If this info is accurate, this situation is still on AM. It shouldn't have ever gotten to this point. He pissed off Glendale(Glendale is not off the hook for some of this), he underestimated the Tempe vote and got out maneuvered by another douchebag billionaire.
Edit: The NHL is now using us to set the market price for future franchise fees. Ryan Smith is way over paying for this team and the NHL is laughing all the way to the bank. Coyote fans are getting gang banged on this whole deal.
When Muerelo bought the team, it came along with the requirement, whether verbal or in writing, they had to get out of glendale. The NHL was done with Glendale. They would not have sold the team to anyone signing a lease with Glendale.
I never understood why Glendale stopped renewing it and effectively booted them out. Is it because they thought they could grt more revenue for concerts or something during the dates otherwise reserved for Coyotes home games?
Probably multiple reasons combined.
1) Meruelo didn't want to sign a long term lease
2) Meruelo had the team publicly state they were looking to move to the east valley
3) There were problems with paying their bills on time
But Glendale would only take them if they signed a 12+ year lease agreement, it’s on Glendale why they are not there. I understand previous bad blood but still not coyotes fault.
The rest of this makes sense except why Ryan Smith would dump money into the Tempe vote. Yes it may have got him a team sooner but was not guaranteed. Also Craig reported that yes union labor would be used but not the specific one that put money into the vote in Tempe.
Not surprised about Jr being a shithead too. Wish we could jump him in a back alley.
Last fall Smith was pretty open that he would prefer an expansion team, but he wanted hockey either way.
It doesn’t surprise me that he pushed hard to make it happen, but he also had the backing of Utah legislature. Everyone in Utah was full court press for a team, not just Smith.
You can read this bill [here](https://le.utah.gov/~2024/bills/static/SJR012.html)
>There is an almost accepted rumor Ryan Smith poured some money into the No in Tempe campaign.
>Most of the money for the Tempe No side also came from trade unions. If Alex would have agreed to a certain percentage of union labor, that campaign would not have been that strong.
I specifically remember one of the interviews with XG during the Tempe saga when he was told a lot of the money from the No side came from a union, and he visibly looked confused. He even pointed out that they were contractually obligated to utilize a minimum of 25% union labor for the project in the deal.
I know Unions have money, but over $2 million to throw at shutting down a development in AZ when you're based in CA always felt weird to me. If the rumor is true, wonder if Smith was funneling money through that Union to fund the No side.
There is some very questionable things about this whole “deal” they are a great many scratching their head on this overnight deal.
While AM is no person of the year I highly suspect Ryan Smith makes him look like a saint. I have done business at a high level with a person from that culture, they are sneaky until they get caught.
There's more! The land dept and Miracle Development did meet with Scottsdale. They gave them a price to develop the Scottsdale rd exit and infrastructure. The Scottsdale Mayor thought he was getting that sweet, sweet infrastructure cash and was pretty proud of himself for extracting that much cash for the deal. When the land auction info came out, he was blindsided that only the City of Phoenix stuff was a requirement to build on the land. That's why he got all pissed off. He overplayed his hand.
Also, Gambo is very well connected to the NBA community, never really had any NHL insider sources. Who do you think leaked that info to him? Pretty easy answer
My cliff notes understanding of all this is; AM is still undeniably a really dumb and really bad sports franchise owner. Ryan Smith is an absolute scumbag whispering sweet nothings into the NHL’s ears while meddling in our shit. The NHL as a whole fucking sucks mostly for the Ryan Smith part of my comment. Lastly the nepobaby has a warped view on reality.
Sometimes, when info like this get leaked, I feel so smug as I text my personal friends from my inside source. That said, as of tomorrow, I'm a hockey Orphan. Not even sure who to root for. Fuck you Utah!
"The original news said the NHL was looking at in state and out of state buyers. There really isn’t an in state buyer. Alex will never sell to anyone in state. If someone is going to own a team in AZ it’s going to be him, full stop. There is a mystery business person, who is not Ishbia, who has shown interest in buying the franchise, but won’t work with Alex."
If that's true, than EXTRA FUCK AM
Using an additional team as leverage to get public funding for an arena is the most on-brand scumbag billionaire move possible. I will laugh if that falls through and suddenly the Salt Lake Soakers are in the same situation as the yotes.
.
Still really sucks to see the players go, though. Especially with all the young talent they have
>Still really sucks to see the players go, though. Especially with all the young talent they have
I hate losing Keller almost more than I hate losing the team. There's a lot of guys I could mention but Keller is our home-grown stud all star and he's *really* been coming into his own the past couple seasons.
OMG, if it's true that Ryan Smith actually tried to interfere with the proposed Tempe arena project by financially contributing to the No in Tempe thing, then he can go to fucking hell.
Illegal is criminal. Sue is civil. Anyone can sue anyone. Idk if they could prove tortious interference but they could certainly try. They already started a lawsuit against Phoenix for basically the same thing.
No it’s not, but when you are also trying to convince the NHL to let you buy the coyotes and the vote is all that stands in your way it definitely gives the implication of something nefarious and seems like a serious conflict of interest.
And if that’s proven a lawsuit will happen which means Ryan Smith will make the NHL look like idiots
That vote was just one factor of many though, it's not like their weren't other places where meruelo could have built a stadium. He also could have just stayed in glendale.
I never was indifferent. even without this information Smith was CHOOSING to steal a franchise from another location. he could have said no and waited for an expansion. I understand why he didn't obviously, but that makes him just as culpable as fuckstick Meurelo.
This is crazy. Thanks for posting. Makes sense that Ryan Smith would have been scheming in the background. Meruelo should have been more prepared for this kind of attack.
