Inside a new wave of sports stadium construction
Newsy
Teams' decisions to renovate, rebuild, or move their home stadiums can be enormously complex and expensive.
Professional sports teams from across the country have brought forth a series of new sports stadium proposals and requests for renovations. Some plans have faced pushback — but in Utah, support for plans to construct a new hockey arena is enticing the Arizona Coyotes to move to Utah from the desert state.
The Coyotes arrived in Arizona in 1996 and called three arenas home, with the latest being the Arizona State University Mullet Stadium, the National Hockey League’s smallest arena. In 2023, the team lacked voter support to build an entertainment district in Tempe, leaving the team unsure about their future in the Grand Canyon State.
Marc Ganis, the President of Sportscorp Limited, said it’s rare for a professional sports team to move from its existing market, but adds that the Coyotes have been a franchise with deep rooted problems and over the years they’ve struggled to find a permanent home.
“I would expect that team to relocate, they've been at this for a very long time,” Ganis said.
The news of the potential relocation announcement marked a dreadful reality for hockey fans and the growth of the sport among youth.
