Coyotes owner: Relocation rumors are 100 percent false

The Coyotes are committed to Arizona.

That was the message from co-owner Anthony LeBlanc, who also serves as team president and CEO, on Thursday.

LeBlanc was responding to a local report that team officials had recently scouted Seattle's KeyArena and Portland's Moda Center, foreshadowing a relocation to the Pacific Northwest.

"It couldn't be farther from the truth. It is 100 percent false," LeBlanc told the "Doug and Wolf" show on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM. "There is absolutely no facts whatsoever in that story."

The Coyotes' search for a new arena was back on the front burner Friday after Arizona State University announced it would not go forward with a proposal to build a new facility at its Tempe campus.

But the Coyotes aren't without other opportunities for a new home in the Valley of the Sun.

"The good news for us, as we've said over the past year, is we have a number of options. (Phoenix) mayor Greg Stanton has been incredibly forthright in his statements that he'd like to see us downtown, and that's something we're very interested in," added LeBlanc, who also described a site in nearby Mesa as "intriguing."

In the meantime, the Coyotes believe their current home in Glendale is only a short-term option.

"The decision to build the facility in Glendale was prior to our ownership group. The honest answer is it was a mistake. It was the wrong location for this franchise," LeBlanc said. "We're OK staying in Glendale if we know that there is certainty of a new facility coming online and shovels in the ground."