NASHVILLE --The Arizona Coyotes are discussing a new arena at six sites in the East Valley and confident they will have a plan to present to the NHL by Jan. 1, president Xavier Gutierrez said Wednesday.
Gutierrez said the Coyotes have the same vision they had in Tempe but they want to avoid a public referendum after voters did not approve the proposed Tempe Sports and Entertainment district May 16.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has said the League expects a plan by Jan. 1, but Gutierrez said NHL officials have not given the Coyotes a hard deadline.
"We have been in constant communication with them about all of the options that we have," Gutierrez said before the first round of the 2023 Upper Deck NHL Draft at Bridgestone Arena. "They feel very confident that we're doing the right things.
"We've told them that one of the things we want to avoid is a public referendum, and everything that we're looking at is to hopefully have this be something that would avoid that."
The Tempe proposal was a privately funded $2.1 billion project with a 16,000-seat arena, a practice rink, two hotels, retail shops, 1,600 apartments, a theater and a sportsbook. It would have required a year of remediation to replace an unlined landfill next to Tempe Town Lake.
"We still want to put our money where our mouth is and build something that will be best in class, and finally, to all the fans, we are committed to making this happen," Gutierrez said.
"We were disappointed with the vote in Tempe, but we turned the page very quickly. We reengaged with multiple sites that we had talked to beforehand, and we feel quite confident that one of these many sites that we've put into play will come to fruition in the timeline that we've mentioned."
The Coyotes played at Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona, on the west side of the Phoenix area from 2003 until the city ended its lease with the team after the 2021-22 season. It is currently playing temporarily at Mullett Arena at Arizona State University in Tempe.
Gutierrez said the Coyotes have spoken to more than 12 sites and are in the final stages of discussions with six sites in the East Valley, which is the home of most of their season ticket holders and corporate partners and is also the heart of most of the population and corporate growth in the area.
"Quite frankly," Gutierrez said, "it's where a business like ours should be located."
Gutierrez said the Coyotes want to do what they planned to in Tempe, but they could do even more in the same amount of time. Some of the sites offer more than the 48 acres the Tempe site did, and none requires the year of remediation the Tempe site would have.
"What you guys saw in terms of the renderings, that's still our vision," Gutierrez said. "That's still the vision. It's not just an arena. It's a practice facility, theater, entertainment, retail. The vision is still to have all of those uses, No. 1.
"No. 2, the visuals we thought were spectacular, and the sites that we're looking at actually are probably even more compelling for that type of a setting."
Gutierrez said the Coyotes could present the NHL a plan with multiple sites.
"It could say, 'Hey, we have these options. This is what needs to happen in order for us to get it finalized and resolved,'" Gutierrez said. "One of the things we don't want is to put ourselves in a situation where we have one solution, and that's why we're putting multiple options on the table."
Does Gutierrez think that would be enough to satisfy the NHL?
"Well, I think what they want to see is, they want to see a result, just like we do," Gutierrez said.
Gutierrez said the Coyotes are looking at public, private and tribal land.
"In Arizona, municipal acts are subject to referendum," Gutierrez said. "What we're looking at is opportunities where we wouldn't face that type of public vote. There may be other administrative oversight that needs to happen when you're talking about land use or what have you, but our goal is to try to get to a straight line and have resolution as quickly as possible. …
"No one wants to resolve this more than we do. The uncertainty is not good for us, either, and we are doing everything we can to create a certainty."
