Are The Arizona Coyotes Coming To Tempe?

Are the Arizona Coyotes coming to Tempe, AZ?

There’s been a LOT of talk about the possibility of the Coyotes coming to Tempe instead of playing way over in Glendale. Heck, who remembers back in 2016 when there was a time when we thought they might be relocating to McClintock and Rio Salado on ASU owned land?

Fast forward to 2022 and we know that the Coyotes will temporarily play hockey at ASU. What hasn’t been clear is where the franchise will end up after their stay at ASU. We do know they really want to stay close…

Last night, there was a marathon City Council meeting where our council members were to make a yes or no vote. A yes vote would simply allow the City to negotiate with the Arizona Coyotes and their ownership group. A no vote would have meant that the city would not allow the deal to be negotiated. In my opinion, they made the right choice and and voted yes by a 5-2 margin. A no vote would have also meant that the public or the city would not have had a chance to know all of the terms of the proposal.

If the Coyotes are Coming to Tempe We Need Details:

After nearly a year the City of Tempe City can now negotiate with the Arizona Coyotes. Here’s some of what has been shared so far:

Back in July of 2021, the City of Tempe issued an RFP (Request For Proposal) for someone to develop approximately 46 acres of land located at the NE corner of priest Drive and Rio Salado Parkway. Per the RFP, applicants had until August 19,2021 to submit their proposal.

One proposal was submitted. The applicant who submitted that proposal would like to create the Tempe Entertainment District

An evaluation committee comprised of City staff and others will review the responses and make a recommendation to the City Council. Acceptance of any response may be made at any regular meeting of the City Council within 120 days after receipt of said proposals or within such longer period of time as may be deemed reasonable by the City. The City reserves the right to reject all submittals at any time for any reason.

After the City Council approves the recommendation of a qualified developer, the City and the selected developer will attempt to negotiate the terms of a Development and Disposition Agreement; if the negotiations are successful, the parties would then execute the Development and Disposition Agreement subject to Council approval.

What’s Next for the Coyotes and the City of Tempe?

Now, there will be more study sessions by the city. There will be more detailed presentations from the Coyotes, there will be public meetings, there will be lawyers, etc.

So far, we have seen several new pieces of public information from the Arizona Coyotes via the media. Here’s an interesting Shane Doan article where he explains his thoughts about the proposed project.

More Coyotes information can be found here. Of course, they are very interested in letting people know how serious they are about wanting to negotiate a deal with the City so that they can move forward with construction.

Shane Doan: Work now begins for Coyotes in next phase of arena plans

While there has been a lot of early talk from people who claim to know all of the details, the true facts of the proposal have not been publicly available until recently. More details will be made public soon and I hope / trust that the City will do the right thing in making the best decision for all involved.

This is going to be interesting, for sure.

**Update: here’s a new website from the Coyotes with some more details.

This potential agreement could be a really big deal for the City of Tempe. Many of us will be watching closely, for sure.

From a residential real estate standpoint and from an economic development standpoint, this will be a historic decision either way. Stay tuned!