From professional hockey and basketball games to concerts and presidential rallies, Mullett Arena in Tempe has done it all.
Since its doors opened in October 2022, the facility has been a popular venue for events in Arizona. Following the departure of the Coyotes, opportunities opened up to help fill the void left by the NHL team.
“Everything has positives and negatives to it,” said Amber Musgrave, manager of Mullett Arena, via email. “We manage our calendar to try to fill as many dates as possible, but it is always a moving target.”
Arizona took a major hit when the Coyotes failed to enact a deal with the state to keep them in the desert. The Coyotes moved to Salt Lake City and just recently finished up their first season as the Utah Hockey Club. The now Utah Mammoth look to grow in the Beehive State in their second season.
The lack of a professional team highly jeopardized hockey in Arizona, but Mullett Arena is doing what it can to keep the sport relevant in the heat while also hosting other events.
“Our really busy season is from September basically through April,” said Craig Jankowski, Mullett Arena’s senior director of operations. “Basketball slows down at the beginning of April. ASU hockey is done in early March. We still do events, but it’s a little bit slower.”
During the summer, the facility can step out of its comfort zone. The facility has held a wide array of events, ranging from Pickleball tournaments to professional wrestling shows, as well as the World Hip-Hop Dance Championship coming soon. But during the hockey and basketball seasons, there tends to be more consistency across the schedule. Mullett Arena is the home of various ASU sports, including hockey, volleyball and wrestling.
“We have an amazing operations team here with OVG at Mullett Arena,” Musgrave said. “They are the first ones on site and the last ones to leave. In any given week, we could be doing three, four, even five changeovers between ice and non-ice events. These are primarily done overnight, covering or uncovering ice from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., so we’re back and ready for NCAA hockey practices in the morning.”
The absence of the Coyotes also opened the opportunity for the Valley Suns to play at Mullett Arena. The Phoenix Suns’ G-League affiliate just wrapped up its inaugural season. It would have likely been impossible for the team to play at Mullett Arena if it weren’t for the Coyotes’ relocation to Utah.
“The Valley Suns G-League has been a very positive relationship with the arena and the surrounding community,” Musgrave said. “They do a wonderful job of community engagement. Having the Valley Suns basketball court at Mullett Arena has opened up new possibilities.”
However, sports aren’t the only events happening there. Music concerts are constant throughout the year. The Impact Church’s 2025 Easter mass held three sold-out services. President Trump also used the arena during one of his trips to the swing state of Arizona during the highly competitive 2024 presidential election.