Arizona Coyotes: Glendale Arena Lease Court Update

Arizona Coyotes Court Case vs City Of Glendale News

Superior Count Judge Dawn Bergin made a decision in the Gila River arena court battle on Monday. She decided that the City of Glendale owes the Arizona Coyotes $3.75 million for it’s quarterly payment due for managing the arena. She also protected the COG should they win the case, by increasing the bond payment from the hockey club from $250,000 to $1 million. The judge gave the city until Wednesday to make the payment.

Monica Lindstrom — legal analyst for KTAR News was on Doug & Wolf show to discuss the court proceedings, and what happened. She mentioned that the City of Glendale can recoup ALL the money paid to the Coyotes if they win the lawsuit.

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Listen to her interview here:

COG arena court case

The entire case will be determined on whether Craig Tindall, the former city attorney who worked for the city, and then went to work for the hockey team, was involved in the negotiations to formulate the lease of the arena.

I’ve written about this before, and I just don’t see a solution anytime soon to this crazy situation that the Arizona Coyotes find themselves in with the arena lease battle. As we all know, when the lawyers get involved it costs money, and time. Granted the team will be playing here this season, since the schedule has already been set by the NHL. But, beyond that it is anyone’s guess.

What worries me the most is when Andrew Barroway sold his majority ownership to the other partners. IF you want to think that the team COULD be moving to Las Vegas for the ’16-’17 season this development makes you wonder. On one hand I don’t see the 30 NHL owners saying, “Yeah, sure let them move, we’ll give up the $16.667 MILLION we were to get if Vegas was awarded an expansion franchise, versus what we would get if they re-locate.” See, I just don’t think they became millionaires making stupid financial decisions like that.

The attorney for the Coyotes, James Condo complained that the city waited nearly two years to bring this so called conflict-of-interest claim to light, even though Tindall’s employment with the team ended in September of 2013. The city’s attorney, Cynthia Ricketts countered that the state law gives the city three years to terminate a contract based on conflict-of-interest proven charges.

City Attoney Michael Bailey reported that the city’s losses were as high as $10 million annually, but varied by quarter. Judge Bergin explained,

"“I understand that losses on a contract, those are not damages. You make a bad deal, you make a bad deal, right? I’m trying to look forward to determine what might be a measure of damages if the Coyotes did not prevail.”"

The two sides with begin depositions on July 7th, and evidentiary hearings scheduled for July 31, August 7, and August 10.

Glendale officials still state that they want the team to renegotiate a more favorable contract for the city, while the team states they have followed the terms of the contract, and that they expect the city to do likewise. The chances of this getting settled out of court seem to be thin, but yet possible. The judge had a good point about making a bad deal. It seems Glendale has made it’s bed and now it refuses to sleep in it.

The part that hurts the team is their image is again being damaged. When GM Don Maloney was trying to sign free agents, he stated there were questions about the possibility of the team being booted out of the arena, and what the Plan B would be if that happened. Maloney’s response was that they stay positive and hope for the best. What else can he say? If the Yotes win this off ice battle, they may walk away with some damages due to the city’s attempt to exit a legal, binding agreement.

So, how many Glendale council members might be re-called when the city must cut additional services, or eliminate more jobs because of the blunders they made? Glendale is in a tough spot, and I think they know it. It will be intriguing to see how they wiggle out of this one.

TUNE IN NEXT TIME, ALL YOU SOAP OPERA FANS… (insert organ music here…) WILL THE MAYOR OF GLENDALE PLAY GOALIE FOR CHARITY, OR WILL HE BE MORE AFRAID OF THAT WITH COYOTES PLAYERS SHOOTING 100 MPH SLAP-SHOTS AT HIM, THAN GETTING TASED?

I wouldn’t miss this one… I mean you can’t record it on your DVR… right?

Next: Arizona Coyotes: Glendale Dropping The Gloves

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