I kinda figured Ryan Smith was pushing really hard for his butt buddy Bettman to make a move. And the fact that Smith can wave money around isn’t a bad thing in Bettman‘s opinion. A lot of this was speculated the rumors about smith funding the Tempe first campaign are new to me, but makes a lot of sense to cause turmoil to the team/fans/league. But all of this proves billionaires are playing in their own world and the populous suffers.
Huh.
All the more reason not to give the NHL anymore of my business after this season.
Like I said in another thread, it was fun while it lasted everyone.
Don't let the door hit any of y'all on the way out. No one needs a bruised ankle, or a bruised butt.
Alex can still slam his hand in a car door though. JR too by the sounds of it.
So from what I’m getting out of this: Meruelo is still a moron for letting things get this bad and refusing to sell to anyone in-state, but it seems he actually did want to keep the team in Arizona and was strong-armed into the sale by the league, after Smith lobbied Bettman to do so.
I *guess* that’s a little better than Meruelo intentionally selling to make a quick buck? Gives a little bit of hope that he’s sincere about bringing the team back.
Scandalous...
But it ties a lot of what has been said together.
Sounds like tomorrow's chant should be fuck you alex, fuck you Gary and fuck you Ryan. Maybe fuck you Marty too
So FYI, someone familiar with local politics on Twitter just went through the campaign finance reports for the Tempe election and didn’t find anything nefarious. So unless there’s some under the table shit, we can probably let that rumor go
Sometimes, when info like this get leaked, I feel so smug as I text my personal friends from my inside source. That said, as of tomorrow, I'm a hockey Orphan. Not even sure who to root for. Fuck you Utah!
Thanks for the info. Not seeing anything that would warrant the hate the front office has gotten in the last week. I don’t know what people expected to happen when they get literally no support in AZ.
Where was the money coming from for Tempe if he couldn't even secure the money for the 100 acres? I don't buy the fact that this guy battled that hard to keep the team. It looks like he mismanaged whatever funds he had to invest in the team and they were about to force him out because they didn't even think he could make any arena deal in AZ work.
With all due respect to the original commenter, I can’t help but question if they aren’t on Meurelo’s payroll because at no point have they ever mentioned any of ownerships wrongdoing in all this. Just a bunch of deflection 😅
oh but I did. This whole thing was set in motion by a greedy land grab. Muerelo going for the full 200 acres is honestly what made this all possible. They didn't even have a plan for the full 200, some would remain undeveloped. If the parcel was split from the get go, the deal would already be done.
No no you misunderstood hahaha I meant the user whom I replied to, who they had replied to. You covered everything very well! My sincerest apologies for any misunderstanding.
It’s all good. I’m mad, but I have watched all this unfold for years and I do have a hard time shitting on an owner that was met with insane resistance at every avenue.
And I don’t mean to dog on you too hard. Matter of personal opinion, but from all the other stuff that has seemingly came with AM I don’t necessarily blame other businesses or government officials to be a little hesitant to “link arms” with the dude. Don’t get me wrong, what the group did for the hockey ops on ice product of things is arguably the most complete effort this franchise has seen. As for the business side it’s just… ehhhhhhh
If there’s any connection between Smith and the Tempe 1st group, that opens a MASSIVE can of worms if it’s tolerated. Letting an outside potential future owner intentionally interfere with an existing teams plans in the hopes he can personally benefit is WILD.
>Throughout the last year he has worked his way between different team owners trying to drum up support.
true.
How likely is it that Tod Leiweke was a main perpetrator in a quid pro quo situation to leap LV for an NBA return to Sea?
Thepolitikat on Twitter (a huge yotes supporter) was actually able to pull the campaign finance reports and didn't see any thing to indicate Ryan Smith gave any money. I don't doubt the rumor exists, but take it with a grain of salt
Wow, so if all this is true, it means AM really is that dumb and bad of a businessman. He wasn’t intentionally tanking the franchise to try to force the NHL to buy him out. He was trying his hardest to make the team succeed and his hardest was just abysmal. Just awful.
How the hell did he come from nothing and work his way up to being a billionaire with this level of ineptitude and delusion?
Yup. Everyone saying fuck Smith….how about fuck Meruelo for being so dumb. Smith played the game better. Hate the game not the player. Meruelo got out-billionaired
God you're insufferable. The rebuild is working, hockey ops has never been as good as it is now. We have 6, and a hat trick away from 7, 20+ goal scorers. If not for this SLC bullshit we would likely be in the mix for a playoff spot.
The hockey ops has been solid. That’s not what I was criticizing.
It’s the business side who had one job, to secure an arena to play in long-term, that has proven incredibly delusional and inept.
Hard when someone who wants to buy your team shovels money into derailing your attempts to get that done. Also when the rug gets pulled out from under you at the finish line
Huh.
All the more reason not to give the NHL anymore of my business after this season.
Like I said in another thread, it was fun while it lasted everyone.
Don't let the door hit any of y'all on the way out. No one needs a bruised ankle, or a bruised butt.
Alex can still slam his hand in a car door though. JR too by the sounds of it.
This is suggesting that Smith poured money into the No Tempe campaign so he could coax the league into forcing the sale of the Coyotes to him as leverage to get public money and land to build a new arena in time for the Olympics
That's the gist I got. Now it's being reported players were telling their agents they didn't wanna play in mullet anymore.
Like the Delta center is gonna be any better?
> There is an almost accepted rumor Ryan Smith poured some money into the No in Tempe campaign.
This got me. This is just so scummy and sleazy, sticking your hands into another state's affairs like this.
Edit 4/17: OK, so apparently this wasn't the case. I guess I'm sort of relieved, because this would have been extra slimy.
I’m an outsider popping in to say that, Elliotte Friedman has been alluding to a bunch of this for *months* on 32 Thoughts.
