Glendale trying to end lease agreement with Coyotes

[CarltonTheBear]

More trouble in Arizona, the city has called a city council meeting for tonight to consider if they should cancel the lease agreement the city has with the team. From TSN:

The City of Glendale has called for a special meeting on Wednesday to determine whether to end an arena lease agreement with the Arizona Coyotes, further clouding the team's future in the desert.

The meeting agenda calls for the city council to consider whether to cancel the professional services and arena lease agreement between Glendale and IceArizona, which co-owns the Coyotes with Andrew Barroway.

The agenda referenced an Arizona statute that allows an agency to cancel a contract if an employee significantly involved with the agreement becomes an employee or agent of the other party to the contract. Former Glendale city attorney Craig Tindall has been the Coyotes' general counsel since 2013 after stepping down from his position with the city.

The meeting agenda was posted just hours after Coyotes officials denied being in breach of the contract during a state-of-the-team media session.

AZCentral has more context on this and information on the role Tindall has played: http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/glendale/2015/06/09/glendale-vote-coyotes-deal/28777933/

The Yotes released this statement on their website:

In response to the posting issued this evening by the City of Glendale of a special meeting of council tomorrow to explore the possibility of canceling the professional management services and arena lease agreement between the City of Glendale and IceArizona, Nick Wood, of the Law Firm Snell & Wilmer, outside counsel for the Arizona Coyotes issued the following statement:

?This is a blatant attempt to renege on a valid contract that was negotiated fairly and in good faith and in compliance with all laws and procedures. In the event the City Council initiates any action to revoke, repeal or otherwise rescind the agreement, the Coyotes will immediately take all actions available to them under the law against the City of Glendale.?

Coyotes Co-owner, President and CEO Anthony LeBlanc added, ?This action by the City of Glendale is completely ludicrous, especially in light of the fact that myself and Andrew Barroway visited with the City yesterday and the particulars of this were never raised. 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.?

 

[Kin]

I haven't been this surprised at a reasonable, sensible union dissolving since Kris Humphries and Kim Kardashian got divorced.

 

[L K]

I haven't been this surprised at a reasonable, sensible union dissolving since Kris Humphries and Kim Kardashian got divorced.

I'm not sure what I'm more disappointed in.  That the Coyotes-Glendale saga manages to be a new form of clown show every single year or that your breadth of pop culture reference includes failed Kardasiah marriages.

I think it's time to borrow Jeb's rifle on this one.

 

[Kin]

I'm not sure what I'm more disappointed in.  That the Coyotes-Glendale saga manages to be a new form of clown show every single year or that your breadth of pop culture reference includes failed Kardasiah marriages.

I think it's time to borrow Jeb's rifle on this one.

In all fairness to me, I like to think of that primarily as a reference to the personal life of noted ex-Toronto Raptor Kris Humphries.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I think it's time to borrow Jeb's rifle on this one.

I never really followed this too too closely before, in the past did the city ever push against the team like this? I always thought Glendale, the Coyotes, and Bettman were all somewhat on the same page with trying to keep the team in the arena. In a situation like this though I could see Bettman just throwing his hands up in the air and saying sorry Yotes fans, we tried everything we could but your city council wants us out.

 

[Kin]

I never really followed this too too closely before, in the past did the city ever push against the team like this? I always thought Glendale, the Coyotes, and Bettman were all somewhat on the same page with trying to keep the team in the arena. In a situation like this though I could see Bettman just throwing his hands up in the air and saying sorry Yotes fans, we tried everything we could but your city council wants us out.

Well, except remember that Bettman has never been motivated by a deep concern for Coyotes fans. It's been his commitment to convincing cities that building sports arenas with public money won't leave them in a terrible position.

Given that the only reasonable argument for Glendale for sometime now has been "Sure, you'd have been better off lighting your money on fire but things will actually somehow be worse if the Coyotes leave" I don't think this really changes things. I could buy Bettman accepting the reality that no matter what happens from here on in the sensible people on city councils in both countries will point to Glendale as an example of why not to invest public money in making the people who own NHL teams richer but being as that nonsense still has traction in places like Detroit and Edmonton, Bettman will probably still feel the obligation to work to make the situation as good as possible in Glendale.

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

Purely speculative, but I wonder if this would still be happening if Arizona had won the draft lottery.

 

[Kin]

Purely speculative, but I wonder if this would still be happening if Arizona had won the draft lottery.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you might be overestimating the reach of Connor McDavid there.

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

Purely speculative, but I wonder if this would still be happening if Arizona had won the draft lottery.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you might be overestimating the reach of Connor McDavid there.

Geez, overestimating just by merely wondering?  I know your average Arizona city councillor probably isn't a die-hard hockey fan or anything close to it, but it wouldn't be so hard to draw some parallels to the situation of Quebec drafting Lindros and ending up as a highly successful Cup-winning franchise in Colorado not long after.  Of course they'd have to be informed of and understand those potential parallels first...

