The Tucson Roadrunners are seeking to play up to 14 games at Mullett Arena next season, per Craig Morgan. Since Ryan Smith purchased the Arizona Coyotes and relocated the organization to Salt Lake City, Utah, rumors have swirled about what might happen to the team’s American Hockey League affiliate, which is still owned by Alex Meruelo. After weeks of rumors, the Roadrunners’ plan to bring hockey back to Mullett Arena has been revealed.
Roadrunners Move to Tempe
On Thursday, Morgan reported that Meruelo plans to relocate the Roadrunners to Tempe, where they will play 14 games at Mullett Arena. Any form of relocation (even partial) must be approved by the AHL Board of Governors, who have set a deadline of May 31 for the issue to be resolved. The board will vote on May 30.
With the Coyotes’ departure, Mullett Arena has secured a new full-time tenant for the 2024-25 season: the G-League’s Valley Suns, the NBA’s Phoenix Suns minor league affiliate. The Suns are expected to play 24 games in Mullett Arena and, according to Suns CEO Josh Bartelstein, want to play as many weekend games as possible.
The Roadrunners have already begun talks with the Oak View Group (the arena managers), and the two sides have the basis of an agreement in place. AHL President and CEO Scott Howson confirmed that the venue has plenty of dates available for the Roadrunners, also confirmed by ASU and the Oak View Group.
Related: “We Shall Return” – Takeaways From Meruelo/Bettman Presser
Mullett Arena currently hosts the NCAA ASU men’s D1 hockey team and hosted ASU NCAA volleyball and wrestling, ASU ACHA D1 women’s hockey, and multiple concerts in the past.
Meruelo originally wanted to move the Roadrunners to Mullett Arena permanently to help keep the youth hockey support growing and to maintain the connection with Coyotes fans while he tries to win the land auction on June 27 in his attempt to bring the Coyotes back to the desert. He made this clear in a press conference in April. However, in the same press conference, he also backtracked and stated that he might settle for a plan that sees the AHL team play half the season in Tucson and half the season in Tempe.
“This is very early in the process, so I’m not sure what we’re going to do,” Meruelo said. “We’ve talked about playing half a season in Tucson and half a season in Mullett. There’s a lot of discussion going on. There’s no commitment from anybody right now, so I want to make sure my words aren’t being taken out of context. We don’t have any agreements with ASU, and we haven’t even spoken to the people in Tucson. We have different ideas. We just want to make sure hockey is thriving in the desert.”
Due to the opposition from the city and Mullett Arena’s new tenants, Meruelo likely had to settle for less than half of the games being played in Tempe. With this plan, the Roadrunners are set to play 22 games in Tucson.
Roadrunners Future in Tucson
It’s obvious to fans and officials in Tucson that the Roadrunners’ days in the city might be limited. After Meruelo’s comments in April, fans came to the Tucson Convention Center during the Roadrunners’ playoff games with signs saying “stay in Tucson,” along with other messages showing their support for the team to stay. Pamphlets were also passed out in the arena with a QR code, redirecting people to sign a petition to send to the AHL.
The Roadrunners just finished year eight of a 10-year agreement with the Tucson Convention Center that has a couple of stipulations to help prevent the team from suddenly packing their bags and relocating. The first clause is that ownership must give the city a 180-day relocation notice. The second clause prevents the team from playing more than five home games outside the arena. The final clause stipulates that ownership would have to pay $3 million to break the agreement.
While it’s unclear how the Roadrunners would renegotiate the contract if they plan to play more than five home games outside of Tucson, Rio Neuvo District, who owns the arena, seems to have an open mind about seeing the team split time between the two cities.
“It’s definitely not the original contract, but we’ve really enjoyed having the Roadrunners at our Tucson Convention Center, so we are open to the possibilities of them being here for a partial or whole season — we’re just open minded to it,” Rio Neuvo District vice chair Edmund Marquez told Morgan. “What we don’t want to see is them simply leave because that hurts us economically when it comes to our convention center, and there’s a peripheral economic impact of them just simply being in Tucson.”
Marquez also noted that the group puts $11 million into the arena to keep it up to AHL standards. While the group is supportive of the plan, they don’t want to see the Roadrunners leave completely.
Another challenge for Meruelo to make this plan feasible is that the AHL requires that the Roadrunners play a full series in one location. The AHL usually schedules two games back-to-back with the same teams in the same venue, meaning the Roadrunners will not be allowed to play one game of a series in Tucson and the next in Tempe. Meruelo will also be fully responsible for these expenses.
“We have been clear with Alex Meruelo Jr., who is the point person on these plans, that if, for example, the Roadrunners play in Tempe, the team would be responsible for paying for their hotels and getting them to games,” Howson said. “There will be no shuttling them back and forth to Tucson in between games.”
The Roadrunners are the main tenant at the Tucson Convention Center. They share their ice with the University of Arizona ACHA men’s and women’s hockey teams. The Jr Roadrunners also skate at the facility. The arena is the lone sheet of ice in Tucson. Though the chances are slim, if the Roadrunners relocate completely, both groups will likely have to commute two hours to the Valley to play games. Tucson did approve the construction of a community ice rink that will house those teams when it is completed; however, the completion date has been delayed a couple of times.
Besides an indoor arena football team, the Roadrunners are the lone pro sports franchise in Tucson – a city dominated by the University of Arizona’s athletics. Losing the Roadrunners would impact the city financially, as the games have been well attended. They drew in 4,100 fans on average this season, an increase from 3,625 last season.
The Roadrunners completed their eighth season in Tucson, compiling a franchise-best 43-23-4-2 record. The team was swept in the first round of the playoffs by the Calgary Wranglers. During the season, the team saw many future NHLers come through the system, including Dylan Guenther, Josh Doan, and Michael Kesselring. The trend might continue as the Roadrunners will be the AHL affiliate of the NHL Utah team next season. It’s unclear if that partnership will continue for the 2025-26 season.
