The City of Glendale released notice late Tuesday night that the city council has called a special meeting to discuss and possibly direct the city manager and city attorney to cancel the professional management services and arena lease agreement with the Arizona Coyotes' ownership group, IceArizona.
The special meeting will be held Wednesday.
Coyotes outside counsel Nick Wood and co-owner Anthony LeBlanc issued a joint statement following the notice of the special meeting.
“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,” said Wood. “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.”
“This action by the City of Glendale is completely ludicrous, especially in light of the fact that myself and [majority owner] Andrew Barroway visited with the City yesterday and the particulars of this were never raised,” said LeBlanc. “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.”
TSN's Rick Westhead reported in May that senior elected officials within the city were exploring this option. Both mayor Jerry Weiers and vice mayor Ian Hugh were among the city council members that voted against a new lease agreement in 2013 that ultimately spared the Coyotes from having to relocate.
Both councilmembers raised concerns over a number of things in the report, including Barroway's recent purchase of a majority stake in the team, how the money was being distributed and the financial losses the team was facing.
Oddly enough, the Coyotes had a town hall meeting for fans Tuesday. LeBlanc was asked to address the uncertainty in the lease agreement and the team's relationship with the city. According to a transcript released by the Coyotes earlier Tuesday, here is what LeBlanc had to say:
“When we had the vote with the city of 2013, [Weirers] came up to me afterwards, and he said, ‘look, at the end of the day I wasn't a supporter of the deal, but I want to do what I need to do to work with the Coyotes and make things work. I take him as a man of his word, and he reiterated that yesterday. Having that said, we did make comments that we were disappointed in some of the things that some of the council members had said to members of the media, particularly members of the media in Canada, that quite frankly were untrue. It was unnecessary.
“The relationship with any governmental agency is going to be trying at times just because of the politics that are involved, but we look forward to growing that relationship and continuing to foster it.”
Looks like that relationship is going to need some serious patching up, because it's pretty clear neither side is on the same page right now.
It's important to remember that this is only in the discussion stage, but it should also be noted that two of the four councilors that voted for the arena deal in 2013 are no longer in office according to Westhead.
This news will obviously be watched with great interest in markets that crave an NHL team via expansion or relocation.
Where this goes next is anyone's guess, but this is one gigantic curveball thrown at the NHL as the end of the 2014-15 season nears.
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