Twenty-eight years after the first version of the Winnipeg Jets moved to Arizona, the Coyotes officially took their final skate in the desert on Wednesday evening. The NHL Board of Governors voted in favor of the transaction that will send them to Salt Lake City starting next season.
Everyone has known for a few days, but it’s confirmed: Utah businessman Ryan Smith has officially purchased the Coyotes for the sum of US$1.2 billion. NHL governors voted unanimously in favor of the transaction on Thursday.
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Another disappointment for Quebec
Quebec was never in the discussions, but, nonetheless, the Coyotes’ move to Salt Lake City is another slap in the face to those who still believe in the return of a franchise in the Old Capital.
Ironically, this is the second time that Salt Lake City has shaved Quebec in a sporting context. On June 16, 1995, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) selected the Utah city to host the 2002 Olympic Games, preferring it to Quebec.
Is this just goodbye?
Worse yet: even though the Coyotes have been the lame duck of the NHL for years due to their inability to find a stable owner and arena projects have come one after another without ever coming to fruition, it seems that this is not the end of NHL hockey in Arizona.
In a press release confirming the sale of the team to the Salt Lake group, the NHL confirmed that the Coyotes were becoming an “inactive” team with a right and reactivation if “owner Alex Meruelo completes the construction of an arena “state-of-the-art and appropriate for an NHL team within five years.”
According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, Meruelo will also have “observer” status at the governors’ table, even if he no longer has a team of his own. The informant also mentions that not all governors are keen on the idea of bringing Mr. Meruelo back into the fold of the NHL, after the Coyotes fiasco.
Two hours after obtaining approval from the NHL, the new owner of the franchise indicated on X (formerly Twitter) that he had already received 6,000 deposits for season tickets.
Who is Ryan Smith?
Archive photo, AFP
Don’t enter the closed circles of the National Hockey League. By accepting Ryan Smith as the new owner of the Salt Lake City team, commissioner Gary Bettman offered him what he offers very few people: his trust.
Aged 45, Smith made his fortune thanks to the company he founded with his father and brother, Qualtrics, an American experience management company, founded in 2002 and sold to SAP in 2019 for the modest sum of 8 billion dollars.
Smith went on to become one of the most influential people in Utah sports. The Smith Entertainment Group, which he founded with his wife Ashley, has acquired the majority stake in the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Then, in January 2022, he acquired the Real Salt Lake soccer team which plays in the MLS. He also owns a few other sports franchises in Utah, including the Salt Lake Bees, a baseball team affiliated with the Los Angeles Angels.
According to the site specializing in finance, its value is estimated at $2.2 billion.