Disclaimer: The comments in this blog are my personal opinion and may or may not reflect an adopted position of the city of Glendale and its city council.
Has anyone else noticed that Anthony LeBlanc, presumably still CEO of the Coyotes, has been publicly missing in the latest Coyotes dust-up? Where is he? We’ve heard from the General Manager, the Public Relations people, even Gary Bettman and Andrew Barroway…but not a peep or sighting of LeBlanc? Has he been muzzled or given his walking papers? Hmmm…who knows?
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman
It seems in the light of a new day NHL Commissioner Bettman is back peddling just a tad. Today, March 8, 2017 down in Florida he said the Phoenix area is a terrific hockey market. Yep, just follow the money, Mr. Bettman. Oh, again, by the way, has Ice Arizona paid the NHL the $70 million it borrowed to purchase the team, Mr. Bettman? Yet Glendale has proven its support with millions in cold, hard cash.
It seems you have drunk the IceArizona kool-aid and have joined in the mantra of blame Glendale for cancelling its long-term IceArizona arena management contract after 2 years. I guess you forgot about Craig Tindall and Julie Frisoni, City of Glendale employees who allegedly aided and abetted IceArizona while it was negotiating its management contract with the city. I guess you forgot that IceArizona allegedly represented that the city would recoup its $15 million a year payment by receiving “enhanced revenues” from parking fees, ticket surcharges, naming rights, etc.?
Did you know that IceArizona submitted its annual financial report to the city, kicking and screaming, at least 3 months after it was due? Did you know that while some of the financial numbers presented were audited numbers some of the critical revenue numbers the Coyotes claimed as proprietary and were not audited? Glendale was told trust us and don’t verify. As a result, each year of the 2 years the contract existed Glendale did not receive verifiable, audited numbers while it received revenues that never met the IceArizona representations…actually millions less than the represented numbers.
At what point did city council throw up its hands? After the alleged collusion between IceArizona and city employees? After it received revenues that in no way met the IceArizona representations? After the city’s inability to get verifiable, audited figures?
The city’s trust had been eroded by these alleged bad acts. Did you forget that these were the reasons why Glendale cancelled its contract with IceArizona? It’s so very convenient to point the finger at Glendale and say, it’s all your fault. You’re the bad guys because you cancelled the contract while conveniently ignoring or forgetting alleged prior bad faith acts on the part of IceArizona. And it’s so much easier to say that fans won’t come to games in Glendale.
How soon you forget. Remember the recent season the Coyotes made the play-offs? The arena was filled…it was magical…seas of white out shirts…fan excitement…distance to travel to a game didn’t matter to see a winning team. The real question to be asked by all is this…is this team now unprofitable because the product on the ice is bad and Valley fans are not motivated to go to the games anywhere they are held or is it, as you claim, because the East Valley will not travel to the West Valley to support hockey? I suspect it is the former reason.
Mr. Bettman, your ultimatum to the people of Arizona created a backlash that you cannot reverse or contain. You angered not just members of your fan base but the general taxpayer population as well. And guess what? You can’t put this genie back in the jar.
Here are just a few of the comments reported by the Arizona Republic’s Facebook page since Bettman and Barroway delivered their ultimatum of pay for a new arena or we leave:
- ): “I have to say I am a huge coyotes fan. Every game I’m not at I’m watching. But I can tell you if you’re going to issue an ultimatum to the taxpayer to pay for your Stadium or you’re leaving. Then pack your bags and get out. You guys don’t put a winning product on the ice and you’re going to lose the face of the franchise as soon as you try to to trade him or he retires and that’s game over. So tired of sports teams thinking everything should be handed to them on a silver platter as if they provide some service to society that’s beneficial.”
- “I’m a diehard hockey fan. However, I do not support tax payer funded playgrounds that billionaires benefit from. They make the money, we just pay for the playground and the. To also watch the games. There is not one instance where a publicly funded arena – for any sport – has left the municipality ahead. It is always to their detriment. Case in point Chase Field.”
- “You might have a bargaining chip if you had a consistent winning team. People are drawn to winners. Start winning and more people will come. DO NOT blame your revenue problems on Glendale, when it is your own doing.”
Channel 12 TV news is running a current online poll with the question being, Has the time come to tell the Coyotes to leave Arizona? Results as of this writing: Yes 67% and No 33%.
The Arizona Republic in a recent story cited the cost to taxpayers to have publicly funded the construction of sports venues in the Valley. The numbers are astounding and the total of $1.1 billion is just for the building of 4 existent sports venues:
- Suns $90 M
- Diamondbacks $354 M
- Coyotes $220 M
- Cardinals $455 M
The acknowledgement that IceArizona has lost millions annually does nothing, absolutely nothing, to convince taxpayers that IceArizona merits this kind of investment. Their losses do nothing to assure taxpayers that they can hold up their end of the bargain and will be able to invest $170 million of their own money, what money? into the deal.