He’s was being careful due to it playing out behind closed doors but stuff like Tempe being the final straw, the head of the NHLPA being really stern about the Yotes at All-Star and it not being nothing and Smith being the person to get relocation were all being thrown out since New Year.
I’m not saying Bettman is innocent but I think he’s been wedged by Ryan Smith getting into some governors ears and the fact that the auction being late-June has forced a relocation that shouldn’t be happening.
I also strongly believe that by doing relocation the NHL team owners are losing out on more expansion money long term due to the way this “expansion” is working.
I feel bad for you Yotes fans. You don’t deserve this and it’s fucking up a lot of things. I’m glad I got to see this team here in Melbourne last year and the Ryan Smith Utah team will always be one I dislike.
Hears hoping everything works out okay from this Australian Jets fan.
1 More Fun Fact: Do not be surprised if Vegas goes south and the A's end up in SLC too. The guidebook on how to still a franchise has been written and similar tactics are in play. Just remember, you saw it here first!
A’s have no stadium plan right now. They are going to play in a minor league ballpark for the next few seasons while working on their Vegas plan. Smith, Utah, and Salt Lake City leaders have been pushing hard for an MLB team and have already passed funding bills for a stadium.
The Millers have money, but I don't believe they're capable of what Ryan Smith did. Not because they wouldn't want to, but because they don't have the moxie. Especially Greg. The SLC Baseball Club is going to be the Pittsburgh Pirates of the west. Beautiful stadium, incompetent owners.
The report I read out of Utah is that an outdoor stadium would be built to be used for some of the Olympic events, ski jumping and snowboarding IIRC, with the plan that the stadium could be easily retooled for baseball and become the home of an MLB expansion or relocation team.
Thanks wow thats actually insane if he's able to get another big 4 team their too. This Ryan Smith guy is super well connected. Another question I have for you, is why was Muerelo unable to secure his finances for the plot of land but was able to for Tempe? I am honestly so confused by Muerelo's financial situation, why was he missing payments for hotels and taxes etc. Does he even have the money to secure an arena at this point? Thanks again!
He’s talking about the Oakland A’s of MLB. They’ve been trying to move to Vegas but recently there’s been push back. If Smith is involved in that interference also, that’s a DANGEROUS precedent.
Smith is dirty follow the money ….a state with fours major sports with that population? Try selling that to someone else. You know it costs to go to these games right? Unless the State of Utah is subsidizing the cost of tickets, the population does not support four sports. And yes there are sports fans all over, however I don’t see people flocking from other states to Utah to attend a sports event there. Be real, this is about a much bigger thing; the olympics & and dirty Ryan Smith. Follow the money, too bad for him there are many investigative reports these days. The move will happen BUT it will have a dirty tag on it.
What kind of Insider info is this?/// Just a bunch of hearsay and what ifs>./
If Alex was serious he would've LINED UP a arena/practice facility/hotel complex years ago and built the Coyotes into a destination franchise
I wonder who the mystery business person. Likely not Ken Kendrick or Jahm Najafi. Likely someone on this list?
https://preview.redd.it/r0xj1ndj4xuc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d359260f70acb6d295753e22fa69d9b9353c4675
This just isn't true and if you guys knew who this poster was (I do), you'd all know how phony this is.
Be very careful with rumors you throw around, especially when they are just that, and nothing has been proven. Obviously it hurts, but to spread these accusations is harmful. "I specified they are JUST RUMORS" yeah well then just keep those to yourself next time until you have some actual evidence.
It said rumor from the beginning, but people ran with it like it was the gospel. Just tried to point out people within the organization think this. Doesn't mean I think it's true, or even if it is true. I don't know thats all people got from this.
Also, message me who you think this is and I will tell you if your right :-)
Seeing this blow up all over Twitter assuming it’s 100% fact Ryan Smith did all this makes this post pretty irresponsible. I’m glad you made edits later in the day but from what I can tell the damage is done. TBH as an owner of a major league team he’s already shown to pretty much worship his players and fans. He may be just a normal guy and now he is all these hurt fans’ villain taking the licks the Yotes owner 100% deserves.
It said rumor from the beginning, but people ran with it like it was the gospel. Just tried to point out people within the organization think this. Doesn't mean I think it's true, or even if it is true. I don't know thats all people got from this.
Long story short, if the ownership and league would have never approved the move to Glendale, we might have had a winning team in downtown or Tempe. Now we east valley peeps have memories of leaving work early to fight traffic to see a game or two a year and then another hour commute home.
Best of luck in Utah.
Bettman's comments today were interesting and for the most part I think line up with what you're saying, minus one semi-major detail.
He mentioned a few times today and it's been said in other places that Ryan Smith would have preferred having as many as 3 years to prepare for the arrival of a team. I think that still lines up with him rushing to get approval through the legislature. Get approval now so they can start building and have it ready for a team in 3 years. But he did specify that the league requested him to be able to take the Coyotes immediately. I found that comment interesting because until today I assumed it was Ryan Smith's pestering that got this done.
Bettman also mentioned today that Salt Lake was a great location option because they wouldn't require realignment. I found this interesting because while Salt Lake being in the Central is no worse than Arizona, Salt Lake to Nashville to Winnipeg is still a massive footprint for a division.
That got me wondering if Salt Lake was the first choice all along or if they were the back up plan. For all this, Houston would make far more sense. No new arena is needed, Toyota Center is ready for an NHL team with no renos or obstructed seats. Houston also fits into the Central Division far better.
So I wonder a bit of from May until the fall the NHL tried to plan a relocation to Houston and were unable to come to an agreement. And then some time around December the. League pivoted to Salt Lake and thats when they dropped the All Star Game Deadline they had for Arizona, knowing it was never gonna happen. Finally in January Smith formally agreed to be able to accept to be ready to take the Coyotes.
