GLENDALE, Ariz – I must say that I am shocked, but not surprised, that the Glendale City Council voted last night to terminate their Gila River Arena lease agreement with the Arizona Coyotes. I’m not surprised because it seems painfully clear that this was a foregone conclusion. But for the formality of the vote, which came back 5-2 in favor of termination, this outcome had been decided long ago. Basically, Glendale Mayor Jerry 
Weiers and Vice Mayor Ian Hugh have been trying to undo this agreement since they came out on the losing end of the original vote nearly two years ago. Now they’ve finally managed to succeed…at least for the moment.
The Council’s vote passed by a 5-2 margin, but the matter is almost certainly not over. Quite the contrary, it’s only beginning. And it promises to get ugly. Coyotes Chairman and CEO Anthony LeBlanc appears determined to make good on his promise to file a $200 Million lawsuit against the City of Glendale for breach of contract and resultant damages. They will certainly file for an injunction that will allow them to continue playing at Gila River Arena while the matter is determined in court. This is not an ideal situation, obviously, but it could be a workable one for the Coyotes.
Now, I’m no lawyer, but this seems like an open and shut case. Evidently it all revolves around the employment status of Craig Tindall, who was forced to resign his position as the City Attorney of Glendale in April of 2013 and took a job with the Coyotes in August of that year. He received his regular salary from the City of Glendale until the beginning of September, as part of his severance agreement. The city is claiming that they have the right to terminate the agreement, pursuant to Arizona Revised Statute #38-511, because Tindall was effectively employed by both the city and the team while their new agreement was renegotiated.
Since Tindall had no direct involvement with the negotiations, it seems unlikely that they will be successful in their claim that he had a “significant impact” on the agreement (a key element of the statute). In fact, during the entirety of the negotiations he wasn’t actually working for either entity. His service with the City of Glendale ended on April 1, and his employment with the Coyotes began on August 1. The deal was negotiated and agreed upon during the time in between, so he had no impact whatsoever on the negotiations. In his role prior to being forced to resign, he had a hand in drafting earlier contracts that the City of Glendale attempted, unsuccessfully, to negotiate with various prospective buyers. Because of that, there may be some similarities to the previous contracts that he had helped draft and the existing deal that the Coyotes signed, but he was not directly involved in the current deal in any manner.
In addition, the Arizona State Bar Association previously investigated conflict of interest claims and found that there was no conflict. So, in essence, Glendale’s central claim has already been investigated and found to have no merit. While the ruling of the ASBA is not legally binding in court, I can’t imagine that any court would find rule differently. On top of that, City Council member Gary Sherwood conceded that the Council had already waived any conflict of interest claim in this matter.
The City of Glendale made no secret of their desire to renegotiate their deal with the Coyotes in advance of last night’s vote. Indeed, they’ve been shouting it from the rooftops since March. This leads me to believe that their whole endgame in this gambit wasn’t to terminate the lease, but to use the threat of termination to extort a better deal. This strikes me as nothing more than a shakedown on the part of the City of Glendale. And apparently they aren’t even attempting to keep their scheme a secret. Councilman Bart Turner, attempting to point the finger of blame at the Coyotes, said the fault of legal action would all fall on the Coyotes. He said it all could have been avoided if the team had agreed to renegotiate the contract. Mayor Weiers stated after the vote that “We believe (the Coyotes) broke the law”. Yet, the council seems to be suggesting that it would all be overlooked if the team agrees to renegotiate a better deal for the city.
My question is, why would the Coyotes agree to renegotiate? Given that they had no obligation to do so, and that the City of Glendale has done nothing but interfere with their ability to turn things around and begin to make some money for both the team and the city, why would they feel any need or any desire to help out the city? The City of Glendale has not acted as a partner since Day One of this agreement, and has done nothing but make things difficult for the team when they should be working together. If they had cooperated, even a little bit, the financial pictures of both the City of Glendale and the Arizona Coyotes might look a little brighter by now.
In the short run, it’s going to be a tough year (or longer) for the Coyotes. But then…what else is new? This is business as usual for the Coyotes. In the long run, I agree with many who think this may pave the way for a move by the Coyotes…to Phoenix.
Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton has hinted that the city is in preliminary talks with the Phoenix Suns about building a new arena for the team in downtown Phoenix. If that should come to pass, and things don’t work out between Glendale and the Coyotes, it would be easy to imagine a scenario in which the new building is designed to accommodate both NBA basketball and NHL hockey. A move to downtown Phoenix would resolve many of the Coyotes’ difficulties of operating in Glendale, chief among them the vast distance between the Valley’s population center and their home arena. Playing downtown would make the Coyotes far more accessible to East Valley residents who can now only manage to attend occasional games, primarily on weekends.
Any such move is purely speculation at this point, obviously, but it seems pretty certain that a new arena will be built for the Suns, sooner rather than later. If the Coyotes are looking for a new home at that time, Phoenix may be their best option.
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