Phoenix Suns governor Mat Ishbia was on record yesterday stating that he has ambitions beyond controlling the Suns and Mercury moving forward.
Ishbia has a desire to bring back the Arizona Coyotes to the Valley – at least a desire for someone else to if not himself.
His words from Sportico:
“I’m definitely going to be part of the community, and if I can help bring hockey back, I’ll look at that,” said Ishbia. “It’s definitely something I’m interested in. It’s a four-sport town. I’m disappointed we don’t have a hockey team, but I understand what happened, and we’re going to try to fix that one day.”- Ishbia on the Coyotes
The Coyotes departed Arizona after the 2023-24 season, as previous owner Alex Meruelo failed to secure an arena plan for the franchise – but Ishbia just might be what is needed to revive the dormant franchise.
Ishbia has the deep pockets necessary to buy a large stake in an expansion franchise – as his net worth is supposedly approaching $5 billion and the Yotes were valued as one of the least expensive NHL franchises as recently as last year.
Additionally, Ishbia has an arena that a revived Coyotes franchise could share with the Suns in Footprint Center, at least until the construction of a new arena that is more suitable for both sports is constructed.
Ishbia also has a clear passion for Phoenix and the fans of Phoenix. A large faction of fans in the Valley are fans of all four major teams and were shaken by the Yotes’ move to Utah. Ishbia could very well be a unifier and has the opportunity to go down as the greatest owner in Phoenix sports with another bold move such as this.
The Coyotes’ revival could take time despite this, and Ishbia’s ultimate interest in bringing back the franchise is unclear, as he is a self-described “basketball guy,” but this is an obtuse opportunity to become immortalized in the scope of the Valley.
Could the Suns and Coyotes be intertwined moving forward? It’s possible, but patience will almost certainly be required as well.
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