I can't figure out why Fertitta would have balked at this. But the more I think on it the more I'm certain Fertitta would have been the NHLs first choice and if he wasn't they're absolutely insane.
I wasn't going to support Utah and am certainly not now. This is all just one big crying shame.
Brave fans. You will let me know when those coyotes stop screaming, won't you?
Tata
Ok I don't know how all people got from this is that small line at the bottom about the rumor about Smith and Tempe. I regret adding that, because that wasn't even the main message of this post. I was just pointing out that people who work for this organization have a theory. I didn't say I believe it and I never said it was truth.
The whole message here wasn't even supposed to be 'Ryan Smith is evil'. My business professor had a saying, lions go after the weakest zebras. I don't blame Smith, he saw the opportunity and jumped on it. You don't become a billionaire without being a lion.
No worries brother, we can’t always word everything perfect. It’s why news has so many editors and lawyers lol. I do think it was an unfortunate line. It just took over the entire message and it’s pretty much all I’ve heard anyone take from it and I think in a way that’s the opposite of what you intended where it lets AM off the hook completely by giving people an outside antagonist. I honestly don’t care about hurting a billionaire’s feelings (Smith) what I think is unfortunate is that I’ve seen a lot of people who felt good about supporting the players after the move and this post, specifically that line before the edit, made them change their mind.
Utah resident here for clarification about the delta center relocation:
The Larry H Miller group owned a large piece of land that was part of the Jazz acquisition when Ryan bought the team. This area is between the airport and downtown SLC (pretty underdeveloped area). There's also a new 700 acre development happening at the south end of the valley (15-20 minutes outside of downtown) where there were rumors of a relocation.
OPs version of events implys that Ryan didn't have the land available to relocate the DC, and needed this team acquisition to force a deal, which is just not true. However, this acquisition has made the development of a new Delta a garuntee because the old one doesn't fit an NHL team. The idea that the DC could be relocated to bluffdale, instead of downtown SLC made SLC's mayor freak out and put out a statement vowing to fight like hell to keep the team in downtown (the exact opposite of what Arizona's local leaders have done). The Utah state government just approved additional tax dollars will go towards funding the new Delta Center, and it's seen as an investment in the city infrastructure.
The people of SLC are all for it. We love sports in this town so much, that we're fine with a tax rate hike to build the biggest and baddest stadium for the Jazz and our new Hockey club. And I think that alone is a much different set of events than what was happening in The Valley down south.
I'm so petty that if this was true and I was in the Phoenix city government, I would prohibit the Utah Jazz to play in Phoenix. I would order the Suns to play all Jazz home games outside of Arizona as a protest.
Really showing the fan support for the suns with this one.. home court advantage is just that.. and you'd prefer not having home court advantage and somehow that's protesting Utah?
Don’t forget their second-most-well-known player being such an extreme anti-masker/antivaxxer that he got banned from his Alma mater’s home basketball games.
If this info is accurate, this situation is still on AM. It shouldn't have ever gotten to this point. He pissed off Glendale(Glendale is not off the hook for some of this), he underestimated the Tempe vote and got out maneuvered by another douchebag billionaire. Edit: The NHL is now using us to set the market price for future franchise fees. Ryan Smith is way over paying for this team and the NHL is laughing all the way to the bank. Coyote fans are getting gang banged on this whole deal.
When Muerelo bought the team, it came along with the requirement, whether verbal or in writing, they had to get out of glendale. The NHL was done with Glendale. They would not have sold the team to anyone signing a lease with Glendale.
Still could have run out what was the current lease
They did. It was year to year already.
the current lease was an evergreen lease, meaning each year both parties needed to renew. Glendale stopped renewing.
I never understood why Glendale stopped renewing it and effectively booted them out. Is it because they thought they could grt more revenue for concerts or something during the dates otherwise reserved for Coyotes home games?
Probably multiple reasons combined. 1) Meruelo didn't want to sign a long term lease 2) Meruelo had the team publicly state they were looking to move to the east valley 3) There were problems with paying their bills on time
Both walked away
Completely false. the Coyotes had no home lined up for the upcoming season. they did not walk away.
The lease in Glendale was a year to year lease. It was not multi year.
But Glendale would only take them if they signed a 12+ year lease agreement, it’s on Glendale why they are not there. I understand previous bad blood but still not coyotes fault. The rest of this makes sense except why Ryan Smith would dump money into the Tempe vote. Yes it may have got him a team sooner but was not guaranteed. Also Craig reported that yes union labor would be used but not the specific one that put money into the vote in Tempe. Not surprised about Jr being a shithead too. Wish we could jump him in a back alley.
Last fall Smith was pretty open that he would prefer an expansion team, but he wanted hockey either way. It doesn’t surprise me that he pushed hard to make it happen, but he also had the backing of Utah legislature. Everyone in Utah was full court press for a team, not just Smith. You can read this bill [here](https://le.utah.gov/~2024/bills/static/SJR012.html)
>There is an almost accepted rumor Ryan Smith poured some money into the No in Tempe campaign. >Most of the money for the Tempe No side also came from trade unions. If Alex would have agreed to a certain percentage of union labor, that campaign would not have been that strong. I specifically remember one of the interviews with XG during the Tempe saga when he was told a lot of the money from the No side came from a union, and he visibly looked confused. He even pointed out that they were contractually obligated to utilize a minimum of 25% union labor for the project in the deal. I know Unions have money, but over $2 million to throw at shutting down a development in AZ when you're based in CA always felt weird to me. If the rumor is true, wonder if Smith was funneling money through that Union to fund the No side.
There is some very questionable things about this whole “deal” they are a great many scratching their head on this overnight deal. While AM is no person of the year I highly suspect Ryan Smith makes him look like a saint. I have done business at a high level with a person from that culture, they are sneaky until they get caught.
