They are not done. If Alex Meruelo does the right thing and walks away as quickly as possible, there would be an opportunity for a new owner or ownership group to acquire the rights to the inactive Arizona Coyotes franchise and work toward solving the arena issue once and for all. And just so you understand, PHNX Sports' Craig Morgan has reported multiple times since even before the hockey assets were sold to Ryan Smith, there are at least 2 interested investment groups that want to buy the Coyotes. So that alone means that hope is not lost here. That statement from Meruelo is a complete joke. He is not taking any responsibility for his missteps, but point the blame on a state agency for why next Thursday's auction won't happen? If you are going to build an arena, get everything in order such as zoning permits to build on land you don't yet own!
I think the owner is a con man, and he never really intended to build this arena. He wanted to off load the team this was his way since they had no real home. He made money, keeps the rights that I’m sure he use to sell merchandise.
@@NHLCrazy2007 he already sold the team. Aside from the money, he got the branding rights and he can restart the team if he has an area ready or nearly ready with in 5 years and will not need to pay any expansion fees. So the NHL already stepped in and this was the result.
@@charliem9831 Yes, the hockey assets were sold to Ryan Smith (via the league). But now Alex Meruelo has reached a point of no return in the eyes of not just Arizona business leaders and political officials, but the entire Coyotes fan base. He needs to relinquish those rights to the league and not keep the league, business leaders and the fans hostage over this latest colosal mistake.
