Coyotes file bid for new arena in Tempe
The Arizona Coyotes are eyeing a Phoenix suburb as a potential site for their new home.
Two weeks after the city of Glendale told the Coyotes the upcoming season would be their last at Gila River Arena, the team submitted a bid to build an arena in nearby Tempe.
"We remain incredibly excited about this extraordinary opportunity," the club said in a statement the Arizona Republic's Paulina Pineda obtained. The Coyotes confirmed the proposal but declined further comment, according to Pineda.
The site is a 46-acre plot near Tempe Town Lake. The city took other bids as well and required submissions by 3 p.m. PT. Thursday. A committee of city staffers will now review the proposals and make a recommendation to city council, which can then approve or reject it.
The Coyotes and the city of Tempe have reportedly been negotiating for at least two years.
Glendale informed the club in mid-August it wouldn't renew the operating agreement for the city-owned Gila River Arena. That pact expires at the end of the 2021-22 NHL campaign.
The Coyotes have played at their current facility since 2003-04.