General Ongoing Coyotes saga thread

[trublmaker]

And Bettman is still adamant about keeping the team there, he's a weird little dude.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by trublmaker

And Bettman is still adamant about keeping the team there, he's a weird little dude.

Why wouldn't he be? The city is literally paying for them to stay.

[Stay Golden]

The City council of Glendale is coming off as nieve and Daly and Bettman are coming accross as your typical Con men.
Thats JMO.

"oh sure sure no worries mam just sign here your investment is safe, trust us your in good hands"


Bettman must be saying as they hop in the Limo can you believe "those suckers they are invested again haha. So Bill where do you want to go Bistro 24 then over to Centerfolds before we head back".
Hey Gary " call up Candy for the girls lets make it rain"

[troutman]

Originally Posted by valo403

Why wouldn't he be? The city is literally paying for them to stay.

And the NHL is still losing money.

Revenues would be much better in Quebec. I don't get it at all.

[troutman]

Coyotes CEO 'confident' team is staying in Glendale
http://ktar.com/6/1524462/Coyotes-CE...ng-in-Glendale

But Coyotes President/CEO Mike Nealy said he's confident that the team will stay in Glendale. Behind the scenes, there's been activity to that end.

"We are not in a scenario that the team is leaving, and we're just trying to keep this quiet until we get through the season," he said.

"Contrary to that, there is a lot of activity. It is well known that the National Hockey League wants us to stay here. (At least) two ownership groups are out there and they are trying to get this thing done in the near term."

Nealy would not identify who the potential owners are. Former San Jose Sharks CEO Greg Jamison and Chicago Bulls and White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf have both been reported as heading groups believed to be interested in the team.

Nealy said it's possible that the sale could happen within the next few weeks.

"It won't be long before we know," said Nealy. "From a positive standpoint, we'll find out hopefully soon that we're here ... and who we're here with ... and that we can move on."

"This regular season, we sold 60,000 more tickets than we did two years ago," he said. "One of our goals was to sell tickets. I think there was a history of giving a lot of tickets away. We gave away 50,000 fewer tickets this season."

We should distinguish the last comment - there is giving away tickets for nothing, and giving away tickets at really low prices. The last comment does not account for how very cheap tickets are also given away in Phoenix.

[VladtheImpaler]

Originally Posted by troutman

And the NHL is still losing money.

Revenues would be much better in Quebec. I don't get it at all.

Well, they clearly want to be in that market - I assume they are worried that if they leave, they might not get back in. Thus, they'll do what they can to stay. I am sure they realize they are in the wrong location, but if they hope to get back into Metro Phoenix or Scottsdale, they have to at least look like they did everything they could for Glendale.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by VladtheImpaler

Well, they clearly want to be in that market

That's what I don't understand. Only 6,000 households watch regional Coyote TV games. A large percentage of attendees at the games are snow-birds supporting the visiting team. Tickets are dirt cheap. Local interest in the home team is not there.

[Stay Golden]

So has the Glendale city council decided to continue to pay the NHL the usual 25 million for 2013 or not?

I see earlier in this thread a mention of 11 million. Is that that their new proposal or something?

[Notorious Honey Badger]

Wow. If I was a Glendale resident I'd be marching on city hall with torches to tear Scrugs and the city council to pieces. The financial disaster and burden they've levied on their own city is stupefying.

[automaton 3]

It should be an interesting lease negotiation with the City if there is in fact a qualified interested party. The City appears to be signaling that they are no longer interested, or simply can't afford to continue the current level of subsidy.

If you can believe Scrugg's comments, no one has contacted the City yet.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by Stay Golden

So has the Glendale city council decided to continue to pay the NHL the usual 25 million for 2013 or not?

I see earlier in this thread a mention of 11 million. Is that that their new proposal or something?

They don't even want to give them the 25 million for this year!

In fact, they've guaranteed to the NHL that they're not getting the 25 million agreed to. The NHL is getting $20 million at the most. They're trying to get the rest of that $20 million back, too (it's in escrow). The city has a $30 million budget deficit crisis.

[mister__big]

Originally Posted by troutman

That's what I don't understand. Only 6,000 households watch regional Coyote TV games. A large percentage of attendees at the games are snow-birds supporting the visiting team. Tickets are dirt cheap. Local interest in the home team is not there.

The huge population in metro Phoenix (5th largest metro population in US IIRC) has blinded Bettman to the fact that no matter what he does, the Coyotes are not popular and will not make it there. Just like they desperately held onto a large but unprofitable market in Atlanta, the NHL will exhaust all options before even consider moving the Coyotes to Quebec.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by troutman

And the NHL is still losing money.

Revenues would be much better in Quebec. I don't get it at all.

And when did Quebec appeared as a legitimate option in this whole scenario? Certainly not before last season.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by Sidney Crosby's Hat

They don't even want to give them the 25 million for this year!

In fact, they've guaranteed to the NHL that they're not getting the 25 million agreed to. The NHL is getting $20 million at the most. They're trying to get the rest of that $20 million back, too (it's in escrow). The city has a $30 million budget deficit crisis.

I'd love to see their case for removing money from escrow, the whole point of putting it there is so you can't refuse to hand it over when it's due.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by valo403

I'd love to see their case for removing money from escrow, the whole point of putting it there is so you can't refuse to hand it over when it's due.

Because they "really need it" and didn't think they'd ever have to pay it.

You can't make this stuff up!

[valo403]

Originally Posted by Sidney Crosby's Hat

Because they "really need it" and didn't think they'd ever have to pay it.

You can't make this stuff up!

Do you think they'll actually make a play to recover that money, and to avoid paying out what they agreed to, or is this just optics? I tend to think it's the latter, and they know that they're on the hook, but this whole thing has been full of bizarre turns.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by valo403

Do you think they'll actually make a play to recover that money, and to avoid paying out what they agreed to, or is this just optics? I tend to think it's the latter, and they know that they're on the hook, but this whole thing has been full of bizarre turns.

I agree. There's nothing they can do since the money is already in an escrow account that the NHL controls. I do think they're not going to give the NHL the extra $5 million owed, though.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by valo403

And when did Quebec appeared as a legitimate option in this whole scenario? Certainly not before last season.

True - but Winnipeg would have been the option before.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by troutman

True - but Winnipeg would have been the option before.

And then where does Atlanta go?

[troutman]

Originally Posted by valo403

And then where does Atlanta go?

I don't know when True North internally shifted their focus to Atlanta, but prior to that, Phoenix was always the target.

Through this entire fiasco, there has always been a soft place in Canada for the Coyotes to land.