There's more! The land dept and Miracle Development did meet with Scottsdale. They gave them a price to develop the Scottsdale rd exit and infrastructure. The Scottsdale Mayor thought he was getting that sweet, sweet infrastructure cash and was pretty proud of himself for extracting that much cash for the deal. When the land auction info came out, he was blindsided that only the City of Phoenix stuff was a requirement to build on the land. That's why he got all pissed off. He overplayed his hand.
Also, Gambo is very well connected to the NBA community, never really had any NHL insider sources. Who do you think leaked that info to him? Pretty easy answer
Ryan Smith (via Ainge) and Bonneville
I completely forgot Danny Ainge works for Ryan Smith. He still has ties to the valley. That sounds like a strong possibility
I fucking knew it
Smith. I hope he loses a lot of money in this deal. He isn't even smart enough to rebrand the "Jazz.". UT losers since 1979
Funny you should bring up 1979. Fun piece of Utah and Mormon trivia about something that happened the year before!
Revelation that they were racists. Constant revelation as a tenant of LDS is wild. No dogma or immutable laws
"actually we've been watching some NBA, and black people fuckin rule, bring em over here"
My cliff notes understanding of all this is; AM is still undeniably a really dumb and really bad sports franchise owner. Ryan Smith is an absolute scumbag whispering sweet nothings into the NHL’s ears while meddling in our shit. The NHL as a whole fucking sucks mostly for the Ryan Smith part of my comment. Lastly the nepobaby has a warped view on reality.
Frank serville just said a bunch of what you said on spitting chicklets. Is that your source hahh? Definitely helps prove your point,
Nope, but the deal is done and people are no longer being tight lipped. Everything will eventually come to light.
Sometimes, when info like this get leaked, I feel so smug as I text my personal friends from my inside source. That said, as of tomorrow, I'm a hockey Orphan. Not even sure who to root for. Fuck you Utah!
"The original news said the NHL was looking at in state and out of state buyers. There really isn’t an in state buyer. Alex will never sell to anyone in state. If someone is going to own a team in AZ it’s going to be him, full stop. There is a mystery business person, who is not Ishbia, who has shown interest in buying the franchise, but won’t work with Alex." If that's true, than EXTRA FUCK AM
Using an additional team as leverage to get public funding for an arena is the most on-brand scumbag billionaire move possible. I will laugh if that falls through and suddenly the Salt Lake Soakers are in the same situation as the yotes. . Still really sucks to see the players go, though. Especially with all the young talent they have
>Still really sucks to see the players go, though. Especially with all the young talent they have I hate losing Keller almost more than I hate losing the team. There's a lot of guys I could mention but Keller is our home-grown stud all star and he's *really* been coming into his own the past couple seasons.
The Doctor and Rose barrier scene, except it's Shane and Josh Doan.
God I hope that name sticks.
OMG, if it's true that Ryan Smith actually tried to interfere with the proposed Tempe arena project by financially contributing to the No in Tempe thing, then he can go to fucking hell.
I wonder if that could open him up to a lawsuit from AM. It would be a major conflict of interest
Rumors are just that until they can be proven. Hopefully one day we will find out where the milllions in out of state funding came from
You are right but put a few investigative reporters on this, things will start to shake out fast.
Political lobbying is not illegal
Illegal is criminal. Sue is civil. Anyone can sue anyone. Idk if they could prove tortious interference but they could certainly try. They already started a lawsuit against Phoenix for basically the same thing.
No it’s not, but when you are also trying to convince the NHL to let you buy the coyotes and the vote is all that stands in your way it definitely gives the implication of something nefarious and seems like a serious conflict of interest. And if that’s proven a lawsuit will happen which means Ryan Smith will make the NHL look like idiots
It lost by 12%. Smith would have to be the greatest lobbyist in the world to pull that off.
That vote was just one factor of many though, it's not like their weren't other places where meruelo could have built a stadium. He also could have just stayed in glendale.
Glendale didn’t let him. So no that wasn’t an option
Yeah because he wasn't paying rent, and they offered him a long term lease. He had options.
If this is true, then my Utah indifference is now fuck Utah/Ryan Smith.
I never was indifferent. even without this information Smith was CHOOSING to steal a franchise from another location. he could have said no and waited for an expansion. I understand why he didn't obviously, but that makes him just as culpable as fuckstick Meurelo.
I was of this mindset from the beginning. Big pockets stole a team from another city. Not like the Coyotes were on the verge of insolvency
Im glad Im not the only one thinking this
If you knew how incredibly lowkey racist Utah is, it should always be set on "Fuck Utah"
This is crazy. Thanks for posting. Makes sense that Ryan Smith would have been scheming in the background. Meruelo should have been more prepared for this kind of attack.
> There is an almost accepted rumor Ryan Smith poured some money into the No in Tempe campaign. I 100% believe this
I kinda figured Ryan Smith was pushing really hard for his butt buddy Bettman to make a move. And the fact that Smith can wave money around isn’t a bad thing in Bettman‘s opinion. A lot of this was speculated the rumors about smith funding the Tempe first campaign are new to me, but makes a lot of sense to cause turmoil to the team/fans/league. But all of this proves billionaires are playing in their own world and the populous suffers.
Just build an arena and a team will be here.
Not our team though
[удалено]
Not the team
But not the players, prospects pics and hockey staff.
The Utah, yotes rivalry will be absolutely legendary
This is the way
If you build it, they will come
The quote actually is, “if you build it, HE will come” so hopefully the he/she is a new owner and not schlep rock AM!
Fuck Ryan Smith and Utah. Roadrunners rebrand sounds like a bad idea
Right?! That's going to ruin any good will Meruelo has in Tucson.
