Coyotes to bid on arena site at June land auction
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Greg Wyshynski, ESPN
The Arizona Coyotes‘ future could be decided on June 27, when they will bid on a parcel of land in the hopes of finally securing a site for their new arena.
In March, the Arizona State Land Department Board of Appeals unanimously approved a $68.5 million appraisal of a 95-acre parcel of land in north Phoenix. On Thursday, the department officially posted an auction for that parcel, with the auction set for June 27.
The Coyotes released images of what they intend to build on that land should they win the bid, including an arena, a practice facility, a theater and housing units.
Coyotes president Xavier Gutierrez said the team plans to start construction in the second quarter of 2025, adding, “We hope to drop the puck in the fall of 2027.” He said that was the same timeline the team had for its arena project in Tempe, which was defeated in a public vote in May 2023.
Gutierrez said the project will be developed without taxpayer funding.
The proposed arena would have 17,000 fixed seats for NHL games and capacity for roughly 1,500 additional temporary seats for non-hockey events. The Coyotes’ new home would also include a 150,000-square-foot practice facility and headquarters, a live music theater for 3,000 concertgoers, 400,000 square feet of retail and a multipurpose watch party plaza equipped with a supersized screen for viewing events.
The main entertainment district will also have a 170,000-square-foot roof canopy extending from the arena to the theater.
The Coyotes’ development plans also include approximately 1,900 luxury residential units, 400,000 square feet of Class A office space, branded retail, dining and other amenities.
The Coyotes have played their home games at Mullett Arena, a 5,000-seat facility on the campus of Arizona State University, since the 2022-23 season. Gutierrez said their deal with ASU was for three years plus two one-year options that would take them through the 2026-27 season.
“This has been a very good financial arrangement for Arizona State University,” Gutierrez said. “Should we have to extend it, we don’t believe that will be a problem,” Gutierrez said.
The Coyotes’ time at Mullett, and the overall length of their arena construction plans, have come under fire from critics such as NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh, who believes the team should relocate if there isn’t a suitable arena plan in place by the end of this season.
“I think the league feels that Arizona is a good market and I can understand that,” Walsh said at NHL All-Star Weekend in February. “The issue I have, and the players have, is how long do you wait to get a home? They’re playing in a college arena and they’re the second tenant in that arena. This is not the way to run a business.”
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has supported the Coyotes’ bids to remain in the market for well over a decade. He said last month that Arizona owner Alex Meruelo had informed the league that “he was certain he was going to get this done” and “I’m both hopeful and reasonably confident that he’s going to do what he says.”
At last month’s general managers meetings in Florida, deputy commissioner Bill Daly was asked whether the NHL would be able to pivot and have the Coyotes play elsewhere next season if this auction bid were not successful. Daly indicated that the timing of the auction means the Coyotes are likely in Arizona next season.
“I’m focused on the current,” he said. “Currently, they are going to play hockey games in Arizona next year.”
While Bettman has stressed that the NHL is not looking to expand or relocate teams, the NHL has received overtures from several markets seeking to join the league. Chief among them is Salt Lake City, where Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith has formally petitioned the NHL for a franchise.
“The Utah expression of interest has been the most aggressive and has carried a lot of energy with it,” Bettman said.
While he said he can’t speak for how the NHL feels about this land auction plan, Gutierrez said “this is the way to finally resolve the facility challenge” that’s plagued them.
Is there a chance that the Coyotes could go through this process and the NHL still decides to relocate the franchise?
“I have no idea,” Gutierrez said. “I can’t comment on that because I have no idea. I can tell you that they are very happy with the plan that we’ve put [in] front of them. They believe that it’s a solution. I don’t know if it resolves the concerns that they may have or other folks may have, like the players’ association or what have you. The sense I’ve gotten is they’re happy that we have this plan that it’ll be public and that we can move forward.”
When asked if the NHL might force Meruelo out from his ownership spot if Arizona fails at to win the land auction, Daly said it was “not a hypothetical I would entertain” and confirmed the league is in constant communication with Meruelo that has been “businesslike and fine.”
