3 pro sports franchises Coyotes fans can look to for hope that the team will return
With the Arizona Coyotes likely going to Salt Lake City, not all hope is lost for the fans who value the organization’s brand and history.
While the Arizona Coyotes are, in a manner of speaking, all but heading for Salt Lake City, Utah, they are also, in a manner of speaking, sticking around the desert should the NHL move forward with the relocation. One reason is that it looks like their current owner, Alex Meruelo, will retain the organization’s brand and history, so there is some good despite the Phoenix area most likely losing a team that has been in the desert since 1996.
While we don’t know what the new team in Utah will look like, it does appear that Meruelo will have five years to make something happen and ultimately resurrect the Coyotes. The situation looks uncertain at the moment since we’re still over two months from an auction that Meruelo wants to bid on that would comprise the first step in the organization’s return; it wouldn’t be the first time a professional sports team went elsewhere, only to return to its former city, name, and history intact.
Arizona Coyotes fans can find hope in franchises in other major sports leagues
Like any other sports league, the NHL knows how much it means for fans of a team to keep the name, colors, and history so a new team could return at some point, or as it appears in the Coyotes case, five years.
This kind of happened in 2011-12 when the Winnipeg Jets returned to the league via relocation. Although the Coyotes, who once upon a time were the original Jets, have kept the original franchise’s logo, hockey fans in Winnipeg at least got to see their team return with its name, albeit without its original history, colors, or logos.
Just for context, the Jets do wear the throwback uniforms of the team that began play in 1972 occasionally, but that’s about as far as the actual connection goes. That doesn’t appear to be the case with the Coyotes, just as the following three franchises in different sports fans in the desert can look up to, starting with a certain NFL team.
Cleveland Browns, NFL
By far our most well-known example, the Cleveland Browns looked like they were on the verge of contending to make their first Super Bowl following a successful 1994 season. But midway through the 1995 campaign, then-owner Art Modell stunned everyone when he revealed he intended to move the team to Baltimore, Maryland, and continue the franchise as the Baltimore Browns.
But, Modell had a lease on the old Cleveland Municipal Stadium, and the city filed a lawsuit when the move all but became a finalized deal. In a settlement, Modell left the Browns identity in Cleveland, and the “expansion” Baltimore Ravens were born in 1996, setting the stage for the Browns to return, most likely through expansion itself.
And expansion it was, as the organization was resurrected in 1999, complete with what was then its 50-year history. While the Browns have only enjoyed a handful of good seasons since the team’s return, it hasn’t stopped its fans from supporting one of the AFC’s more storied franchises.
The NHL, fortunately, has more lenient expansion draft guidelines, so if the Coyotes returned complete with their name and history intact, they could be far more competitive than the Browns have been. But regardless of how the team would perform on the ice should they return via expansion, it would be safe to say fans in the desert would be glad to have their team back.
Charlotte Hornets, NBA
One of the best logos and color schemes in the 1990s relocated to Louisiana a couple of decades after its former franchise, the Jazz, left town. Ironically, the same people projected to bring the current Coyotes players and personnel to Salt Lake City own that franchise.
The NBA couldn’t make it work in Charlotte, and as a result, the Hornets made a new home in New Orleans while taking the franchise’s name and history with them. Fans in Charlotte wouldn’t wait long for the NBA to return, as the Bobcats came along for the 2004-05 season, and the expansion team had no history. The Bobcats and Hornets continued as separate entities until the 2013-14 season when the Hornets changed their name to the Pelicans.
This gave Bobcats owner Michael Jordan a chance to reclaim the name Hornets, but with it, we also discovered the Pelicans would relinquish their pre-2002 history to the resurrected Hornets. While this method wasn’t done in the same way as what we saw with the Browns 15 years prior, the Hornets original name, colors, and history still returned to Charlotte.
Therefore, the team that expanded the league to 30 teams, the Bobcats, have now technically began play in 1988, making the franchise originally founded in 2004 over three decades old here in 2024. Fortunately for Coyotes fans, should their team make a comeback, it would be more akin to what we saw with the Browns, plus the other team we have yet to discuss.
San Jose Earthquakes, MLS
The San Jose Earthquakes initially started play as the San Jose Clash when Major League Soccer (MLS) commenced in 1996, but you can technically trace the team’s nickname back to 1974 during the days of the National American Soccer League (NASL). They played as the Clash until 1998 before reclaiming the Earthquakes old nickname.
Among the league’s top teams in the 2000s, the Earthquakes won a pair of MLS Cups, before the city lost their team to Houston following failed efforts for a soccer-specific venue. But, the MLS was kind enough to let the Earthquakes keep their name, identity, history, colors, and everything associated with the franchise in California, while the Houston Dynamo was merely stocked with the Earthquakes players and personnel.
Fans also didn’t need to wait long before the Earthquakes returned, as they were back in the MLS by 2008. No, they weren’t competitive early, but they won the Western Conference in the regular season just four years later in 2012, before losing to the Los Angeles Galaxy in the playoffs.
Like the Browns and Hornets, the Earthquakes also haven’t been relevant during most seasons. That said, perhaps if the Coyotes made a grand return, they will break the spell and play relevant hockey. At this point, the team’s future is a mystery, but there is hope that the Yotes, along with their complete identity, will one day return to the NHL.
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(Additional historical data provided by Hockey-Reference, Pro-Football-Reference, Basketball-Reference, and FB-Reference)