Over the years, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has made it clear that he wants a hockey franchise in Arizona. On Friday, Bettman doubled his position.
“It’s a good market, and if we can make it work, we will,” Bettman said during his annual state of the league news conference before Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final.
Bettman’s reaffirmation of the NHL’s and Arizona Coyotes’ commitment to the Phoenix area comes more than two weeks after Tempe voters made clear they were not in favor of building a new arena and entertainment district. .
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An Arizona Coyotes logo during a game at the Bell Center in Montreal on October 20, 2022. (David Kirouac/USA Today Sports)
With the setback, the Coyotes plan to play at the 5,000-seat Mullett Arena on the Arizona State University campus for the 2023-24 season.
Bettman acknowledged that there will likely be some bumps in the process of finding a long-term home for the Coyotes.
“We’ve had our challenges,” he said.
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The commissioner added that he was surprised and disappointed by the results of last month’s vote, but he was not caught off guard by the voters’ decision.
“Team-related referendums in all sports don’t work well,” Bettman said. “The Islanders did one (in 2011) and they lost. They got their building. When we were looking for an expansion in Columbus, that building referendum fell apart.”
Mullett Arena prior to an NHL game between the Arizona Coyotes and the Winnipeg Jets on October 28, 2022 in Tempe, Arizona. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
At the opposite end of the NHL spectrum are the Ottawa Senators, who are close to being sold for what Bettman expects to be around $1 billion: “give or take.”
“I’ve always felt like we’ve been undervalued, so this, to me, is just a statement that our franchises are more valuable than Forbes or Sportico or a lot of investment bankers have said,” Bettman said. “Our competitive balance is extraordinary, and that should somehow equate to higher values, and I think you’re starting to see that.”
Clayton Keller of the Arizona Coyotes prepares during a matchup against the Vancouver Canucks at Mullett Arena on April 13, 2023 in Tempe, Arizona. (Norm Hall/NHLI via Getty Images)
When the Stanley Cup final between the Florida Panthers and Vegas Golden Knights concludes, Bettman can meet with executive Stan Bowman and coach Joel Quenneville, whom he must reinstate to take another job with a team.
Bowman resigned as general manager of the Blackhawks and Quenneville as coach of the Panthers in October 2021 after an investigation into the 2010 Chicago sexual assault scandal revealed his role in the team’s mishandling of the situation.
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Bettman said Bowman and Quenneville each requested a meeting and were told by his office he would take care of them after the playoffs.
Associated Press contributed to this report.