Sarah McLellan

azcentral sports

The Coyotes are set to play next season at Gila River Arena, finishing out a two-year lease agreement with the City of Glendale, but plans for a future home could emerge soon.

“We had really good meetings with a variety of stakeholders,” President, CEO and co-owner Anthony LeBlanc said. “We put a time frame on everybody that we as the Coyotes need to make a decision of partnering with one group. We want to do that in I’d say the next two to three weeks. We’ve kind of put out May 1 as this line in the sand.”

Uncertainty about where the team will play permanently has loomed ever since Glendale nixed its 15-year agreement with the Coyotes almost a year ago. The two sides were able to sign a two-year deal to keep the Coyotes in the West Valley for the interim, but team brass has been exploring other options.

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Tempe, Phoenix and the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community are considered potential landing spots for the Coyotes.

A partnership with Arizona State that could produce a shared facility has been mentioned as a possibility, but the concept of a new building that houses both the Coyotes and Suns has gained attention lately after Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton expressed support for the idea in his State of the City speech Tuesday.

"I thought it was an important next step," LeBlanc said Wednesday when asked about the speech. "We’ve had multiple discussions with the City of Phoenix, and those will continue actually as near as tomorrow. But as I’ve said, we continue to have those discussions with the other locations and stakeholders that we've been working with. But I think that was a very important part of the process. ... That's an indication that the City of Phoenix understands the timeline is real. We need to make a decision on our part. Obviously, working with the City of Phoenix is more complex to a degree because it involves another professional sports team.

" ... I think what we can expect with the Mayor's leadership is getting the parties in a room in very short order to figure out if this thing can work out or not. What I will say, I have never actually gone on the record stating what my preference is or if I think something could work or not. But I think the Mayor coming out and making the comments he did this week and the strong support he has definitely moved things forward for the City of Phoenix."

LeBlanc attended a panel discussion Monday with owners from the other three professional sports teams in the Valley that was moderated by azcentral sports columnist Dan Bickley and provided some insight into the team’s pursuit of a new home.

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“What we have identified is three potential locations in and around the Valley that are for lack of a better term plots of dirt that are generating how much tax revenue? Zero. Absolutely no tax revenue,” LeBlanc said. “We’re saying, just in those projects alone, that money generated in those projects, a portion of those monies should flow back into the project. That’s all we’re saying, and we’ve gone a step further and said only 50 percent of those tax dollars should flow into the project. Not flowing into my jeans or any of my partners. It’s flowing to ensure that this stadium or arena can be constructed. To say that we’re looking for taxpayer handouts is just not accurate.”

LeBlanc anticipates it would take nine months to a year before construction on a new facility could begin.

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And that timeline certainly encourages the Coyotes to pick a partner sooner rather than later.

“Sometime in the early part of May, you’ll hear an announcement of a selection of a location and a partnership with a location, which will be great news,” LeBlanc said.

Reach the reporter at sarah.mclellan@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8276. Follow her at twitter.com/azc_mclellan.