Follow @james_tanner123 The Coyotes have a super exciting future. They have the #3 pick in the upcoming draft, where they will potentially draft one of the best players ever to play for the team, they have a player many people think is the best defenseman in the NHL, and they have one of the most exciting prospect pipelines in the league.
But all the positives about the franchise are overshadowed by the constant talk of the team moving, most of which is just something for people to talk about because of the team's history and the fact that several other cities are currently building arenas and angling for their own team.
And it's annoying because I want to spend my time talking hockey, not about arena leases, city councilors or out-clauses. If the Coyotes ever leave, then fine, it happens and we'll move on. But the NHL has worked hard to keep the team there, the barriers for leaving are difficult and a move is unlikely. Not to mention a recent uptick in profits and solid ownership for what may be the first time in team history.
I don't want to waste my time writing about the business side of hockey anymore than you want to read about it.
All you need to know about the most recent news is that the City Council of Glendale (the actual city where the Coyotes play) has called a meeting to vote on whether or not to void the arena management deal they have with the team.
Basically, the city owns the arena and they pay the Coyotes $15 million annually to run it, which is a crucial component of the Coyotes making enough money to remain viable. The deal was reached several years ago and if they vote to break it, they'd likely end up in court for years.
If you want more information than that, chances are you already read one of the one-million cut and paste articles popping up on every sports/news site this morning. I have no interest in rehashing those and if you want that information, you know where to find it.
The team has responded by saying that "The Actions of the City of Glendale are completely ludicrous."
The NHL said, and I'm paraphrasing, that they have been informed that this has no merit and that they are extremely disappointed that the city would intentionally damage their product.
And that really is the gist of it. Why would the city damage their own product? An arena is bound to make you money in the long run, having an NHL team and 22 millionaires in your city buying things and paying taxes is a good thing. If the franchise ever takes off, the city will benefit.
While the Coyotes have a ton of fans, the reality is that with a decade + of "will they or won't they" moving speculation, it's pretty hard for many people to full-on dedicate themselves to the team when doing so carries the risk of having your heart ripped out when they move.
And by pulling what - as far as I can tell - is a political stunt with almost no chance of actually getting the team out of the deal short of a massive amount of litigation, all these people are actually doing is hurting their own bottom line.
I mean, the guy who brokered the deal refuses to attend this meeting, an auditor resigned her $95K / year job because she said the city was unacceptably altering her report on the arena-naming deal - these things take the already dubious professionalism of the city council and all but destroy it.
I don't know a lot about local politics, but I do recognize grandstanding when I see it. What else could you call this? The team is angry, the NHL is angry, and for what? Does any critical thinking person think the vote is going to cause the team to just agree to charge the city less money, or that they'll just agree to renegotiate their deal? Or that this will have any positive effect on the city, team or league?
Pure speculation on my part: This is about the political careers of those involved and has very little to do with the actual viability of the team in Arizona. I could be wrong, but by reading everything I can get my hands on - and boring myself to tears - that is my read on the situation.
It seems to me that working together to avoid litigation, to improve working relationship and most of all, to build trust with the fans would be the responsible, mature and profitable thing to do.
I mean, if you can't make a profit on a $15 million annual investment on a state-of-the-art arena on the other 300 days of the year when hockey isn't on, maybe you shouldn't have built an arena in the first place?
I mean, is this a soccer stadium in Brazil, or is it an arena just outside one of the biggest cities in America?
This whole thing is ridiculous. The Coyotes aren't going anywhere and all the council is doing is hurting the teams attendance and reputation for their own political reasons.
Seriously, this is so boring. Wake me up when there's hockey to talk about, cause this is just ridiculous. It's all I could do to keep this PG and somewhat informative. If you want to know the truth, I'm angry and it was all I could do to not write an expletive filled diatribe about the integrity and maturity of the people making this decision.
They signed this deal less than two years ago. They seem to be attempting to exploit a technicality to get out of it.
I wonder who has better lawyers, the city or the NHL?