The Coyotes have been searching for a permanent home since their former owner took the franchise into bankruptcy in 2009. The team appeared to have stable footing at then-Gila River Arena, but the city of Glendale backed out of a multimillion-dollar lease agreement in 2015. The Coyotes had leased Gila River Arena on a yearly basis before the city terminated its lease following the 2021-22 season.
The team moved to Mullett Arena while seeking an arena solution in Tempe. The Coyotes believed they had one with a 16,000-seat arena in a proposed $2.1 billion entertainment district, but voters rejected that plan in May 2023.
A month after the vote in Tempe failed, the Coyotes said they met with the Arizona State Land Department and submitted an application for 212 acres of state-owned land on the corner of Scottsdale Road and Arizona State Route 101. Gutierrez said this was happening parallel to other potential arena projects the franchise was exploring.
The Coyotes knew the city of Phoenix would require the project to bear the cost of infrastructure. Their initial analysis was that it would cost the team about $150 million. But by December 2023, the Coyotes realized that actual cost for that land would be over $230 million.
Gutierrez said that “changed the equation” for the team. The Coyotes opted to resubmit their application for 110 acres of land instead. He said it’s zoned for 2 million square feet of commercial use. In an interesting twist, the land the team is trying to acquire is zoned for an indoor hockey arena, a relic of a previous attempt to build a youth hockey facility in the area.
The new parcel of land carries an estimated infrastructure cost of $120 million for the team.
“We’re not taking any taxpayer dollars. We’re not asking for taxpayer money,” Gutierrez said. “We’re going to buy the land, we’re going to build every building, we are going to maintain it and we’re also going to pay for the public infrastructure. So that is coming out of our pockets.”
At the GM meetings, Bettman reiterated that the NHL wants to have a team in the greater Phoenix area. Gutierrez believes that team is still the Coyotes, and that this arena deal will finally help them find stability.
“This is a hockey town,” he said. “There is wealth here to spend on entertainment. It’s all about the facility.”
ESPN’s Kristen Shilton contributed to this report.
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Jorge Castillo
NEW YORK — Giancarlo Stanton, one of the first known adopters of the torpedo bat, declined Tuesday to say whether he believes using it last season caused the tendon ailments in both elbows that forced him to begin this season on the injured list.
Last month, Stanton alluded to “bat adjustments” he made last season as a possible reason for the epicondylitis, commonly known as tennis elbow, he’s dealing with.
“You’re not going to get the story you’re looking for,” Stanton said. “So, if that’s what you guys want, that ain’t going to happen.”
Stanton said he will continue using the torpedo bat when he returns from injury. The 35-year-old New York Yankees slugger, who has undergone multiple rounds of platelet-rich plasma injections to treat his elbows, shared during spring training that season-ending surgery on both elbows was a possibility. But he has progressed enough to recently begin hitting off a Trajekt — a pitching robot that simulates any pitcher’s windup, arm angle and arsenal. However, he still wouldn’t define his return as “close.”
He said he will first have to go on a minor league rehab assignment at an unknown date for an unknown period. It won’t start in the next week, he added.
“This is very unique,” Stanton said. “I definitely haven’t missed a full spring before. So, it just depends on my timing, really, how fast I get to feel comfortable in the box versus live pitching.”
While the craze of the torpedo bat (also known as the bowling pin bat) has swept the baseball world since it was revealed Saturday — while the Yankees were blasting nine home runs against the Milwaukee Brewers — that a few members of the Yankees were using one, the modified bat already had quietly spread throughout the majors in 2024. Both Stanton and former Yankees catcher Jose Trevino, now with the Cincinnati Reds, were among players who used the bats last season after being introduced to the concept by Aaron Leanhardt, an MIT-educated physicist and former minor league hitting coordinator for the organization.
Anthony Volpe, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Cody Bellinger, Paul Goldschmidt and Austin Wells were among the Yankees who used torpedo bats during their season-opening sweep of the Brewers.
Stanton explained he has changed bats before. He said he has usually adjusted the length. Sometimes, he opts for lighter bats at the end of the long season. In the past, when knuckleballers were more common in the majors, he’d opt for heavier lumber.
