Getty Image / Christian Petersen
The NHL’s Arizona Coyotes are no more, as the franchise has finally moved after years of uncertainty to Salt Lake City, Utah.
The move happened pretty fast, with speculation of the move being close to done breaking just a few days ago and it the move officially being completed on Thursday.
The sale of the Coyotes to Utah has been approved
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) April 18, 2024
The team will play at the Delta Center, which currently hosts the Utah Jazz. It’s a market that has long deserved a second big four sports team, and now they have one.
The market has always stepped up to support the Utah Jazz with great enthusiasm, and they’re doing the same in just the first few hours that they’ve known for sure they have an NHL team. In fact, nearly the entire arena, which will reportedly seat 12,000 at first for hockey, has already sold out of season tickets.
In less than 4 hours of being on sale, the currently-unnamed Utah NHL team has sold 11,000 season ticket deposits (and counting).
This is already more than 2X the amount of folks who can even fit in the arena the Coyotes were just playing in — and they were never at capacity.
— Andrew Streeter (@andrewstreeter_) April 19, 2024
For years, the Coyotes struggled to build a loyal fan base, and that played a part in them ultimately being unable to get a deal done for a new arena. They ended their tenure in Arizona, which lasted from 1996-1998, playing at Mullett Arena, home of Arizona State hockey, which seats 5,000.
There is no official name for the new franchise in Salt Lake City, which was purchased by Smith Entertainment Group, who also own the Jazz, for $1.2 billion from Alex Meruelo.
But, the fans sure are locked and loaded to support an NHL franchise in Utah.
The Coytoes finished their final season in the desert at 36-41-5, with 77 total points.
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