It’s been around a month since the NHL transferred the sale of the Arizona Coyotes’ hockey operations from Alex Meruelo to Ryan Smith, who has moved them to Salt Lake City. The difference between the two of them has been noticeable, almost like night and day. It shows how strong a good owner can be in the community and within the actual franchise with a little bit of effort.
Treatment of Players
The way Meruelo handled the relocation with the players will go down in infamy. The Coyotes’ players were on their final road trip of the season when the rumors started. While the rumors eventually turned to truth, Meruelo did nothing to alert the players, leaving them to find out their fate through social media.
Eventually, when the Utah news became official, it was general manager Bill Armstrong who traveled to Edmonton to tell the players about the news, not Meruelo. While the former owner might have a gag order imposed on him by the NHL, Armstrong most likely did as well and chose to put the players’ needs in front of his.
Either way, Meruelo didn’t show his face at the final game in Arizona. He didn’t say goodbye to the players or wish them good luck in Utah. He also didn’t appear at any of the potential final Tucson Roadrunners games to inform those players and staff of what is to come.
Outside of the conclusion of the Coyotes’ life in Arizona, there hasn’t been much that has arisen about Meruelo’s treatment of the players. There have been some rumors about Meruelo not paying certain bills but he’s publicly denied every single rumor.
On the other hand, in just a month, Smith has treated the players with a lot of respect. Just hours after the announcement of relocation, the BYU alum flew to Arizona to meet with the players. He introduced himself and met with each of them one-on-one. He asked what the players wanted to see change and when the players said they wanted better hotels on the road, Smith automatically said “done.”
Smith took the whole team golfing while trying to understand what his new players needed to be happy. It impressed the players and gave them hope that the new Utah team would be successful and attract free agents, unlike the Coyotes due to their instability.
“He was a real beauty. He gets it,” one player source told ESPN.
On the staff side, Meruelo himself never came into the limelight. His son Alex Meruelo Jr., however, did. Meruelo Jr. has been revealed as the reason why longtime Coyotes forward and captain Shane Doan never got the chance to be promoted to a front-office position. It was he who told Doan that “he wasn’t ready” to be in a higher-up position within the Coyotes’ organization. So, the legendary Coyote left the franchise he had been with since the team moved from Winnipeg back in 1996 and secured a job with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Related: Meet the Delta Center, the Coyotes’ New Home in Utah
Meanwhile, Smith met with head coach Andre Tourigny and Armstrong when he met the players down in Arizona. Both men were impressed by Smith and his plan to bring the NHL to Utah. Tourigny was almost in tears when he got off his plane to see hundreds of kids in hockey jerseys cheering for the new team, later calling it the best moment of his career in the NHL.
“They told us about their story and what they want to accomplish,” Tourigny said. “It was amazing to hear about their core values. Why they’re doing this, how much they care about Utah, how much they care about the people in Utah and how much they believe in the state. Honestly, they filled us with emotion and with pride, to be part of that moving forward.”
Armstrong was equally impressed when he got up on the stage in front of 12,000-plus people in Delta Center. The general manager was happy to be in a place that would make his players happy.
“Utah, you touched my heart today,” Armstrong said. “You have no idea what that means to us. We will pay you back for all of that emotion you gave us today.”
Treatment of Fans
Fan treatment in Arizona has never been the greatest. For starters, the Coyotes only won three playoff rounds in their existence, just one of those being within the past five seasons. While that’s not necessarily Meruelo’s fault, what is his fault is the lack of fanfare. The Coyotes used to have fan fests to begin the season that would give the fans a chance to meet the players before the season began. This is a typical NHL thing to do as many other teams put on a similar event. However, the event seemed to stop as soon as Meruelo bought the team other than a meet-and-greet with Logan Cooley last summer.
Fan access to gear also became limited. Thanks to the move to Mullett Arena, the Coyotes didn’t have a pro shop anymore. Rather than trying to get merch trucks or a pop-up store anywhere, the team instead offered random streetwear events where fans could purchase designer apparel that rarely featured the Coyotes’ logo. The apparel was ridiculously expensive too with a single hat costing $50.
Something that annoyed fans the most was the team’s social media presence of the team. The Coyotes’ X (formerly Twitter) account would post ill-worded posts. When it was all but announced the team would be moving to Utah, the account posted their “committed to Arizona” hype video. When rumors were flying around about the team moving to Salt Lake City, instead of comforting their fans directly, the social media accounts reposted a post that was a quote from ownership from a fan account with only 2,000 followers saying “We feel their pain. It sucks.” The Coyotes announced the sale of the team the next day.
The biggest slap in the face to fans was the tweet the team put out shortly after their final game in Arizona saying “See you all next on June 27th. #YotesForever.” It was one of the worst things the account could’ve said to their fans after an emotional farewell to their team.
The social media debacle was another wrongdoing of Meruelo Jr., who reportedly fired the whole social media team before taking over the accounts himself. It’s clear Meruelo Jr., who drove away the greatest player in franchise history and turned the fans against the team, knew nothing about what was best for the organization.
Another big red flag in the Meruelo tenure was another big diss to Doan. One of the most remembered nights in Coyotes’ history was when the team retired Doan’s #19. However, the banner, along with the lone division championship banner, didn’t make it to Mullett Arena. Both banners were found later, just lying around in Glendale by a former employee. The employee, Matthew Jacobson, later reunited the Coyotes’ legend with his banner during the final game in Arizona.