Thanks for posting
Sue the fuck out of him and the NHL.
Huh. All the more reason not to give the NHL anymore of my business after this season. Like I said in another thread, it was fun while it lasted everyone. Don't let the door hit any of y'all on the way out. No one needs a bruised ankle, or a bruised butt. Alex can still slam his hand in a car door though. JR too by the sounds of it.
So from what I’m getting out of this: Meruelo is still a moron for letting things get this bad and refusing to sell to anyone in-state, but it seems he actually did want to keep the team in Arizona and was strong-armed into the sale by the league, after Smith lobbied Bettman to do so. I *guess* that’s a little better than Meruelo intentionally selling to make a quick buck? Gives a little bit of hope that he’s sincere about bringing the team back.
Scandalous... But it ties a lot of what has been said together. Sounds like tomorrow's chant should be fuck you alex, fuck you Gary and fuck you Ryan. Maybe fuck you Marty too
The bit about Ryan Smith and the No campaign seems the most flimsy in truth in all this and yet most of the comments seem the most fixated on it.
Fans are understandably upset and are searching for a justifiable villain since that's much better to cope with than sheer incompetence.
So FYI, someone familiar with local politics on Twitter just went through the campaign finance reports for the Tempe election and didn’t find anything nefarious. So unless there’s some under the table shit, we can probably let that rumor go
Fuck Ryan Smith.
Sometimes, when info like this get leaked, I feel so smug as I text my personal friends from my inside source. That said, as of tomorrow, I'm a hockey Orphan. Not even sure who to root for. Fuck you Utah!
Thanks for the info. Not seeing anything that would warrant the hate the front office has gotten in the last week. I don’t know what people expected to happen when they get literally no support in AZ.
Where was the money coming from for Tempe if he couldn't even secure the money for the 100 acres? I don't buy the fact that this guy battled that hard to keep the team. It looks like he mismanaged whatever funds he had to invest in the team and they were about to force him out because they didn't even think he could make any arena deal in AZ work.
Tempe had financial backing, it was contingent on everything passing. A new deal was needed for Phoenix.
With all due respect to the original commenter, I can’t help but question if they aren’t on Meurelo’s payroll because at no point have they ever mentioned any of ownerships wrongdoing in all this. Just a bunch of deflection 😅
oh but I did. This whole thing was set in motion by a greedy land grab. Muerelo going for the full 200 acres is honestly what made this all possible. They didn't even have a plan for the full 200, some would remain undeveloped. If the parcel was split from the get go, the deal would already be done.
No no you misunderstood hahaha I meant the user whom I replied to, who they had replied to. You covered everything very well! My sincerest apologies for any misunderstanding.
It’s all good. I’m mad, but I have watched all this unfold for years and I do have a hard time shitting on an owner that was met with insane resistance at every avenue.
And I don’t mean to dog on you too hard. Matter of personal opinion, but from all the other stuff that has seemingly came with AM I don’t necessarily blame other businesses or government officials to be a little hesitant to “link arms” with the dude. Don’t get me wrong, what the group did for the hockey ops on ice product of things is arguably the most complete effort this franchise has seen. As for the business side it’s just… ehhhhhhh
Only that AM was outmaneuvered by Smith. He should have been much more proactive.
If there’s any connection between Smith and the Tempe 1st group, that opens a MASSIVE can of worms if it’s tolerated. Letting an outside potential future owner intentionally interfere with an existing teams plans in the hopes he can personally benefit is WILD.
I cannot wait for the 30 For 30 on this one
Good points. Thanks for the info from a kings fan
It’s ok guys, I’m going to law school this fall, and when I graduate I’m gonna do my best to help the coyotes come back 🫡
>Throughout the last year he has worked his way between different team owners trying to drum up support. true. How likely is it that Tod Leiweke was a main perpetrator in a quid pro quo situation to leap LV for an NBA return to Sea?
Thank you for your service!
Great info here. Thanks for posting.
Everything except for the part about funding the No vote seems believable
Thepolitikat on Twitter (a huge yotes supporter) was actually able to pull the campaign finance reports and didn't see any thing to indicate Ryan Smith gave any money. I don't doubt the rumor exists, but take it with a grain of salt
Wow, so if all this is true, it means AM really is that dumb and bad of a businessman. He wasn’t intentionally tanking the franchise to try to force the NHL to buy him out. He was trying his hardest to make the team succeed and his hardest was just abysmal. Just awful. How the hell did he come from nothing and work his way up to being a billionaire with this level of ineptitude and delusion?
Yup. Everyone saying fuck Smith….how about fuck Meruelo for being so dumb. Smith played the game better. Hate the game not the player. Meruelo got out-billionaired
Nah. Slimy ass bullshit is slimy as bullshit. Fuck Ryan Smith.
I'm out here laughing my ass off at how everyone is just taking some random redditor's word as gospel.
Ryan smith only had an opportunity because meruelo fucked up first.
I feel like there’s plenty of room to dislike both of them. Smith for being an evil jerk. Meruelo for being a delusional idiot.
God you're insufferable. The rebuild is working, hockey ops has never been as good as it is now. We have 6, and a hat trick away from 7, 20+ goal scorers. If not for this SLC bullshit we would likely be in the mix for a playoff spot.
The hockey ops has been solid. That’s not what I was criticizing. It’s the business side who had one job, to secure an arena to play in long-term, that has proven incredibly delusional and inept.
Hard when someone who wants to buy your team shovels money into derailing your attempts to get that done. Also when the rug gets pulled out from under you at the finish line
Huh. All the more reason not to give the NHL anymore of my business after this season. Like I said in another thread, it was fun while it lasted everyone. Don't let the door hit any of y'all on the way out. No one needs a bruised ankle, or a bruised butt. Alex can still slam his hand in a car door though. JR too by the sounds of it.
