NBA Owner Ryan Smith to Buy Utah Jazz Club for $1.2 Billion, Impact on Arizona Coyotes

Ryan Smith, the owner of the NBA basketball club Utah Jazz, will buy the club from the current owner Alex Meruel for $ 1.2 billion, with whom the hockey players will take turns in the Delta Center hall. The amount of 200 million from the sale price will be divided among the other NHL clubs.

However, the overseas league does not have to say goodbye to Arizona. Part of the agreement is also a provision where the management of the competition promises to assign a new club to Meruel if he manages to build a suitable hall within five years.

Arizona has long struggled with uncertainty about his position and the club’s future. Until the year before, the Coyotes were playing in Glendale in a hall for more than 17,000 spectators, but the city terminated the contract with the club. The team then moved to Tempe, whose residents last year rejected all three proposals to build a new arena as part of a $2.3 billion entertainment district.

In early April, Meruelo revealed a plan to buy land in Phoenix and build a privately funded hall. However, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said that due to the uncertainty of when the new hall will be ready, the management of the competition “will be looking for other options for the club”.

The Coyotes succeed the original Winnipeg Jets club, which played in the competitive WHA since 1972 and joined the NHL in 1979 after its demise. In 1996, the club moved from Canada to the USA and played under the name Phoenix Coyotes, since 2014 it has the state name of Arizona.