Suns Owner Pushing for New Arizona NHL Team

Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia is ready to help bring hockey back to the desert sooner rather than later.

Suns owner Mat Ishbia speaks with the press during a news conference at Footprint Center in Phoenix on May 1, 2024. / Patrick Breen/The Republic / USA TODAY

The NHL's future in the desert looks grim after the Arizona Coyotes' departure earlier this year, but thankfully, not all hope is lost.

Mat Ishbia, owner of the NBA's Phoenix Suns and WNBA's Phoenix Mercury, has shown interest in bringing hockey back to Arizona. Just last week, he reaffirmed that interest during an interview with Sportico ahead of the WNBA All-Star Game in Phoenix.

“I’m definitely going to be part of the community, and if I can help bring hockey back, I’ll look at that,” Ishbia said. “It’s definitely something I’m interested in. It’s a four-sport town. I’m disappointed we don’t have a hockey team, but I understand what happened, and we’re going to try to fix that one day.”

The biggest obstacle preventing a return to Arizona is the lack of a suitable venue, as the Coyotes were forced to play out of Mullett Arena in Tempe, which has a capacity of just 4,600 for hockey. Footprint Center, the Suns' home venue, is a much larger arena, but isn't designed with hockey in mind even though the Coyotes played there during their early days.

Luckily, both Ishbia and the NHL plan on having a new arena one day.

"I think our arena is first-class right now. I love our arena,” he said. “But at some point we’re going to have to get a new arena.”

In April, Meruelo sold the Coyotes' hockey assets (players, coaches, draft picks, etc.) to the NHL for $1 billion, and the league flipped those assets to Ryan Smith to create the Utah Hockey Club. The league also allowed Meruelo to keep the Coyotes' branding and gave him five years to build a new arena. If he succeeded, he could reactivate the franchise by paying back the $1 billion he received in the sale.

In June, the Arizona Land Commission canceled an auction for a plot of land in North Phoenix, where Meruelo planned to build the new arena. Shortly after, Meruelo relinquished the rights to the Coyotes back to the NHL, opening the door for a new owner to step in.

Even though the Coyotes had terrible ownership for nearly their entire time in Arizona, the NHL still clearly believes in the market and supported the franchise until there was essentially no other choice. A new team with stable ownership has the potential to thrive, and Ishbia, who's worth $10.1 billion, could be just the man for the job.

“I’m disappointed we don’t have a hockey team here. That’s what I’ll say,” he said. “Phoenix is a four-sport town. Maybe five if you want to include soccer, but it’s a four-sports town. Baseball, football, basketball and hockey. And I hope that one day we’ll be able to get hockey back.”

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