Lisätietoja Meruelon Arizona-optiosta.
1. One day after the Coyotes were declared inactive and Utah added as the NHL’s 32nd team, there is a clearer picture of what Alex Meruelo must do to revive his franchise. We knew his revival rights were non-transferable, but Commissioner Gary Bettman added that if Meruelo is successful, there will be no immediate flipping. He must retain ownership for five years after they return.
Bettman also confirmed that Meruelo can only sell a maximum 20 per cent minority share of the team. He did not mention a similar rule for the arena, but we have heard there is a 49 per cent limit. The $1B price to bring back the Coyotes is fixed, so even if expansion teams are awarded for more than that, Meruelo’s number does not rise.
One new wrinkle is that Meruelo must give one-and-a-half year’s notice that he’s ready to go. It’s a bit confusing. Does that mean he really has three-and-a-half years to get going or is finished? Can he go to four years, 364 days and say “A-ha, I’m ready?” A follow-up yielded this information: Meruelo must deliver his reactivation notice no later than Dec. 31, 2027. For this notice to be granted, the new arena must be at least 50 per cent complete. The league decides if the building qualifies. If Meruelo doesn’t give notice by that date — or doesn’t meet the required conditions to do so — the right is extinguished. So, there you go. Since we still have to cover the Coyotes to see if they do make it back, one exec called them, “Hotel California.” Remember? “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.”
2. A few people with better business sense than I feel there’s serious financial incentive for Meruelo to get this done. First, the $1B he’s receiving should finance the new arena. Second, in 2018, Seattle received an expansion team at $650M. Although Utah is not technically expansion, Bettman declared a $1.2B value for any new franchise. If there are more teams added, the number is going to be even higher. So Meruelo’s getting a great deal.
All of that said, before his…unusual media conference next to Bettman, several sources around the league said the major reason they doubt he will pull this off is he won’t get the co-operation needed from the city of Phoenix. I don’t profess to know anything about this, but simply watching the questions from reporters, you could tell they don’t believe it, either. Finally, it was crazy to hear Meruelo say he spent $7M on the Tempe referendum, only to have local reporters post documents calling that false. Would be fitting if the Coyotes 1.0 final media conference led to some kind of campaign finance investigation.
