City of Glendale voting to void Arizona Coyotes arena deal
By Liam McGuire
The Arizona Coyotes just keep getting messier and messier.
Per Elliotte Friedman the club held a positive town hall with the Glendale City Council about their arena management contract and the City of Glendale is now in discussion to cancel their current contract worth $15 million per year – news which Friedman said “blind sided’ Coyotes ownership.
The City of Glendale will be voting on whether the city will continue the agreement.
The NHL released the following statement.
“We have been advised by the Coyotes that the City of Glendale’s contentions are without meter and we fully expect the Coyotes to continue to play at the Gila River Arena and for the City to continue to honour its obligations to the Coyotes. After everything that has transpired, it is extremely disappointing that the city of Glendale would do anything that might damage the Club.”
Here’s Coyotes Co-Owner, President and CEO Anthony LeBlanc’sstatement. He’s not happy.
This action by the City of Glendale is completely ludicrous, especially in light of the fact that myself and (fellow owner) Andrew Barroway visited with the City yesterday and the particulars of this were never raised,” LeBlanc said. “In fact, we to this moment have not been advised of this other than the notification on the City website. The City of Glendale is displaying a complete lack of good faith, business acumen or an understanding of a business partnership. We want to reassure our great fans that the Arizona Coyotes are committed to Glendale and playing at Gila River Arena.”
Per Friedman, the council is trying to void the deal on an Arizona statue.
If that happens, the organization may be faced with sudden relocation – but that’s not a sure thing. The team reportedly lost upwards of tens of millions of dollars last year and had trouble generating ticket sales. Their initial projections have the club making more money this season however. But all things considered, it may be time to bite the bullet and move on.
For all that’s happening, the Twitter account still seems to be taking the situation light-heartedly, listing the club as “still in Glendale.”
What is for sure, is the situation is only going to get worse before it gets better.