 

[Kin]

Geez, overestimating just by merely wondering?  I know your average Arizona city councillor probably isn't a die-hard hockey fan or anything close to it, but it wouldn't be so hard to draw some parallels to the situation of Quebec drafting Lindros and ending up as a highly successful Cup-winning franchise in Colorado not long after.  Of course they'd have to be informed of and understand those potential parallels first...

Well, I did say "might". And I'm guessing the story of the team that drafted the big deal super star and then still had to move five years later wouldn't do a ton for them.

 

[Highlander]

After spending the last 3 winters in Scottsdale and going to plenty of Coyotes games  it is very frustrating to see them in this situation. Glendale is a hike for everyone, unless you live in Glendale. The surrounding resto's and theatres are great and it is a fun atmosphere. The fantastic Cardinals stadium is right across the street.
They get a good crowd, there are quite a few loyal Yotes fan, one guy like Davey Crokett walks around with a Yote head on his hat.  Of course many snowbirds habit the stadium in their home team jerseys much the same as Tampa, Panthers or any southern city.
What is really frustrating outside of this is that Phoenix/Scottsdale sports over 4 million people, it is quite a base to build on.  Some of the upscale folks I have met there used to go to the games when it was in the downtown Phoenix stadium, the said it was easy to get to and was building a following, perhaps Glendale is  like putting the A.C Center is some hard to reach suburb like Brampton. In any case it seems to have killed the Scottsdale crowd that has the real spending power.
Looks like they may end up being the "Lost Vegas Wages" in a rink that is in the heart of the action right off the center strip.  What did they say about business? Location, Location, Location. 

 

[Kin]

What did they say about business? Location, Location, Location.

They actually say that about Real Estate.

 

[Highlander]

resto's, and just about every other business!

 

[bustaheims]

resto's, and just about every other business!

Only those that require storefronts, which, again, goes back to it being about real estate.

 

[Kin]

resto's, and just about every other business!

Um, well, I suppose location is important to most businesses but the quote is about real estate.

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

resto's, and just about every other business!

Um, well, I suppose location is important to most businesses but the quote is about real estate.

Yeah, but you have to admit it's also important in darts.

 

[Kin]

Yeah, but you have to admit it's also important in darts.

Prostate exams too, but we're trying to keep it classy.

 

[L K]

Yeah, but you have to admit it's also important in darts.

Prostate exams too, but we're trying to keep it classy.

Eh, I like to mix it up when I do those.  I gain most of my knowledge of whether you have prostate problems from your history.  The exam is just a fun way to mess with you. 

(The history portion is largely true, the exam portion of a prostate assessment isn't overly high yield.  It has a 53% sensitivity [true positives that are actually determined to be a true positive by DRE] and an 85% specificity [normal exams that are truly normal])

In other words, 10% I tell you everything is fine and you might actually have cancer, and 20% of the time when I tell you your prostate is abnormal it is actually likely to be cancer and not just a normal variant or benign prostate enlargement.  Just to derail the thread from the thrilling real estate market.

 

[Kin]

Eh, I like to mix it up when I do those.  I gain most of my knowledge of whether you have prostate problems from your history.  The exam is just a fun way to mess with you. 

(The history portion is largely true, the exam portion of a prostate assessment isn't overly high yield.  It has a 53% sensitivity [true positives that are actually determined to be a true positive by DRE] and an 85% specificity [normal exams that are truly normal])

In other words, 10% I tell you everything is fine and you might actually have cancer, and 20% of the time when I tell you your prostate is abnormal it is actually likely to be cancer and not just a normal variant or benign prostate enlargement.  Just to derail the thread from the thrilling real estate market.

Well, it's like Jimmy Carr says. There's only one thing in the world more embarrassing than getting aroused during a prostate exam. And that one thing is when they discover that you're not a real doctor.

 

[L K]

And to get things back on track, Glendale council voted to end the terms of the lease with the Coyotes.  The vote went 4-3 in favour of ending the lease.

The big issue that makes this likely a legal right for Glendale is that Craig Tindell had a big hand in crafting the new lease for the City in April-June of 2013.  He then was hired by the Coyotes as General Counsel in August of 2013 and ended his relationship with the city in October of 2013.  Arizona law stipulates that a contract can be voided if a key party of the negotiation takes on a role with the other negotiating interest within 3 years of the initiation of an agreement.  It comes under Statute 38-511A.

Tindell did file his resignation papers with the city in April before the negotiations took place but he was involved in the lease negotiations so I don't think the NHL has much of a leg to stand on.  I think this ultimately has to be somewhat of a final straw in terms of their being any good will between the city and the NHL at this point however.  I mean, I know Bettman has to protect arena development, but how many times can the Coyotes drag the NHL through the "nobody wants you" mud before they have to just say enough is enough?

I think there is enough dysfunction within Glendale itself to counteract a lot of the negativity around city-funded arenas.  I mean the data has been out there for years that they are a bad investment for cities but it hasn't stopped further developments from moving forward.  I don't think Glendale becomes the block that topples the Jenga tower on most arena developments.  I think the only issues are going to come up when you have a team that isn't wanted by the city at time time of negotiations.