The Move to Utah: What Actually Happened in 2024
The end of the Arizona Coyotes in Arizona came fast once it started. After the City of Glendale declined to renew the team's arena agreement, the Coyotes spent their final two seasons playing at Mullett Arena, a roughly 5,000-seat college rink shared with Arizona State University, while Arizona Coyotes ownership pursued a series of failed arena deals across the Phoenix metro. When a proposed entertainment district in Tempe fell through by public vote, the runway ran out.
In April 2024, the NHL confirmed that Arizona Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo was selling the franchise's players, staff and hockey operations to Ryan and Ashley Smith, the owners of the NBA's Utah Jazz, for 1.2 billion dollars. The board of governors approved the move unanimously. The new club played its first two seasons as the Utah Hockey Club before fans voted on a permanent identity, and the franchise was officially unveiled as the Utah Mammoth on May 7, 2025, with a logo nodding to the state's mountains and its own prehistoric fossil history.
Crucially, Meruelo retained the Arizona Coyotes name, the Tucson Roadrunners AHL affiliate, and a contractual path back into the NHL. The deal includes a provision guaranteeing an expansion franchise for Arizona if a suitable arena is built within five years of the sale, which puts the deadline somewhere around 2029.
Where the Former Roster Plays Now: Utah Mammoth Tickets
If you want to see the players, coaches and organization that used to wear the Arizona Coyotes crest, Utah Mammoth tickets are the honest answer to your search. The Mammoth play at Delta Center in Salt Lake City, sharing the building with the NBA's Utah Jazz, and the early returns have been strong. The club reached the playoffs in just its second season and posted multiple postseason wins in the spring of 2026, a genuinely fast turnaround for a relocated franchise finding its footing in a new market.
The Mammoth are also set to host the 2027 NHL Winter Classic on New Year's Eve against the Colorado Avalanche at Rice-Eccles Stadium, the franchise's first outdoor game and a strong signal that the league is investing in Utah's long-term future. For fans who followed this roster through its Arizona Coyotes years, Delta Center is genuinely where that story continues.
Will the Arizona Coyotes Come Back? The Expansion Effort Explained
This is the question every search for Arizona Coyotes tickets is really asking, and the honest answer as of this writing is: not yet, and not guaranteed.
A local advisory committee, including Maricopa County Supervisor Tom Galvin and Andrea Doan, wife of Shane Doan, has spent the past two years working to identify ownership and a viable arena site to bring the Arizona Coyotes name back to the Valley. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has said publicly and repeatedly that the league wants a team back in Arizona, but has been equally clear that wanting it is not enough. Ownership strength, market fundamentals and a concrete arena plan all have to be in place before the league grants anything.
Complicating matters, Arizona is not the only market being discussed for the NHL's next expansion slot. Atlanta has generated real momentum for a potential return of its own, and reporting from 2026 suggests the next expansion fee could reach 2 billion dollars, well above the 650 million Seattle paid and the 500 million Vegas paid for their entry. That price tag alone reshapes who can credibly bid.
If Arizona secures ownership and an arena in time, the Arizona Coyotes name and colors are already reserved and waiting. If that window closes without a deal, the name stays dormant. Either way, there is no confirmed timeline, no announced arena, and no season to buy tickets for as of today.
Arizona Coyotes Fans: How to Stay Connected to the Franchise You Followed
If you built years of Saturdays around this team, the disconnect is real, and it is worth naming honestly rather than glossing over. Fans who cheered the Arizona Coyotes through Gila River Arena and Mullett Arena have described feeling genuinely detached watching the same organization play 600 miles away under a different name and a different logo. That reaction is completely normal, and it does not mean the connection has to end.
Practically, that means two tracks worth following at once. Compare Utah Mammoth tickets if you want to see the actual roster, coaching staff and front office that carried the Arizona Coyotes name, since that lineage runs directly through Salt Lake City rather than stopping in 2024. Separately, Find Arizona Coyotes news and ownership updates through Arizona sports media and the local advisory committee if your loyalty is specifically to hockey returning to the Valley itself, independent of where the current roster plays.
Both are legitimate ways to stay engaged. Neither one is the same as buying a ticket to a home game in Arizona this season, because that product simply does not exist yet.
There is also a practical middle path worth mentioning. The Tucson Roadrunners, the franchise's AHL affiliate, remained under Alex Meruelo's ownership through the sale and continue playing in the Tucson market. For fans who want live, in-person hockey with a direct organizational link to the old Arizona Coyotes system without the six-hour drive to Salt Lake City, the Roadrunners are the closest thing currently available inside state lines, even though the level of play and the arena experience differ considerably from an NHL night.
Arizona Coyotes 2026-27: What a Ticket Search Actually Finds
Running a search for Arizona Coyotes tickets 2026-27 today returns the same result across every legitimate marketplace: no scheduled games, no venue, no seating chart. That consistency across sources is itself useful information. A single site showing zero inventory could be a technical gap. Every major marketplace agreeing is confirmation that the product genuinely does not exist right now.
Compare that to the Utah Mammoth, where the 2026-27 schedule, seating charts and pricing are all live and updating normally, exactly as you would expect for an active NHL franchise. That contrast is the clearest way to understand where things actually stand. The Arizona Coyotes brand is paused, not active, and no amount of searching different marketplaces changes that fact until ownership and an arena are actually in place.
Explore More NHL and Arizona Sports Tickets on TicketWhiz
Whether you are following the former Arizona Coyotes roster to Utah or tracking Arizona's path back into the league, here is the wider hockey and Arizona sports calendar worth checking.
What to Do If You Are Searching for Arizona Coyotes Tickets Right Now
A few honest, practical notes for anyone who landed here mid-search.
If you specifically want to see this roster and organization play, Get Utah Mammoth tickets at Delta Center, the correct product to search for instead of Arizona Coyotes tickets. Same players in many cases, same front office lineage, same franchise history, new city and new name. Fans who followed Shane Doan, Clayton Keller or the Arizona Coyotes' recent young core can pick the thread back up in Salt Lake City without missing a beat.
If you are specifically holding out hope for hockey back in the Valley, the honest move is to follow the Arizona ownership and arena search rather than watch for a ticket listing that will not appear until a deal is actually signed. Local advocacy groups and Arizona sports media are the most reliable sources tracking that Arizona Coyotes story in real time, well ahead of any ticket marketplace.
And if you see a site selling Arizona Coyotes tickets 2026 for a specific game, treat that as a red flag rather than a deal. No games exist to sell tickets for, and any listing claiming otherwise is not describing a real event.
The Bottom Line on Arizona Coyotes Tickets
The Arizona Coyotes name carries real history: a WHA charter franchise, three cities, Shane Doan's 21-year career, a trip to the Western Conference Final, and one of the more dramatic ownership sagas in modern sports business. What the Arizona Coyotes name does not currently carry is a schedule. The roster plays on as the Utah Mammoth at Delta Center, the Arizona Coyotes brand sits reserved pending a new arena and ownership group, and Commissioner Bettman has left the door open without promising a date.
Until that changes, the most useful thing this page can do is tell you plainly where the hockey actually is. Purchase Utah Mammoth tickets if you want to see the team play today, and keep an eye on Arizona's expansion effort if you are holding out for the Arizona Coyotes name to come home.