Last year, he said he simply chose his usual bat but with a different barrel after experimenting with a few models.
“I mean, it makes a lot of sense,” Stanton said. “But it’s, like, why hasn’t anyone thought of it in 100-plus years? So, it’s explained simply and then you try it and as long as it’s comfortable in your hands [it works]. We’re creatures of habit, so the bat’s got to feel kind of like a glove or an extension of your arm.”
Stanton went on to lead the majors with an average bat velocity of 81.2 mph — nearly 3 mph ahead of the competition. He had a rebound, but not spectacular, regular season in which he batted .233 with 27 home runs and a .773 OPS before clubbing seven home runs in 14 playoff games.
“It’s not like [it was] unreal all of a sudden for me,” Stanton said.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone described the torpedo bats “as the evolution of equipment” comparable to getting fitted for new golf clubs. He said the organization is not pushing players to use them and insisted the science is more complicated than just picking a bat with a different barrel.
“There’s a lot more to it than, ‘I’ll take the torpedo bat on the shelf over there — 34 [inches], 32 [ounces],'” Boone said. “Our guys are way more invested in it than that. And really personalized, really work with our players in creating this stuff. But it’s equipment evolving.”
As players around the majors order torpedo bats in droves after the Yankees’ barrage over the weekend — they clubbed a record-tying 13 homers in two games against the Brewers — Boone alluded to the notion that, though everyone is aware of the concept, not every organization can optimize its usage.
“You’re trying to just, where you can on the margins, move the needle a little bit,” Boone said. “And that’s really all you’re going to do. I don’t think this is some revelation to where we’re going to be; it’s not related to the weekend that we had, for example. Like, I don’t think it’s that. Maybe in some cases, for some players, it may help them incrementally. That’s how I view it.”
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Eli Lederman
USC secured the commitment of former Oregon defensive tackle pledge Tomuhini Topui on Tuesday, a source told ESPN, handing the Trojans their latest recruiting victory in the 2026 cycle over the Big Ten rival Ducks.
Topui, ESPN’s No. 3 defensive tackle and No. 72 overall recruit in the 2026 class, spent five and half months committed to Oregon before pulling his pledge from the program on March 27. Topui attended USC’s initial spring camp practice that afternoon, and seven days later the 6-foot-4, 295-pound defender gave the Trojans his pledge to become the sixth ESPN 300 defender in the program’s 2026 class.
Topui’s commitment gives USC its 10th ESPN 300 pledge this cycle — more than any other program nationally — and pulls a fourth top-100 recruit into the impressive defensive class the Trojans are building this spring. Alongside Topui, USC’s defensive class includes in-state cornerbacks R.J. Sermons (No. 26 in ESPN Junior 300) and Brandon Lockhart (No. 77); four-star outside linebacker Xavier Griffin (No. 27) out of Gainesville, Georgia; and two more defensive line pledges between Jaimeon Winfield (No. 143) and Simote Katoanga (No. 174).
The Trojans are working to reestablish their local recruiting presence in the 2026 class under newly hired general manager Chad Bowden. Topui not only gives the Trojans their 11th in-state commit in the cycle, but his pledge represents a potentially important step toward revamping the program’s pipeline to perennial local powerhouse Mater Dei High School, too.
Topui will enter his senior season this fall at Mater Dei, the program that has produced a long line of USC stars including Matt Leinart, Matt Barkley and Amon-Ra St. Brown. However, if Topui ultimately signs with the program later this year, he’ll mark the Trojans’ first Mater Dei signee since the 2022 cycle, when USC pulled three top-300 prospects — Domani Jackson, Raleek Brown and C.J. Williams — from the high school program based in Santa Ana, California.
Topui’s flip to the Trojans also adds another layer to a recruiting rivalry rekindling between USC and Oregon in the 2026 cycle.
Tuesday’s commitment comes less than two months after coach Lincoln Riley and the Trojans flipped four-star Oregon quarterback pledge Jonas Williams, ESPN’s No. 2 dual-threat quarterback in 2026. USC is expected to continue targeting several Ducks commits this spring, including four-star offensive tackle Kodi Greene, another top prospect out of Mater Dei.
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