The Rumors Were True: The NHL is Coming to Utah

As it turned out, it was one of the worst kept secrets of the sports world during the past decade.

But early Thursday morning, the Board of Governors of the National Hockey League vote unanimously to approve the sale and relocation of the hockey assets of the Arizona Coyotes to Smith Entertainment Group for a reported $1.2 billion.

According to the official NHL announcement, when the transaction is closed, an NHL franchise will be established in Utah that will be owned by SEG.

The Details Behind the NHL Coming to Utah

To begin, it's important to understand that this was not a simple agreement of Party A buying something from Party B.

In fact, it appears to me that this was a multilayered set of transactions between at least three parties, and likely between as many as six, especially if you include Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, and the State of Utah as well.

As a result, I believe that at a minimum there are two things many mainstream journalists and media outlets got wrong about this deal:

1. Ryan & Ashley Smith (via Smith Entertainment Group) did NOT buy the Arizona Coyotes; they bought the hockey assets of the Coyotes,
2. In fact, what SEG actually bought was the rights to an NHL franchise from the National Hockey League.

One of the lessons I've learned from a career of digging into financial transactions and parsing-out reality from make believe is this:

The details matter. Always.

Hence, based upon information I've gathered from a wide variety of sources, here is what I have been able to piece together about this exciting news for the state of Utah, sports fans throughout the state, and hockey fans everywhere.

Following a tumultuous multi-year tenure in Arizona that saw Coyotes' owner, Alex Meruelo, unable to secure public funding to build an NHL-sized arena in Arizona, the NHL brokered a three-way agreement among itself, Meruelo, and SEG owners (Ashley and Ryan Smith), an agreement that led to yesterday's public announcements.

In summary,

• Meruelo has sold the Coyotes' "hockey assets" (including players, draft picks, coaches, general manager, etc.) back to the NHL,
• Which has placed the Coyotes brand on Inactive Status, while
• Allowing Meruelo to retain all Coyotes' intellectual property (eg., brands, logos, etc.) and
• Giving him up to five years to build a hockey arena to NHL standards in Arizona, at which time
• The NHL will allow Meruelo to reactivate the franchise after the arena is completed.

For its part,

• SEG will pay the NHL a reported $1.2 billion to acquire the hockey assets of the Arizona Coyotes, with
• $1.0 billion being transferred to Meruelo and
• $200 million being split between the other NHL owners as a Transfer Fee for their willingness to allow the hockey assets from Arizona to be relocated to Salt Lake City, with
• The new Salt Lake City-headquartered team beginning play in the NHL this coming October for the 2024/2025 NHL season.

According to SEG,

• The NHL will allow it use a temporary brand name for the Utah franchise, which
• The Smiths have said will include the word "Utah" as the first name of SEG's team for the 2024/2025 NHL season, with
• Some Utah media outlets suggesting the team will be called Utah Hockey Club for the 2024/2025 season.

Additionally, on his X feed yesterday afternoon, Ryan Smith tweeted that 6,000 fans had placed a $100 deposit for season tickets within two hours of announcing that opportunity, a number that nearly doubled a few hours later.

Clearly there will be a lot of reporting about Utah's forthcoming NHL team in the days and weeks ahead.

But for now, I'll close with this five-minute interview ESPN conducted yesterday afternoon with Ryan Smith.

From my vantage point, I believe this conversation provides a great perspective for both Utahns and sports fans everywhere about what can be expected from an SEG-owned hockey franchise in Utah.

Beyond that, the NHL puck'll drop in 6 months in Salt Lake City.

Go Utah Hockey Club!!! 🏒 🏒 🏒

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