While there are likely many more instances where Meruelo and the Coyotes have treated fans poorly, the new Utah ownership has done nothing but support fans. One of the first things Smith promised to do as owner of an NHL team is to get the team acclimated to the community. He did just that two weeks later after purchasing them, putting on a free event in Delta Center where fans had the opportunity to meet the Coyotes’ players and staff. The fans chanted “Salt Lake City” and “Spicy Tuna” after Liam O’Brien told the crowd his now-famous nickname.
Smith has also committed to building a practice facility for the new NHL team that will also serve as another community rink for the city. There aren’t many community ice rinks in Utah with the main one being on the campus of the University of Utah. However, Smith has publicly said he doesn’t want to see ice time be limited like it has in the past and will help to see it grow. It’s similar to his treatment with basketball. The billionaire has helped increase youth participation in the sport ever since purchasing the NBA’s Utah Jazz. Now, Utah has one of the biggest youth teams in the country thanks to the Junior Jazz.
Finally, Smith has called upon the fanbase to help decide the team’s new name. While he has his own opinions on what his franchise should be called, he wants the community to be a part of the shaping of the new NHL team. In just under a month, Smith has formed a strong positive connection with fans Meruelo did in Arizona. It shows how fans can rally behind a team thanks to a strong and positive owner.
Treatment of the Community
Meruelo’s treatment of the community and its leaders is one of the reasons why the Coyotes never got an arena built. It was always Coyotes’ CEO Xavier Gutierrez speaking for the owner, including when the team was speaking at the Tempe city council. No one got to know Meruelo until his unimpressive press conference.
When Meruelo was under siege by the “Tempe 1st” campaign that opposed the Tempe arena plans, there was no pushback by the Coyotes’ owner to try to salvage the vote. He barely put any money into the campaign despite publicly lying in his press conference that he did. Instead of helping his own team and those who supported the arena deal in the community, he sat in the shadows and did nothing but watch the proposal get rejected.
Meruelo also was the reason why the Coyotes were forced out of Glendale. His disagreement with a lease extension and constant financial errors gave the city no choice but to boot the team out of Gila River Arena. While ultimately, the Coyotes did need to leave Glendale, the way they left gave Meruelo more enemies than supporters and also forced the team with little time to move into the 4,600-seat Mullett Arena.
After losing in Tempe, Meruelo never came up with a plan B until it was too late. He didn’t hold a press conference and apologize for his shortcomings to the team and its fans. It was Gutierrez once again trying to mend fences in the public. Now, with the potential to eventually bring the Coyotes back, Meruelo has challenged those who plan to outbid him in his ongoing quest to build an entertainment district. While the confidence is a welcomed one, it seems like no one is behind him including those who backed him before. Even more concerning is the fact that a separate group, composed of former NHL players and community leaders, has come together to start a foundation to keep youth hockey alive in Arizona. The billionaire hasn’t publicly reached out or supported the foundation.
Smith has had the whole state of Utah’s approval since his purchase of the Jazz. He’s publicly voiced his love for Utah over and over again. With that devotion and his public meetings with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, the state has fallen in love with him and his wife Ashley. It’s come to the point where Republicans, Democrats, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints have all agreed on the want for an NHL team in Utah.
“I’ve never seen so many Republicans and Democrats and religious leaders and educational leaders all on the same page before. It’s emotional,” Smith said. “It’s incredible how much people care about this state.”
Since purchasing the Coyotes, Smith has worked closely with government leaders and has come up with a plan to modernize downtown Salt Lake City. The new NHL owner wants to make a downtown sports district similar to L.A.’s district with Crypto.com Arena that features a theater, bowling alley, clubs, and restaurants surrounding the facility, claiming the fan experience should start before their tickets are scanned. The church has sided with Smith’s efforts to revitalize downtown Salt Lake City and it seems like the government will do the same.
Meanwhile, Smith also wants to renovate Delta Center to make it more NHL-friendly and to continue trying to make the arena one of the best in the NBA. However, his whole plan to renovate downtown isn’t just about the arena, it’s about growing the city.
“It’s not about the arena renovation,” Smith said. “It’s just not. It’s about everything else around it.”
Smith has already started working with community leaders in Salt Lake City and nearby towns to help make Utah one of the best markets in the NHL. The city of Sandy, which is a suburb of Salt Lake City, has already been working with Smith to bring the new NHL team’s practice facility to the area.
“The city of Sandy could not be more excited to become the home to the new NHL team’s long-term practice facility,” Sandy mayor Monica Zoltanski said in a statement. “We have worked collaboratively with Smith Entertainment Group for many years and are excited about their expanding presence in our community with one of the world’s premier hockey training facilities in our city.”
The difference between Smith and Meruelo in just three weeks of the Utah NHL team existence is night and day. The Jazz owner has already accomplished things in the community and with the players and fans to form a strong connection with all three of those outlets that Meruelo could never achieve. While it’s sad to see a community in Arizona lose a pro sports team, especially considering that with a good and committed owner, would’ve never lost their team. It’s good to see that same team be treated with respect for once in Utah, and with the devoted ownership of Ryan and Ashley Smith, it seems like a franchise that will exist in the city in harmony for decades to come.