To the team owners…it’s time for cooler, saner heads to prevail. Stop bad mouthing Glendale for your failures. Come back to the table. AEG stands ready to negotiate a mutually beneficial arrangement with you – one that is fair to all. That kind of arrangement will win the support of Glendale. It’s time to concentrate your energies on reviving superior management, a robust marketing strategy and a team that wins your fans back.
© Joyce Clark, 2017
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I hope you’ve sent this to the legislators Joyce. Your common sense seems to be something a few of them are lacking. Maybe just maybe you will trigger their memories and this SB 1149 can be a distant memory.
If they would put a decent team on the ice the arena would be filled!
We all know the using Tindall and Frisoni as an excuse to get out of the deal was nonsense. Glendale found a loophole and exploited it. Now, you will pay the price.
You can present all the points you want. You can have the west valley legislatures stand firm against the deal (Which was DOA and is still DOA) the bottom line is Glendale will be without an anchor tenant. Here is reality. The deal they voided may have cost the COG $1-$2M more than the AEG deal. But, and a huge but the Coyotes had to provide a certain # of events or be fined. Why wasnt AEG held to the same standard?
When the Yotes leave, the south end of Westgate will become a ghost town. AEG will exercise its out clause. They haven’t been able to fill all the spots even with the Coyotes. I would bet the lost tax revenue would more than made up for the difference in what the COG pays AEG and what the Net amount they would have paid the Yotes. The arena will be a white elephant. The COG will eat the bond and bull doze it and try to sell it to recover its money. Was cancelling the deal worth that?
Your point on if the Coyotes have paid the NHL back is pointless. They know the bottom line is that if the team needs to be relocated they will get their money back. The loan they needed the $15M Glendale payment that went to the Fortress Loan has been paid off. Glendale canceled the deal over $1-$2M a year. Was it worth it now? Weiers played a high stakes game of chicken and lost…………..badly.
History will show this was a great deal gone bad. There will be lots of villains and no hero’s. The council that cancelled the deal will be the ones to bear the brunt. They made a poorly thought out decision. My Hugh and others refused to understand there isnt enough events to make up for the loss of the Coyotes. I will be respectful but he made a huge miscalculation. 99.9% of the people in Glendale know that.
When a new arena is built on the east side (And I am 100% sure it will) that will make Gila River less attractive.
By the way. You have incorrect numbers on the public spending on the Suns and Diamondbacks buildings. For the Suns, the city of Phx put in $35M of the $90M. The rest was private money. The D-Backs put in 29% in the beginning and since then they have put in 45 % of what the county has. I just looked that up earlier. Didnt the Cardinals and NFL put in over $100M? Glendale got suckered by a snake oil salesman. Elman ran from Scottsdale when they asked him to prive he had financing to complete the project. Glendale didnt make the same request. How late was Elman in getting financing?
See. you have many fair points about the Coyotes and their role in this. The reality is both sides bear fault. Its to bad that Weiers was so blind when he decided to cancel the deal.
James,
Don’t expect an answer from Joyce. She still won’t answer and explain why the city continues to drown in red ink from camelback ranch and the previous two Super Bowls. Let’s not forget about final four debacle about to occur. And further Jerry still refuses to answer for a $17 million give away to the Bidwells for tax payer gift parking garage. Taking count the city 0-4, soon to be 0-5 and I hope this trend continues. It’s time to forget about where Tony is and start asking….where’s Weires!
And what about all that money wasted fighting Desert Diamond? How did that work out for the COG?
The reason the COG is drowning in red ink on Camelback Ranch is quite clear and public. Glendale was to have the payments and stadium paid back by the rental car tax the Arizona State Tourism Authority (something like that). That was the same method other spring training sites had been paid for. One rental car company sued the state that the tax was illegal. That ended the tax and also the repayment method that Glendale had agreed to. To make it worse, when the site was finished, part of the land was in Phx so Glendale paid for the stadium and Phx got some of the tax revenue that site generated. That was years ago and may have been cleaned up, What it speaks to is the Mayor at the time was a sleep at the wheel. The COG and the Camelback Ranch and the Coyote arena were solid deals when made. Problem is the city didnt vette Elman at all. In their haste, they got in bed with the devil.
Now I see that Scruggs comes out with an opinion about the Yotes new deal. With her track record I would stay quiet if I was her. She allowed the city manager to deceive the council.
Joyce. You supported the Jamison deal with ZERO money coming back to the city. Were you wrong for doing that? How can you rip the deal the COG tore up that returned money to Glendale?