Actually no, the problems Glendale faces are worlds apart from those Winnipeg faced in the early to mid-90's. Glendale proper has a population of app. 350,000. Not much of a tax base to be building $200M arenas', supporting & propping up the team to the tune of another $200M. IMO, Steve Ellman (the developer behind Westgate & the Arena, former owner of the Coyotes pre-Moyes) sold Glendale a "Field of Dreams" when 2 other far superior locations were turned down as Salesman Steve was looking for some Big Time handouts. Glendale stepped up to the plate. From his initial pitch to the COG to stamped approvals?. 72hrs. Moyes was a partner & wound up owning the team, thereafter throwing the keys on Gretzkys' desk & allowing the Great One to run free run wild, hiring Mike Barnett, his former agent from IMG as GM, his brother as a Scout for $1.2M per year & on & on. Moyes trucking company, Swift got nailed when the economy tanked as you alluded to earlier, had no idea what he was doing with arena let alone a hockey team, but enough to know how to run up the costs for everything from $600 wastepaper baskets to extracting every sou possible from the league in revenue sharing. Location, pathetic performances year in year out, competition from 3 other Phoenix area venues for Concerts & events, just on & on. This was all about building Sandcastles in the desert using public money, a real estate play, a sports & entertainment juggernaut thats backfired very badly indeed. Though it wont be happening anytime soon, one hope would be amalgamation with the rest of the municipalities & cities throughout the Valley of the Sun. But for a city the size of Glendale?. Yikes....
