NHL Team Plays in a Stadium the Same Size as Kennewick’s Toyota Center

Could you imagine if an NHL team played in Tri-Cities? That's essentially what's happening in Tempe, Arizona.

The Toyota Center in Kennewick is the Tri-City Americans' home and can seat around 5,000 to 6,000 fans for hockey games. When a game is sold out, the energy permeating the bowl is hard to ignore. It's a party.

The Arizona Coyotes are playing at Mullett Arena for the next few years as they await a new stadium deal. This NHL team played their home games at Desert Diamond Arena, which seats 17,000 people for hockey games. Mullett Arena, where they started playing this year, seats 5,000. All of a sudden, 5,000 doesn't seem like a lot anymore. For a WHL team, that's pretty good. In the NHL, that's just sad.

Toyota Center did seemingly have a chance of hosting an NHL team during the 2021-2022 pre-season when the Seattle Kraken played games in WHL arenas across Washington as Climate Pledge Arena needed some finishing touches. These games were played in Spokane, Kent (Seattle), and Everett - but not in Tri-Cities.

Mullett Arena is part of Arizona State University's campus and was officially opened on October 12, 2022. The Arizona Coyotes are in contract to play there for the foreseeable future as their new home is built. The L.A. Chargers famously played in an MLS stadium that was laughably smaller than an NFL stadium as they waited for SoFi Stadium, which they share with the Rams, to be ready.