Gary Bettman reportedly convinced Alex Meruelo to sell the Coyotes

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Cooper Godin
April 13, 2024 (10:39)

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We're less than one week away from the Arizona Coyotes' final game before their reported move to Salt Lake City, Utah and some new information has come to light regarding the franchise.

In a series of posts on X on Friday, Arizona radio host John Gambadoro shared that NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman convinced Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo because it would be in the best interest of the players. Gambadoro also added that Meruelo agreed to sell the Coyotes once he signed a contract to have the right to bring them back as an expansion team within five-years of the agreement. However, this is all dependent on Meruelo getting an arena built in Arizona.

"Gary Bettman convinced Alex Meruelo that selling the franchise was in the best interest of the players because of the indefinite timeline for an arena. Meruelo agreed it was unfair to the players and that led us to where we are today." Gambadoro said.

He added, "Meruelo agreed to sell the team after he secured a contractual right to reactivate the franchise within 5 years of the date of the agreement and trigger an expansion draft if an arena is built- this would require him to pay back the $1 billion that he is getting from the sale."

For Gary Bettman, this is a moment he probably never thought would ever happen, especially after all he's done for the organization over the last 15+ years. There's no doubt that Gary Bettman and the NHL have done more to keep the Coyotes in Arizona than they did with Atlanta, Hartford, Quebec and Winnipeg 1.0.

The Arizona Coyotes are set to play their final home game on Wednesday, April 17th against the Edmonton Oilers and an official announcement is expected to be made on that day. Coyotes players may also, if time permits, travel to Salt Lake City, Utah following Wednesday's game to tour the city and team facilities.

While a good chunk of the National Hockey League's fan bases are glad the Coyotes saga is coming to a close, there are thousands and thousands of fans in Arizona who are quite upset with this. It's unfortunate that the league couldn't find a competent ownership group to keep the Coyotes in the desert.