By Ronald Sampson
Photo Credit: Joan Levinson
Professional hockey in Arizona was always looked at with hesitation, yet many embraced it wholeheartedly. But the desert wind carries echoes of a dream that never fully took root. And the official end of that dream came to fruition recently with a home sale.
Former team owner Alex Meruelo and his wife Liset’s $30 million sale of their Paradise Valley estate marks more than a real estate transaction: it’s the final punctuation mark on Arizona hockey’s tumultuous chapter.
The 9-acre hacienda-style mansion, with its 13 bedrooms and 22,000 square feet of luxury, once symbolized Meruelo’s commitment to making professional hockey work in the Sonoran Desert. When he purchased the property in 2021, he was still the Coyotes owner, still harboring dreams of a new arena, still believing he could succeed where others had failed.
But the desert proved unforgiving. Meruelo lost $30-60 million annually, watching his team play its final seasons in Arizona State’s cramped 5,000-seat Mullett Arena after being evicted from their previous home. The image of NHL players skating in a college rink became a symbol of the franchise’s diminished state.
The end came swiftly in 2024 when Meruelo reached an agreement with the NHL to sell since there was no permanent arena solution in sight. The NHL approved a $1.2 billion sale, relocating the franchise to Utah and ending the Coyotes’ 28-year desert run.
Now, with the mansion sold, Meruelo’s physical presence in Arizona ends too. The pool that might have celebrated championships remains unused for such purposes. The entertainment spaces that could have hosted Stanley Cup parties instead witnessed a franchise’s slow dissolution.
The $30 million sale is the final transaction in a story of unfulfilled promise, the last chapter Arizona hockey fans never wanted to see end. But with the sadness comes the benefit of closure; never again can our hockey hopes be dashed…until a new effort and ownership forms and brings hockey back to the Valley, which it will.