College Football's Weirdest Stadium Opens Its Doors To Arizona Coyotes Amid NHL Team's Relocation Struggles

The Arizona Coyotes are struggling to find a permanent home, but college football's weirdest stadium would welcome them with open arms. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that the NHL's sixth-worst franchise from 2022/23 is not going to take the Kibbie Dome up on its offer.

The Coyotes used to play their home games at Gila River Arena in Glendale. On Aug. 19, 2021, the city and arena chose not to renew their operating agreement with the team beyond the 2021/22 season.

That sent Arizona scrambling.

It tried to build an arena on an old solid waste compost yard in Tempe. Environmental remediation problems put an end to that idea.

The franchise later signed a three-year agreement to use Arizona State's hockey arena as a temporary home. Mullett Arena seats just 5,000 and is the smallest home ice in the NHL.

Meanwhile, the Coyotes put together a separate proposal to build a new home arena elsewhere in Tempe. The rink was estimated to cost $2.1 billion, with $1.9 billion of the cost privately funded.

Arizona voters shot that idea down on Wednesday.

In wake of the decision, quite a few people have offered ideas for relocation. Patrick Mahomes is one.

Among those who have opened their doors, jokingly, is the University of Idaho.

Specifically, the Kibbie Dome.

The Kibbie Dome, for all of the non-Sickos Committee members out there, is where the Idaho football team plays its home games. It's weird.

The Dome, which towers above the rest of the campus, comes into view amongst the farmland about a half-mile before the Idaho state border when driving in from the west.

One might assume that it is an airplane hangar. Students joke that it looks like a giant beer can on its side.

What makes the Kibbie Dome unique? It is made entirely of wood, and was finished in 1975 so there is a lot of history behind it.

There are not many other football stadiums in the world — if any — made from wood, and it is a remarkable feat of engineering. To make it even more impressive, the Kibbie Dome was built in the pre-computer era so all of the dimensions were measured by hand.

And then there's the goalpost part of the equation. Because of space constraints, the goalposts do not come up from the ground. They are attached to the walls and can make things confusing.

Famously, in 2021, Eastern Washington made a 22-yard field goal to tie the game in the fourth quarter. The officials called it no good.

Everything about the Kibbie Dome is beautiful in a sick, twisted way. It's one of those things that is so unlike anything else, that you cannot help but love and appreciate its lore.

Now, more than 50 years after ground first broke on the Kibbie Dome, the Arizona Coyotes have been offered the chance to use the storied facility as their own. Wouldn't that be something?!

Sickos can dream...