Globe and Mail reports that NHL may be loaning money to Phoenix Coyotes

They've done quite a bit of work renovating it. Haven't been there in a couple of years, but it was in pretty solid shape the last time I was there.

 

So, bottom line is the team is staying in Phoenix for at least the time being? Did I read that right?

 

Yes. They've agreed to a lease. The chief issue for the city is the team has a 5 year out clause, but at least until then things should be settled.

The group still hasn't purchased the team from the NHL. I'm told this group actually has money, unlike the last group, so that appears to be a formality.

 

Ok, I'll take the five-year thing if it means we don't have to keep rehashing this crap each and every spring and summer. A little stability should be good for everyone involved.

 

Why would the owners and the NHL stop the blackmail now? Now they know Glendale is 'willing to negotiate, ' they'll be back with more threats very quickly.

 

You'd think Sarver's cheapness and the Suns' irrelevance will help loosen a little money. For much of the Coyotes' existence, Steve Nash et al. have been a tough competitor for the entertainment dollar.

 

You still have to get to the arena. If there's one thing the Rays have proven, it's that no one will go to your games when your facility is far from the fan base, even if that team is a pennant winner.

 

This seems like oxymoronic logic.

Part I: the arena location is hard to get to for lots of people, thus hurting attendance and profitability.

Part II: we don't dare let the team leave, no matter how much public money we have to shell out, because the team is the only thing that keeps the arena profitable and we sure don't want the arena to go dark.

It sounds like a classic reason to cut your loses. If you don't want to build a better arena in a better location ---- and I realize there may not be an extra few billion lying around --- then what's your solution? Are more people going to start magically showing up and paying higher prices? Or are you going to be repeating the same "we're broke" lines five years from now?

Screw the restaurants, bars, shops and hotels. They'll get the message and move to a better location themselves within six months after the arena empties. No reason to keep pouring money down a bottomless black hole.

 

New Coyotes ownership group having a tough time closing the sale, according to Mike Sunnucks of the Phoenix Business Journal. Sunnucks, though, can't be counted on to be anything more than a stenographer. Owners face Monday deadline to close.

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2013/07/31/phoenix-coyotes-buyers-may-be-running.html?page=all

 

Or else what?

 

The lease agreement with Glendale is contingent on closing the deal by then. Of course, the city council can extend the deadline.

 

Any pro-sports arena story making any sort of reference to any kind of deadline should be required to follow the reference with a paragraph entitled, "Or else what?"

Usually, the answer is, "nothing."