Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Tom Galvin is bringing out some big guns to help in his quest to return hockey to the desert.

Why it matters: Arizona's last endeavor with professional hockey ended last year with heartbreak and squandered taxpayer funds.

• Galvin tells Axios he wants to bring a National Hockey League franchise back in a smart, sustainable way, and he's tapped some of the sport's biggest champions to help him.

The big picture: Galvin, who earlier this year began conversations about a new metro Phoenix team with the NHL commissioner, has named Andrea Doan chair of his Advisory Panel on Pro Hockey to Arizona.

• Doan, wife of Arizona Coyotes legend Shane Doan, has been involved in the state's pro and youth hockey communities for two decades.
• Arizonan Lyndsey Fry, a member of the 2024 Olympic USA Women's Ice Hockey team, will lead community outreach efforts as co-founder of the Matt Shott Arizona Hockey Legacy Foundation, Galvin also announced this week.

Zoom in: Doan told Axios her family will do whatever it takes to help because "we've seen the vision of how hockey can work here."

Catch up quick: The Valley lost its NHL franchise last year following a lengthy fight over a new arena.

• The NHL facilitated the sale of the Coyotes to Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith, who moved the team to Salt Lake City and renamed it the Utah Mammoth.

What they're saying: "Losing a sports team ... it's a reputational hit. It's a black eye as to where you're going as a metropolitan area," Galvin told us.

What's next: Now that the advisory panel has been established, the group will work behind the scenes to answer two major questions: Who would own the franchise, and where would the team play?

The bottom line: "People in Phoenix want to cheer for a hometown team, and we're going to give them something to cheer about," Doan said.

Go deeper

Adelita Grijalva's win in the special election for Arizona's 7th Congressional District may be the key to releasing the Epstein files.

Driving the news: Grijalva, the Democratic nominee for the seat previously held by her father, former U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, handily defeated Republican Daniel Butierez yesterday.

Why it matters: The special election should lock up the 218th vote for Rep. Thomas Massie's (R-Ky.) discharge petition to force a vote on releasing the files associated with the investigation into the late Jeffrey Epstein.

• A tiny group of stubborn House Republicans, along with their Democratic colleagues, is poised to force an embarrassing vote for the Trump White House.
• Grijalva plans to sign the discharge petition if elected, a spokesperson told us.

What's next: Grijalva is expected to be sworn in when Congress returns from recess in early October.

• That tees up a floor vote on releasing the files in mid-October.

"Jimmy Kimmel Live!" is back on the air in Arizona, which isn't affected by Sinclair and Nexstar's blackout following the late-night host's reinstatement by ABC.

State of play: None of the ABC affiliates that broadcast in Arizona are owned by Nexstar or Sinclair, and neither owns any stations here, though Nexstar manages locally owned KAZT in Phoenix through a multi-year time brokerage agreement, per the Arizona Republic.

Driving the news: "Beginning Tuesday night, Sinclair will be preempting Jimmy Kimmel Live! across our ABC affiliate stations and replacing it with news programming," Sinclair said in a Monday evening statement.

• "Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show's potential return."
• Nexstar said yesterday its affiliates would also continue pre-empting the show, saying it stands by that "decision pending assurance that all parties are committed to fostering an environment of respectful, constructive dialogue in the markets we serve."

🏨 VAI Resort's planned opening this year in Glendale has been delayed, and its website now says it's "not ready to provide a specific opening date." (Arizona's Family)

🎓 ASU will launch a new conservation school using a $115 million donation, the largest in the school's history, from former Walmart Inc. chair Rob Walton. (AZcentral)

🍽️ The University Club, a members-only lunch club founded in 1965 and frequented by the state's movers and shakers, has closed. (KJZZ)

Fall technically started Monday, though we'll forgive locals for not noticing amid triple-digit high temperatures.

• So we asked our readers what they do to embrace the season when they can't count on colorful foliage and brisk temperatures to help them. Here's what you told us:

Decorate: Guy Finney puts LED lights along the roof, which he changes seasonally — blue for winter, green for spring, yellow for summer and red for autumn.

• Maleah McDonald, a student at ASU's downtown Phoenix campus, said, "love to trick my brain into thinking that I'm experiencing the same fall as the other states," including by decorating her home with autumn colors.

Eat, drink and be merry: McDonald also welcomes the season by making her room extra cold and sipping "a hot cup of pumpkin spice flavored anything."

• In addition to fall candles for seasonal decor, Megan Slattery told us she makes a crockpot apple pie dump cake with ice cream.

Embrace the season