The future of professional hockey in the Phoenix area is in doubt after voters Tuesday rejected three ballot measures that would have allowed the construction of a new stadium for the NHL’s Coyotes in Tempe, Ariz.
The vote on the proposal, by Tempe residents, was done almost entirely by mail and reportedly featured high turnout. As of Wednesday morning, two of the ballot measures were losing by a margin of 56 percent to 46 percent, and the third trailed 57 percent to 43 percent. Maricopa County election officials said there weren’t enough same-day ballots left to count that would overcome those margins.
“The NHL is terribly disappointed by the results of the public referenda regarding the Coyotes’ arena project in Tempe,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement. “We are going to review with the Coyotes what the options might be going forward.”
The opposition to the plan was twofold. Some residents decried the portion of the deal that precluded the proposed arena from paying property taxes over the next 30 years, particularly because the overall plan did not include any affordable housing. The city of Phoenix also had filed a lawsuit against Tempe, claiming the proposal breached a 1994 agreement between the two cities that prohibited housing from being built within the airport’s high-noise flight path.
Tempe 1st, a group that opposed the proposal, called the result “a victory by Tempe for Tempe. This win goes to show that Tempe residents love our community, we know what’s best for it and we must be part of every conversation when it comes to our land, our tax dollars, and what we value as our city grows.”
The election defeat leaves the Coyotes without a plan for a viable NHL-size arena in the Phoenix area. They played their home games this past season at Mullett Arena, a 5,000-seat venue on the campus of Arizona State University that is far smaller than any other North American professional hockey arena. And while the Coyotes have two more years on their agreement with the school — NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told ESPN on Wednesday that he expected the team to play there next season — there is speculation that the Coyotes could be forced to relocate after the deal runs out. Cities such as Houston, Atlanta, Kansas City, Mo., Salt Lake City and Quebec City have been cited as possible destinations.
The Coyotes have had a fraught history since relocating from Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1996. They first played their home games in Phoenix at what was then called America West Arena, the home of the NBA’s Suns, where a rink had to be shoehorned into a venue that was not built with ice hockey in mind. As a result, some seats hung over one end of the ice, and fans sitting in those sections could not see the goal directly below. The poor views, which cut down on the number of tickets the team could sell, and an unfavorable lease caused the team to move to a newly built arena owned by the suburban city of Glendale in 2003.
The move did not change the team’s sagging financial fortunes, and in 2009 the franchise declared bankruptcy and was purchased by the NHL. Since then, the franchise has cycled through ownership groups and has been a frequent subject of relocation rumors, mainly because of its arena situation. In August 2021, the city of Glendale — which had propped up the team with millions of dollars of public money and at one time threatened to lock the team out of the arena because of missed tax payments — announced it would not renew its lease agreement with the Coyotes, forcing their move to the smaller venue on Arizona State’s campus.
The Coyotes have only one playoff appearance over the past 11 seasons and last won a postseason series during their run to the 2012 Western Conference finals. As a result, attendance has suffered: In 2021-22, their last season at the Glendale arena, Arizona averaged only 11,601 fans, which ranked 30th out of 32 NHL teams and was lower than some Canadian teams whose attendance was limited by pandemic restrictions.