The "getting PAID" part is not 100% clear:He certainly may sell them for a bunch of reasons, but I find it hard to believe that selling an AHL franchise moves the needle in the billion dollar plus costs of building a state of the art sporting arena these days. What are AHL franchises worth, $10-15 million? That is a drop in the bucket of an arena. Plus, isn't he going to get PAID for the Yotes?
1) How much is he getting PAID, and how much is the NHL absorbing the debt he absorbed taking on the Coyotes? He's being "made whole", but I question how much cash he put up for the Coyotes vs taking on debt.
2) Even if he does get PAID, he is going to need a lot of that money to be able to pay for an expansion team when he's ready.
3) Selling the Roadrunners is a quick way to get the cash he would need for the land auction immediately.
All that said, I think it's more likely Meruelo keeps the Roadrunners in Tucson and affiliated with SLC, or moves them to the arena he wants to build at his casino in Reno and keeps them affiliated with SLC.