ARIZONA COYOTES

Coyotes likely changing names as part of lease agreement

Dec 1, 2012, 11:00 PM | Updated: Jan 7, 2013, 1:39 pm

Hockey looks to be staying in the Valley after the Glendale City Council approved a 20-year arena lease agreement with the Phoenix Coyotes Monday night.

But in order to stay in Glendale, the organization apparently had to agree to one small stipulation.

As part of the new lease, CBSSports.com’s NHL writer Brian Stubits reported the team will apparently need to agree to a name change before being sold to potential buyer Greg Jamison.

Here’s what the lease says, as it was dug up by Sports Documents.

The Team Owner shall use commercially reasonable efforts to have the name of the Team changed to the “Arizona Coyotes” as soon as is commercially feasible.

While not everything in the lease can be described as such, this actually seems pretty reasonable. The City of Glendale built the arena and is going to pay a lot of money every year to keep the team in its city, after all. It makes sense they wouldn’t be too appreciative of the franchise continuing to bear the name of another city when Glendale is taking such a big risk and paying so much out of its stretched budget to keep the team.

The change likely won’t have any effect on the team’s jerseys, color schemes and logo. The franchise has always focused on the Coyotes mascot and not the city name.

This would be the second such change for a Valley team. In March of 1994, owner Bill Bidwill had the Cardinals change their name from Phoenix to Arizona.

If the change is approved, the Suns and Mercury would be the only teams in town with Phoenix in front of their names.

Arizona Coyotes

Arizona Coyotes right wing Clayton Keller...

Associated Press

Clayton Keller becomes 2nd Coyotes player with 400 points in win over Devils

Karel Vejmelka stopped 37 shots and the Arizona Coyotes beat the New Jersey Devils on Saturday.

2 days ago

Arizona Coyotes center Logan Cooley, right, is greeted by defenseman Travis Dermott (33) after scor...

Associated Press

Arizona Coyotes beat struggling Detroit Red Wings again

Logan Cooley had a short-handed goal in the first period, Michael Carcone broke a tie in the second and the Coyotes beat the Red Wings 4-1.

4 days ago

Arizona Coyotes CEO and president Xavier Gutierrez...

Associated Press

Arizona Coyotes cleared to bid on north Phoenix land for new arena

The Arizona Coyotes have the green light to bid on a tract of land in north Phoenix in their yearslong bid to build a new arena.

4 days ago

Arizona Coyotes defenseman Josh Brown, left, and Minnesota Wild center Marco Rossi (23) compete for...

Associated Press

Penalty kill falters again, Coyotes lose to the Minnesota Wild

Nick Bjugstad had another goal against his hometown team but the Coyotes penalty kill couldn't contain the Minnesota Wild in a road loss.

6 days ago

Arizona Coyotes right wing Clayton Keller...

Associated Press

Coyotes’ Clayton Keller scores twice in loss to Blackhawks, Colin Blackwell delivers hat trick

Colin Blackwell got his first hat trick and Connor Bedard had two goals, leading the Blackhawks to a victory over the Coyotes.

8 days ago

Dylan Guenther #11 of the Arizona Coyotes warms up before the NHL game against the Boston Bruins at...

David Veenstra

Arizona Coyotes’ Dylan Guenther has water turned off after he doesn’t pay utility bill

Arizona Coyotes' Dylan Guenther and teammate Jack McBain had their water turned off this week after they did not pay their utility bill.

9 days ago

Coyotes likely changing names as part of lease agreement