Coyotes home now officially Gila River Arena

The Arizona Coyotes saga took another turn on Wednesday.

GLENDALE, Ariz. — The home of the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes is now officially named the Gila River Arena.

A nine-year partnership between the team and Gila River Casinos announced last month was approved Tuesday by a 6-1 vote of the Glendale City Council.

A ceremony was held outside the arena Wednesday for the first naming-rights deal by a federally recognized tribe — the Gila River Indian Community — with a venue for one of the four major professional sports leagues.

The venue had been called Jobing.com Arena since 2006.

Coyotes president and CEO Anthony LeBlanc is hoping the Gila River Arena signage will be on the arena by the Oct. 9 season opener.

The team was purchased from the NHL by IceArizona before the 2013-14 season and renamed the Arizona Coyotes on June 27.

When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.