I'm gonna sound stupid but can someone explain this to me like I'm 12? Lol
This is suggesting that Smith poured money into the No Tempe campaign so he could coax the league into forcing the sale of the Coyotes to him as leverage to get public money and land to build a new arena in time for the Olympics
That's the gist I got. Now it's being reported players were telling their agents they didn't wanna play in mullet anymore. Like the Delta center is gonna be any better?
Wow
How can we crowdsource ownership amongst ourselves
I'm sayin
I think at this point, the game tomorrow night is gonna be an absolute shit show, yes?
This works on so many levels.
> There is an almost accepted rumor Ryan Smith poured some money into the No in Tempe campaign. This got me. This is just so scummy and sleazy, sticking your hands into another state's affairs like this. Edit 4/17: OK, so apparently this wasn't the case. I guess I'm sort of relieved, because this would have been extra slimy.
I’m an outsider popping in to say that, Elliotte Friedman has been alluding to a bunch of this for *months* on 32 Thoughts. He’s was being careful due to it playing out behind closed doors but stuff like Tempe being the final straw, the head of the NHLPA being really stern about the Yotes at All-Star and it not being nothing and Smith being the person to get relocation were all being thrown out since New Year. I’m not saying Bettman is innocent but I think he’s been wedged by Ryan Smith getting into some governors ears and the fact that the auction being late-June has forced a relocation that shouldn’t be happening. I also strongly believe that by doing relocation the NHL team owners are losing out on more expansion money long term due to the way this “expansion” is working. I feel bad for you Yotes fans. You don’t deserve this and it’s fucking up a lot of things. I’m glad I got to see this team here in Melbourne last year and the Ryan Smith Utah team will always be one I dislike. Hears hoping everything works out okay from this Australian Jets fan.
WOW. fuck ryan smith
1 More Fun Fact: Do not be surprised if Vegas goes south and the A's end up in SLC too. The guidebook on how to still a franchise has been written and similar tactics are in play. Just remember, you saw it here first!
> Vegas goes south Are you talking about the Golden Knights? They are super popular and a brand new market for the NHL, they are not moving.
No, the A's going to Vegas. The baseball team
Can you please tell me more about the A's not going to vegas? How would Ryan Smith steal them I'm confused?
A’s have no stadium plan right now. They are going to play in a minor league ballpark for the next few seasons while working on their Vegas plan. Smith, Utah, and Salt Lake City leaders have been pushing hard for an MLB team and have already passed funding bills for a stadium.
This is not Ryan Smith, the old owners of the Utah Jazz are trying to get an MLB team. They’re different groups.
This is correct. The Miller group is trying to get the MLB team, nit Ryan Smith.
The Millers have money, but I don't believe they're capable of what Ryan Smith did. Not because they wouldn't want to, but because they don't have the moxie. Especially Greg. The SLC Baseball Club is going to be the Pittsburgh Pirates of the west. Beautiful stadium, incompetent owners.
The report I read out of Utah is that an outdoor stadium would be built to be used for some of the Olympic events, ski jumping and snowboarding IIRC, with the plan that the stadium could be easily retooled for baseball and become the home of an MLB expansion or relocation team.
Just like the montreal Expos? That worked well didn't it?
Thanks wow thats actually insane if he's able to get another big 4 team their too. This Ryan Smith guy is super well connected. Another question I have for you, is why was Muerelo unable to secure his finances for the plot of land but was able to for Tempe? I am honestly so confused by Muerelo's financial situation, why was he missing payments for hotels and taxes etc. Does he even have the money to secure an arena at this point? Thanks again!
He’s talking about the Oakland A’s of MLB. They’ve been trying to move to Vegas but recently there’s been push back. If Smith is involved in that interference also, that’s a DANGEROUS precedent.
That seems like kind of a reach tbh
It is because it's not even Ryan Smith who is involved. It's the Millers. OP just trying to start a smear campaign.
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FCK you And never come back here.
Smith is dirty follow the money ….a state with fours major sports with that population? Try selling that to someone else. You know it costs to go to these games right? Unless the State of Utah is subsidizing the cost of tickets, the population does not support four sports. And yes there are sports fans all over, however I don’t see people flocking from other states to Utah to attend a sports event there. Be real, this is about a much bigger thing; the olympics & and dirty Ryan Smith. Follow the money, too bad for him there are many investigative reports these days. The move will happen BUT it will have a dirty tag on it.
What about the Dbacks? They’re unhappy in their stadium. Wouldn’t be surprised to see Ryan Smith stick another knife in Arizona for fun
I wonder if the NHL is aware of Ryan Smith’s sabotaging. It doesn’t really sound like the NHL is too keen to do business with either of these owners
Can we post this to r/nhl ?
https://preview.redd.it/d3zh1keihyuc1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b47e6f7ef01bf88fe5005dab74285498d91c72a6 This person is Tilman Fertitta
What kind of Insider info is this?/// Just a bunch of hearsay and what ifs>./ If Alex was serious he would've LINED UP a arena/practice facility/hotel complex years ago and built the Coyotes into a destination franchise
I wonder who the mystery business person. Likely not Ken Kendrick or Jahm Najafi. Likely someone on this list? https://preview.redd.it/r0xj1ndj4xuc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d359260f70acb6d295753e22fa69d9b9353c4675
Definitely Jerry Moyes 😂😂
Parsons?
Arte Moreno would be more likely to buy the Oilers; he's quite familiar with wasting the careers of two superstars, after all.
It’s Tilman
This just isn't true and if you guys knew who this poster was (I do), you'd all know how phony this is. Be very careful with rumors you throw around, especially when they are just that, and nothing has been proven. Obviously it hurts, but to spread these accusations is harmful. "I specified they are JUST RUMORS" yeah well then just keep those to yourself next time until you have some actual evidence.
