Condensed your post with careful edits so integrity of content & context retained.....
A) Its going to take time for the smoke to clear, Glendale blowing things up, IceArizona rather than helping their cause adding even more smoke & haze with round after round of ineffective volleys from the Lawsuit, Media Blitz & Recall Campaigns.... In voiding the Lease the COG now has the upper hand & leverage in dealing with IA/NHL in crafting a new long~term Lease Agreement, something they had but never optimized back in 2013 when they floated the RFP for the same reason; to try & get some leverage, gain a foot up on IA. Ultimately though as we know essentially cratering, never using it. In considering both sides of this situation, I would suggest it is possible that the COG is in fact engaged in a disinformation campaign themselves, essentially pulling the same stunt they did in 2013 with the RFP only this time using it to really turn the screws on IA & secure an equitable long-term agreement.
C) And yes, it does appear the COG at least from reading inbetween the lines appears to want to retain the Coyotes but it doesnt wanna have much to do with IA, certainly not as the Arena Managers, certainly not at $15M, no performance clause, no transparency & so on. Unfortunately for Glendale they cant have their cake & eat it too. In todays NHL, the business model (with the exception of the Islanders) requires that management of the facility be enjoined to the franchise, simply cannot survive without controlling & capturing all possible revenue streams. Were right back to square one here MNN. The Coyotes provide a guaranteed 41 event dates, that building built for NHL hockey, their looking at a White Elephant if they leave, and absolutely no way does SMG or anyone else replace those 41 dates with 41+++ concerts & events anytime soon. So you tell me? Is the city engaging in a form Machiavellian manipulation in turning the tables & forcing IA to sit down & renegotiate or have they privately decided to evict, merely putting up a pretense? This whole RFP dealeo a blind, PR campaign to force IA & the NHL to renegotiate a fair & equitable deal.
Deleted the 2nd part, here, because it's not really important for the discussion. The main point of that was that the vote to cancel the lease, coupled with a rumored (true or not, makes no difference, really) attempt at relocation, left the team with literally no where to play unless they renegotiated the CoG.
As for the rest, I see your point. And, I very much agree. The place was built for hockey. But the place wasn't built to cause huge negative cash flow every year to get it.
I may be disagreeing with you Killion, but it looks to me like this....
No way can IA or any owner of the team play there without highly advantageous Arena Management terms.
City has never said anything about renegotiating with IA/Coyotes. It's always been IA talking about that. To me, this fits my narrative about a smoke screen to cover a lame duck year.
No real owner willing to play under equitable management terms could be found 2 years ago. What's different now? In fact, Jamison couldn't get investors when his lease with the city WAS really good.
Therefore, I can only conclude the following:
1) IF (and a big IF) CoG and IA actually negotiate, they will not be able to come to mutually agreeable terms, similar to Burke and Gluckstern not being able to come to terms with Minneapolis.
2) CoG will contract with SMG to manage the arena starting next July.
3) IA/Coyotes and CoG will negotiate quietly after the announcement about SMG is made.
4) IA/Coyotes will buy themselves out of year 2 of the current AMULA.
5) Relocation for 2016.
6) CoG will have an arena with about 30 dates instead of 55, but their financial status on said arena will be better than if they had 55 dates, with the hockey team dominating the revenues.
Now, I know that's a stretch. But it's the only way I can see to cover everything that's happened.