The Utah Grizzlies are another step closer to relocating after its top minority owner — the minor league hockey team’s current home city — approved its sale to a group that plans to move the club.
West Valley City leaders voted unanimously Tuesday night to approve a resolution authorizing the sale of the Grizzlies to Pro Hockey Partners, LLC, a key step toward completing the agreement. Although relocation is part of the proposed agreement, attorneys for the current and soon-to-be owners asked the city not to disclose the team’s future location until the deal is finalized.
All indications are, however, that the team is headed to the East Coast.
The vote took place a month after the Grizzlies’ owners announced they had started exploring a sale of the franchise, which would likely lead to relocation — something the team is no stranger to. The first version of the club was an AHL franchise that relocated from Denver to Utah once Colorado received an NHL franchise in the 1990s.
After the team relocated again to Ohio in the early 2000s, an ECHL franchise that had bounced around the country ended up in Utah in 2005, becoming the second version of the Grizzlies. They’ve remained in West Valley City ever since, but the team’s future has been in question since longtime owner Dave Elmore died in 2023, and since the NHL came to Utah in 2024.
“This is an emotional and difficult moment for our family and our organization,” Elmore Sports Group said in a statement last month. “Utah has been more than a home — it has been part of our identity. But ensuring the Grizzlies have the opportunity to thrive in the future may require new ownership and, potentially, a new home.”
West Valley City received a 40% minority stake of the team in 2009 in exchange of debt that the team owed the city at the time, according to West Valley City attorney Eric Bunderson. That means the city is required to weigh in on the sale, and that it will receive 40% of the final transaction once it’s finalized.
It’s unclear when that will take place. It’s subject to ECHL approval, as well.
“That’s all part of the paperwork that’s still yet to be executed, but we will be receiving some money from that sale,” Bunderson told West Valley City leaders before the vote.
The team is expected to move to New Jersey’s capital city of Trenton. Trenton Mayor Dan Benson issued a statement earlier this month saying he has been working for a year on a deal to bring the city a hockey team, according to NJ.com.
“We look forward to finalizing an agreement to attract an ECHL minor league team to Trenton once again,” he told the outlet on July 3, after it reported on the Grizzlies relocation speculation.
The pending move won’t affect this season, which will likely be the Grizzlies’ last in Utah. The team’s home opener is slated for Oct. 24 at the Maverik Center.
West Valley City leaders also set the stage for the future of the Grizzlies’ outgoing home on Tuesday. They voted to award a contract to EDA Architects, which will oversee cost estimates and renderings for a renovation of the arena.
Renovation plans include seating replacement, interior and parking lot redesigns, and tech and security systems updates. The Maverik Center was a venue during the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics and Paralympics, and is on the list to be utilized again 2034.