For nearly two decades, Desert Diamond Arena’s calendar revolved around 41 regular-season home games and the rhythms of an NHL schedule. Today, that structure is gone.
The Coyotes played their last game at Desert Diamond Arena on April 29, 2022, ending a turbulent and fractious 19-year relationship with the City of Glendale. In the ensuing four years, the arena and surrounding area continue to adapt to life after the NHL.
Glendale Mayor Jerry Weiers emphasized that the instability within the Coyotes organization made a sustainable relationship difficult.
“For years, there was a sense that the team was always looking elsewhere rather than investing in Glendale,” Weiers said. “It’s hard to build something lasting when one side is never fully committed to staying.”
Several key facilitators insist that life hasn’t been so bad since the team’s departure.
Former Glendale City Manager Kevin Phelps said the economic indicators have improved since the Coyotes left, showing why the Coyotes may have never been the right fit for Glendale.
“It was clear from the beginning that from a pure financial perspective, it would be better for the City of Glendale to not have the Coyotes as a tenant,” Phelps said. “The Coyotes had arguably the second- or third-best lease terms in the NHL.”
Under the previous lease, the Coyotes paid a flat fee of $500,000 to rent the facility year-round. On top of that, they paid $900,000 for control of advertising revenue and $800,000 to control the suites.
Phelps said the city anticipated stronger financial performance once high revenue streams such as advertising and suites weren’t controlled by the team. Weiers also pointed to the structure of the agreement as a major factor in the city’s decision making.
“The city was taking on significant operational costs while the team controlled the most lucrative revenue streams,” Weiers said. “At some point, you have to ask whether that model makes sense for taxpayers.”
But even with the city going through numerous struggles in the Coyotes era, Phelps reinforced that the city’s financial outlook improved immediately after the team’s departure.
“The venue (Desert Diamond Arena) smashed its all-time record for revenue after the departure,” Phelps said. “The next year, they beat that number by almost $10 million. A big reason why is because of the money that concerts bring in.”
Independent data supports that notion, as Desert Diamond Arena saw gross sales increase by 156% after the Coyotes departed from 2022 to 2023, while showing a 119% jump in attendance.
Desert Diamond Arena general manager Nick Byer said the arena has begun an exciting new chapter with a complete overhaul and makeover that shifted the venue away from a team-centric schedule.
“The shift has allowed us to open up the calendar, attract more marquee events and better serve a broader range of audiences,” Byer said. “We recently completed a $42 million renovation that reflects this evolution as every upgrade was designed with today’s concert goers in mind.”
In 2022, which included 28 Coyotes home games in their final season, the arena booked 43 total events. As the approach has fully shifted to being a “concert-driven” arena, the number is on pace to slightly increase, as 20 events have taken place in the arena with 30 more scheduled from May to December 3.
The venue’s growing slate also includes major cultural and entertainment acts such as Los Tigres del Norte, Carín León and rock group RUSH, reinforcing the arena’s shift toward year-round, multi-genre events.
The arena’s scale plays a key role in that strategy, with a concert capacity of nearly 19,000 and more than one million visitors passing through the venue annually.
The major renovation includes multiple grab-and-go locations, large scale bars, and elevated food and beverage options to improve speed of service and keep fans engaged with the show. Beyond concessions, the renovation repurposed the interior of the arena as a music-first and experience driven venue.
The main and upper concourses were also overhauled, featuring new paint and lighting to feel less like a traditional sports arena and more like an entertainment district. Altogether, the project replaced older hockey-era infrastructure with flexible, entertainment focused environments. The result is an arena that is now built for continuous engagement and events, where premium seating, social spaces and upgraded amenities work together to keep fans immersed as soon as they walk in.
However, that boost hasn’t been felt evenly across all businesses in the district. Mike Fontes, general manager of Just Sports in Glendale, said the shift away from hockey hasn’t fully translated to retail gains.
“The events that the arena has replaced the Coyotes with don’t drive the same revenue as the Coyotes did,” Fontes said. “Concerts and other events haven’t been as frequent as promised by the City of Glendale.”
Businesses such as Just Sports have felt lingering effects from the transition.
