they wouldn't win. I'd just like to see the NHL and Meruelo to sweat a little for f***ing us over.

 

[TheLegend]

Being deactivated, does that mean that SLC is only buying the player contracts and hockey ops contracts, almost a pseudo ready made expansion team? What happens with the records and franchise legacy of the Wpg/Az franchise if it is “deactivated”, to be resurrected upon AM meeting the conditions for reactivating?

Not sure how they’re handling that.