Per Friedman: Coyotes players told team moving to Utah starting next season (Mod warning post #50)

[Dead Coyote]

The lease in 2015 in fact was voided due to a conflict of interest clause invoked by the City of Glendale. A Glendale City attorney who worked on the arena negotiations wound up going to work for the Coyotes. The city council then voted 5-2 to void the lease....

Yes, but that wasn't why the Coyotes left or why Glendale wanted them out. Most people involved viewed it as a convenient cop out method because Glendale had wanted out for a while already and didn't think having the Coyotes would be profitable.

 

[Ted Hoffman]

I was saying on the BOH, it is somewhat surprising Spano wasn't part the coyotes saga.

This is obviously going off-topic, but I thought part of the Spano story was that among other things, Spano had forged bank documents and it wasn't until he had to put up money and/or one of his checks bounced that the details of his fraud became known and everything unraveled.

I only remember that because I remember a discussion here many years ago about fraud and some people wanted to argue that fraud is really, really easy to detect - like, "easier than getting insurance with Geico" easy - and I pointed out numerous instances where fraud had occurred and went years and no one noticed until someone stumbled across it or the person committing fraud got replaced and the new person realized what was going on.

 

[syz]

And for one last twist of the knife, the league has their last game against the Oilers, so the crowd will likely be mostly Oilers fans if it's anything like most Oilers/Coyotes games in Arizona.

 

[Boris Zubov]

Yes, but that wasn't why the Coyotes left or why Glendale wanted them out. Most people involved viewed it as a convenient cop out method because Glendale had wanted out for a while already and didn't think having the Coyotes would be profitable.

Never claimed that's why the team left, but it significantly altered the relationship between the team, the NHL & the city. It spurred another famous Bettman quote..."The Coyotes cannot survive in Glendale". What he really meant was that, "we're f***ing livid you took our $15M allowance away".

Unironically, the first thing Mereulo did when buying the team was spew that same bullshit at Glendale. Way to start out a relationship buddy. Maybe if he had tried to mend the fences with Glendale, the team would still have an NHL building to play at in the Valley.

 

[uncleben]

Maybe a footnote in all of this, has anyone seen or heard anything about the deal with Mullett Arena?

It was a 3 year deal they signed, but was there an out-clause or will the League/Meruelo/Smith need to buy out the contract?

 

[rt]

Maybe a footnote in all of this, has anyone seen or heard anything about the deal with Mullett Arena?

It was a 3 year deal they signed, but was there an out-clause or will the League/Meruelo/Smith need to buy out the contract?

They seem to be working out whether they can swap in the Roadrunners for the Coyotes. I assume with revised terms.

 

[PositiveCashFlow]

Too bad Kessel never got a game it. It would have been nice to see one game with him on the ice and the slogan "Fear the Fork"

 

[TheLegend]

Do you have actual facts to back this up or are you some bitter Yotes fan?
You know for sure NOBODY in Utah likes hockey? Try doing your little made up survey on Phoenix and area citizens. You dont see a single person anywhere wearing Yotes apparel unless you goto a game.. The local Lids and other fan apparel stores dont have their stuff either. All thats in the stores are Dbacks Suns Cardinals ASU Arizona and a bunch of other teams, but never the Yotes. Same at the gift shops at the airport.

And being from Edmonton you'd know what goes on in Arizona because you're limited experience tells you this???

 

[TheLegend]

The lease in 2015 in fact was voided due to a conflict of interest clause invoked by the City of Glendale. A Glendale City attorney who worked on the arena negotiations wound up going to work for the Coyotes. The city council then voted 5-2 to void the lease....but more importantly it also canceled the $15M Arena Subsidy that was really important to the NHL. It fueled more speculation that the Ice Edge clowns were simply a front & the league were still the actual owners.

That incident fueled one of the more famous lines from Bettman during this saga which was repeated verbatim minutes later by Anthony LeBlanc....

"The citizens of Glendale should be very concerned about the government that they have leading them right now" or something to that effect. LOL

I remember that quote...

Couple of things...

Of that $15 million annual lease, $5 million was for the operations of the arena itself. After that lease was terminated, Glendale was paying AGM $5.3 million to operate the arena.

