As reports swirled this week around the prospect of NHL hockey leaving the Phoenix area, questions have also popped up about whether the Tucson Roadrunners have a future of their own in Southern Arizona.
City officials say the latter is news to them.
“At this point, nothing has trickled down to (the city or Tucson Convention Center) that would give us any information that has the Roadrunners relocating,” City of Tucson spokesman Andy Squire told the Star Thursday, after a late Wednesday report from InsideAHLHockey.com said that if the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes depart the Phoenix area, the Roadrunners, Tucson’s American Hockey League affiliate, might also move.
The report said a Coyotes sale and likely move to Utah would push the Roadrunners out of Southern Arizona and, at least temporarily, as a replacement for the Coyotes in Tempe.
Multiple news outlets have reported that the Coyotes are close to being sold to a group from Utah that intends to move the NHL team to Salt Lake City after this season, which concludes next week. Wednesday’s report by InsideAHLHockey.com said an AHL source informed the outlet that “in the event Arizona was relocated to Salt Lake City,” the Roadrunners would be moved out of Tucson Arena and into Mullett Arena on the Tempe campus of Arizona State University, where the Coyotes are currently scheduled to play through at least the 2024-25 season.
Fletcher McCusker, chairman of the Rio Nuevo Board, cosigned Squire’s comments.
“We haven’t heard anything (and) this is the first time I heard that’s an option. Of course, the (Coyotes) have been definitely silent about their plans,” McCusker told the Star. “So yeah, it would be a loss to the TCC to lose that, and we’ve invested millions of dollars in new ice and new lockers rooms and facilities for the Roadrunners.”
“I believe if they were to do that,” McClusker added, “we’d be very interested in replacing that team with another hockey team, given that we have these facilities, the fan experience (and) new ice.”
The Roadrunners, formerly the Springfield (Mass.) Falcons, were purchased by the Coyotes and eventually moved to Tucson (and rebranded the Roadrunners) in 2016 to be geographically closer to the NHL club as it worked through ongoing efforts to solidify its own footprint in the state of Arizona. Rio Nuevo played a role in bringing the Roadrunners to Tucson at that time, investing millions into Tucson Arena upgrades to bring the facility to AHL standards.
Fans watch as players warm up prior to the Arizona Coyotes’ 2022-23 home opener against Winnipeg Jets at Mullett Arena on the ASU campus in Tempe on Oct. 28, 2022. The Coyotes left Glendale after the 2021-22 season with intent on building a new arena in the coming years elsewhere in the Valley.
Yet for most of the last 15 years, the Coyotes have been embroiled in various sagas surrounding ownership and questions as to where the team could find a long-term fit for a home arena in the Phoenix area.
In recent years, current ownership, led by businessman and developer Alex Meruelo, has put effort into building a multi-billion-dollar facility and surrounding development somewhere closer to the Phoenix-area’s East Valley region.
After Tempe voters rejected a plan last year that would have allowed the Coyotes to build a new arena just west of Arizona State University’s main campus, the organization’s vision shifted of late to a possible auction purchase of state trust land in North Phoenix, with the specific site located north of the Loop 101 freeway near the borders of Phoenix and Scottsdale.
The prospect caught the attention of Scottsdale Mayor David Ortega, who initially called the plans “not feasible, or welcome.” Ortega later walked his sentiments back.
However, despite an auction date still to come in June, efforts by Utah-based Smith Entertainment Group to purchase the Coyotes, contingent on moving the team to Salt Lake City, have picked up significant steam.
As they are owned by the Coyotes, the Roadrunners would be included in any sale if SEG were to buy the team.
The Coyotes, playing at ASU’s on-campus arena, have averaged a steady 4,600 fans in their two seasons since leaving their former home in Glendale. That number is a virtual every-game sellout, as Mullet Arena, designed and built for ASU’s NCAA Division I hockey program, was considered a temporary solution until a new, larger, NHL-caliber arena could be built in the Phoenix area.
According to The Athletic, the Coyotes have “finished near the bottom in attendance every season dating back to 2006-07.”
The Roadrunners, meanwhile, have averaged just shy of 4,000 fans per game across its 32 home games this season, according to AHL attendance figures. Four of the Roadrunners’ final five games over the next two weeks are in Tucson, starting Friday night, and its likely the team, currently in second place in the AHL’s Pacific Division, will host the entirety of a best-of-three first-round playoff series later this month at Tucson Arena.
While noting that nobody from the Arizona Coyotes, Tucson Roadrunners, the NHL or AHL have contacted the City of Tucson with regard to any proposed relocation, Squire told the Star Thursday the Roadrunners have been actively speaking with Tucson Convention Center management to extend their stay at the area, as their current agreement is set to end in 2027.
“The City of Tucson would love to have the Roadrunners stay with us. We have a loyal fan base and it’s a great team.”
In a statement provided Thursday to the Star, Roadrunners team president Bob Hoffman said the team is proud to call Tucson home, “and have been nothing but overwhelmed by the support that we’ve received from Southern Arizona since day one in 2016.”
“The anticipation and excitement of bringing the Whiteout back to Tucson in Roadrunners Playoff games and our upcoming run to the Calder Cup could not be greater,” Hoffman said in the statement.
VIDEO: Tucson Roadrunners forward Nathan Smith scores the Roadrunners’ first goal during Tucson’s 6-2 loss Saturday, Dec. 16, 2023, against the Abbotsford Canucks at Tucson Arena. That first goal signaled for fans to toss the stuffed animals they brought along for donation to Southern Arizona youth as part of the organization’s annual “Teddy Bear Toss” game. (Video courtesy Tucson Roadrunners)