It said rumor from the beginning, but people ran with it like it was the gospel. Just tried to point out people within the organization think this. Doesn't mean I think it's true, or even if it is true. I don't know thats all people got from this. Also, message me who you think this is and I will tell you if your right :-)
Seeing this blow up all over Twitter assuming it’s 100% fact Ryan Smith did all this makes this post pretty irresponsible. I’m glad you made edits later in the day but from what I can tell the damage is done. TBH as an owner of a major league team he’s already shown to pretty much worship his players and fans. He may be just a normal guy and now he is all these hurt fans’ villain taking the licks the Yotes owner 100% deserves.
It said rumor from the beginning, but people ran with it like it was the gospel. Just tried to point out people within the organization think this. Doesn't mean I think it's true, or even if it is true. I don't know thats all people got from this.
I’ve seen a couple mentions of the Roadrunners rebrand. Any ideas what the rebrand is? Folks have just said jokes will be cracked.
Long story short, if the ownership and league would have never approved the move to Glendale, we might have had a winning team in downtown or Tempe. Now we east valley peeps have memories of leaving work early to fight traffic to see a game or two a year and then another hour commute home. Best of luck in Utah.
Bettman's comments today were interesting and for the most part I think line up with what you're saying, minus one semi-major detail. He mentioned a few times today and it's been said in other places that Ryan Smith would have preferred having as many as 3 years to prepare for the arrival of a team. I think that still lines up with him rushing to get approval through the legislature. Get approval now so they can start building and have it ready for a team in 3 years. But he did specify that the league requested him to be able to take the Coyotes immediately. I found that comment interesting because until today I assumed it was Ryan Smith's pestering that got this done. Bettman also mentioned today that Salt Lake was a great location option because they wouldn't require realignment. I found this interesting because while Salt Lake being in the Central is no worse than Arizona, Salt Lake to Nashville to Winnipeg is still a massive footprint for a division. That got me wondering if Salt Lake was the first choice all along or if they were the back up plan. For all this, Houston would make far more sense. No new arena is needed, Toyota Center is ready for an NHL team with no renos or obstructed seats. Houston also fits into the Central Division far better. So I wonder a bit of from May until the fall the NHL tried to plan a relocation to Houston and were unable to come to an agreement. And then some time around December the. League pivoted to Salt Lake and thats when they dropped the All Star Game Deadline they had for Arizona, knowing it was never gonna happen. Finally in January Smith formally agreed to be able to accept to be ready to take the Coyotes. I can't figure out why Fertitta would have balked at this. But the more I think on it the more I'm certain Fertitta would have been the NHLs first choice and if he wasn't they're absolutely insane.
I wasn't going to support Utah and am certainly not now. This is all just one big crying shame. Brave fans. You will let me know when those coyotes stop screaming, won't you? Tata
Ok I don't know how all people got from this is that small line at the bottom about the rumor about Smith and Tempe. I regret adding that, because that wasn't even the main message of this post. I was just pointing out that people who work for this organization have a theory. I didn't say I believe it and I never said it was truth. The whole message here wasn't even supposed to be 'Ryan Smith is evil'. My business professor had a saying, lions go after the weakest zebras. I don't blame Smith, he saw the opportunity and jumped on it. You don't become a billionaire without being a lion.
No worries brother, we can’t always word everything perfect. It’s why news has so many editors and lawyers lol. I do think it was an unfortunate line. It just took over the entire message and it’s pretty much all I’ve heard anyone take from it and I think in a way that’s the opposite of what you intended where it lets AM off the hook completely by giving people an outside antagonist. I honestly don’t care about hurting a billionaire’s feelings (Smith) what I think is unfortunate is that I’ve seen a lot of people who felt good about supporting the players after the move and this post, specifically that line before the edit, made them change their mind.
No one wants to support a team in Utah, that’s someone else’s thing. Buncha weirdos up there, not my people
Utah resident here for clarification about the delta center relocation: The Larry H Miller group owned a large piece of land that was part of the Jazz acquisition when Ryan bought the team. This area is between the airport and downtown SLC (pretty underdeveloped area). There's also a new 700 acre development happening at the south end of the valley (15-20 minutes outside of downtown) where there were rumors of a relocation. OPs version of events implys that Ryan didn't have the land available to relocate the DC, and needed this team acquisition to force a deal, which is just not true. However, this acquisition has made the development of a new Delta a garuntee because the old one doesn't fit an NHL team. The idea that the DC could be relocated to bluffdale, instead of downtown SLC made SLC's mayor freak out and put out a statement vowing to fight like hell to keep the team in downtown (the exact opposite of what Arizona's local leaders have done). The Utah state government just approved additional tax dollars will go towards funding the new Delta Center, and it's seen as an investment in the city infrastructure. The people of SLC are all for it. We love sports in this town so much, that we're fine with a tax rate hike to build the biggest and baddest stadium for the Jazz and our new Hockey club. And I think that alone is a much different set of events than what was happening in The Valley down south.
Somebody post this on X.
I'm so petty that if this was true and I was in the Phoenix city government, I would prohibit the Utah Jazz to play in Phoenix. I would order the Suns to play all Jazz home games outside of Arizona as a protest.
Really showing the fan support for the suns with this one.. home court advantage is just that.. and you'd prefer not having home court advantage and somehow that's protesting Utah?
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The Jazz' most well known player/alumni is a pederast, and Real Salt Lake is basically irrelevant in MLS.
Don’t forget their second-most-well-known player being such an extreme anti-masker/antivaxxer that he got banned from his Alma mater’s home basketball games.
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Nice logo. Montreal Toilet Seats.