Suns owner wants to help bring NHL back to Arizona 'one day'

The Arizona Coyotes may have left for Utah, but that doesn't mean hockey in the desert is gone forever.

Mat Ishbia, owner of the NBA's Phoenix Suns and WNBA's Phoenix Mercury, said he would be interested in helping bring the NHL back to Arizona at some point.

"I'm definitely going to be part of the community, and if I can help bring hockey back, I'll look at that," Ishbia said, per Sportico's Barry Bloom. "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."

The NHL purchased the Coyotes, then flipped the team to Ryan Smith, who also owns the NBA's Utah Jazz, in April. Ex-Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo was given the opportunity to find a suitable arena option and potentially reactivate the franchise, be he relinquished those rights earlier in July.

The Coyotes left primarily because they couldn't find a proper home. They played out of Arizona State University's 4,600-seat Mullett Arena in Tempe for their last two seasons and were unable to secure a legitimate NHL rink.

The Suns currently play out of the Footprint Center in Phoenix, which they used to share with the Coyotes. It was specifically built for basketball and proved to be a poor hockey venue.

However, since the Footprint Center is 32 years old, Ishbia acknowledged it may be time to start thinking about building a new arena in the not-too-distant-future.

"I think our arena is first-class right now. I love our arena," he said. "But at some point we're going to have to get a new arena."

A new arena could conceivably be designed to house hockey as well. There are currently 11 arenas shared by NHL and NBA teams - a list that now includes the Delta Center in Utah.

"I hope that one day we'll be able to get hockey back," Ishbia said.