The additional $9 million per year was what you could call a subsidy. One of the conditions of that extra $9 million was IceArizona had to create additional revenue streams to pay back the city. The first season they came up short. by about $1.3 million.

What was also little known was the city attorney has asked, and received, a conflict of interest waiver from the city. Glendale knew the Coyotes were going to hire him. So why issue a COI waiver if you're going to terminate a lease based upon a conflict.??

Had a long protracted debate over that in BoH and it got down to the point that the COI issue is actually part of Arizona state law and it's mandatory the clause is baked into every government contract.... AND it can't be superceded.

The makeup of the city council had just changed and two of the members who voted for that 15-year lease were replaced by completely new people that favored the mayor's agenda. So the tin foil hat in me wants to believe the COI letter was a ruse on the city council's part, to set this all up and get out of that lease. IceArizona bit on it and paid the price.

Bettman probably saw it that way hence that statement.

 

[NeelyWasAWarrior]

Salt Lake City is a great city for an NHL team. I was calling for them several years ago to get an expansion team.

The mountains surrounding the city is just bliss.

 

[TheLegend]

Yes, but that wasn't why the Coyotes left or why Glendale wanted them out. Most people involved viewed it as a convenient cop out method because Glendale had wanted out for a while already and didn't think having the Coyotes would be profitable.

But Glendale spent years trying to get the Coyotes to agree to a long term lease. All the way up to when they terminated the year to year lease. There's plenty of quotes from their city manager to back this up.

 

[Dead Coyote]

But Glendale spent years trying to get the Coyotes to agree to a long term lease. All the way up to when they terminated the year to year lease. There's plenty of quotes from their city manager to back this up.

That's...literally what I said?

 

[MMC]

 

[Empoleon8771]

Doan should be the next captain for the Coyotes/whatever they'll be called in Salt Lake City.

 

[Boris Zubov]

WTF?

 

[viper0220]

When will the accountment happen? This is just shameful, the good people in Arizona may never forgive the NHL for this.

Doan should be the next captain for the Coyotes/whatever they'll be called in Salt Lake City.

He is so well spoken.

 

[BB79]

So -- one step closer to Canada? Next they'll go to Wyoming, then Montana...

I wonder, what's the NHL franchise record for most relocations? This will be relocation #3 for the WinniPhoeniUtah Jets 1.0

 

[viper0220]

I wonder, what's the NHL franchise record for most relocations? This will be relocation #3 for the WinniPhoeniUtah Jets 1.0

I think, this maybe the record.

 

[BB79]

Too bad Kessel never got a game it. It would have been nice to see one game with him on the ice and the slogan "Fear the Fork"

That's why he eats hot dogs. No fork needed

 

[jigglysquishy]

I wonder, what's the NHL franchise record for most relocations? This will be relocation #3 for the WinniPhoeniUtah Jets 1.0

It's "only" the second relocation

 

[BB79]

I think, this maybe the record.

I think it's technically relocation #2 on second thought. 3rd city they've played in is probably more accurate wording. Still that's a lot in a relatively short time of 28 years

It's "only" the second relocation

I just updated as you replied, my bad

 

[brentashton]

I think it's technically relocation #2 on second thought. 3rd city they've played in is probably more accurate wording. Still that's a lot in a relatively short time of 28 years


I just updated as you replied, my bad

But it is 3 cities AND 2 leagues (WHA and NHL) for the same franchise. That has to be a record.

 

[Sniper99]

And being from Edmonton you'd know what goes on in Arizona because you're limited experience tells you this???

I travel to Phoenix quite a bit, I see whats in the stores etc and I know that there is nothing for Coyotes apparel. I also know a bunch of people from Utah that are pumped to have NHL hockey coming there way and looking forward to seeing guys like McDavid in person.

 

[BB79]

But it is 3 cities AND 2 leagues (WHA and NHL) for the same franchise. That has to be a record.

True. I hope they finally find their forever home, that's rough

 

[brentashton]

True. I hope they finally find their forever home, that's rough

It should have been Phx. There’s a real market and solid fan base there. Just one shitty owner after another that said “hold my beer”.