I had the misfortune of having to cover the Glendale/Atlanta/Winnipeg gong show years ago and this is correct. The reason the Yotes stayed was because of the money Glendale ended up putting in etc. Atlanta's city council told the league to pound sand so they ended up moving.
Quote:
Originally Posted by timun
This, a thousand times over. People whine and whine "How come the NHL tries so hard to keep the Coyotes in Arizona?!", and this is why. The City of Glendale played ball, they did everything the League/Coyotes asked of them: they spent a boatload of money building an arena for them, they gave them a sweetheart deal on the lease/operating agreement. If the Coyotes were allowed to just bail on that market it would screw the entire North American pro sports industry up. If the Coyotes abandoned Glendale years ago every municipality on the continent would balk at ever publicly financing an arena again.
|