The Arizona Coyotes hockey team plans to move to Tempe

The Arizona Coyotes hockey team announced that they will be moving from Glendale to Tempe. The new stadium is looking to be located on an old solid waste compost yard. Paulina Pineda from the Arizona Republic joins us to discuss the ins and outs for how this stadium might be built.

Pineda said that the city issued a request for proposals last week with the sports franchises to develop a stadium or arena on the corner of Priest and Rio Salado in Tempe. This are would consist of an arena, along with an entertainment district including retail and restaurants. Bids for this space are due by August 19th.

We asked what this land is currently being used as.

“It’s currently used as a city maintenance and operations site,” Pineda said. “It’s sort of an up-and-coming area.”

Pineda explained that the city might not be on the hook to pay to have the site cleared prior to construction. It’s possible that the developer will be in charge of all of the costs to move the compost to a safe area. 

We asked if there had been any word from Glendale as to their views on the move.

Pineda explained that Glendale is set on trying to procure a long-term lease from the Coyotes, even though they have known since day one that this was a possibility. 

We asked if there were plans to add transportation to the site.

“They are studying and looking at extensions to Mesa and there’s been talks of extending it to the lake and to Tempe Center for The Arts,” Pineda said. “If this deal were to go there this would be a very viable option to continue the route down to Rio Salado parkway,” Pineda said.