“The Coyotes leaving us has hurt Westgate for sure,” Fontes said. “There’s been other changes that have not been advantageous, such as charging for parking.”
For Phelps, there had to be a significant shift in strategy for the area. Instead of focusing on a team-centric strategy, the district focused on what’s called an “experiential district.”
“When we looked at the data of what young people are doing, we saw that there had to be a shift,” Phelps said. “It’s not just about the event anymore, it’s about the experience.”
Even with that shift, Fontes emphasized that football remains central to the area’s success.
“No disrespect to the Coyotes, but the Arizona Cardinals have always been king for us at Westgate,” Fontes said. “NFL game day sales drive the business.”
Renaissance Phoenix Glendale Hotel & Spa director of sales Matthew Sanchez said during the Coyotes’ tenure, foot traffic was heavily dependent on the status of the visiting team, with teams such as the Chicago Blackhawks driving plenty of revenue for the hotel and surrounding businesses, while other teams did not.
“On average, a team stay would equate to about $35,000 in revenue for the hotel,” Sanchez said. “With their departure, we shifted focus to contracting more corporate business.”
Fontes noted that game nights themselves were also inconsistent drivers of retail traffic.
“A typical Coyotes game night wasn’t too crazy for us,” Fontes said. “The opposing team really determined the sales and the atmosphere. The bars benefited the most from game nights.”
But even with a loss of revenue from visiting teams, the Renaissance’s pivot to corporate sales has led to major success. The change of plans led to large conventions with multiple nights of stay, allowing the hotel to have a consistent base of 200 to 300 rooms per night that are committed to group businesses.
“We have hit several record months in revenue,” Sanchez said. “But mainly due to our renovation and push for more group businesses.”
The pivot paid off in other ways outside of strictly revenue as well for the Renaissance, as it was named hotel of the year by the Arizona Lodging and Tourism Association in 2024 and the best revenue team in North America by Marriott in 2025.
Beyond the success at the Renaissance, Sanchez said the entire Westgate area can thrive, even after a major sports team leaves the area.
“Westgate has done a great job in its rebrand to target family-friendly events and provide a safe environment,” Sanchez said. “Additions like Chicken N Pickle, Thirsty Lion and Pop Stroke have provided enhanced alternative fun options.”
Annual visitor counts for Westgate are difficult to verify, but both the City of Glendale and YAM properties measure success through sales tax revenue instead of raw attendance numbers. This is considered a more reliable method for annual visitors, as it captures not only visitors, but the level of spending as well.
Between 2019 and 2025, Glendale’s total sales tax revenue increased from $172 million to $289 million, which is a gain of $117 million or 68 percent. In 2019, the area was mainly anchored by sports activity such as Coyotes or Cardinals games, but has since evolved into a diversified entertainment district since the Coyotes departure. Desert Diamond’s shift away from hockey to concerts has increased per-visitor spending, as concertgoers typically spend more on food and drink.
While combined attendance with the venues has slightly grown, from about 2.5 million visitors in 2019 to 2.7 million in 2025, the output from visitors has increased by a wide margin. This is reflected in the increased sales tax revenue compared to the overall attendance.
Glendale touts that increase as the main indicator of Westgate’s performance, as the district has now shifted into a year-round and experience-driven entertainment hub.
“What we’ve learned is that diversification matters,” Weiers said. “Relying too heavily on one team or one type of event can limit growth. Opening things up has allowed the district to evolve in ways we couldn’t before.”
With the experience, it points to visitors booking hotel rooms, dining in the Westgate district and building weekend trips around major shows instead of typical daily turns for an NHL game.
Looking ahead, Weiers believes the lessons from the Coyotes era will shape how Glendale approaches future partnerships.
“The biggest takeaway is that any future deal has to be balanced and truly collaborative,” Weiers said. “It has to benefit the community just as much as it benefits the team or the organization coming in.”
Despite the chaos since the Coyotes’ departure, city leaders say it is not only the arena that has transformed, but an entire district that has adapted to anything thrown its way.
“Our work is never finished,” Byer said. “We are always striving to elevate the calendar and bring the most exciting events possible to the West Valley.”
Be the first to comment