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May 24, 2010
NHL to Glendale: Local buyer this year, or Coyotes go to Winnipeg
Glendale's agreement to keep the Phoenix Coyotes in town just gets worse and worse: Not only has the city agreed to pay Jerry Reinsdorf $165 million if he buys the team from the NHL, and subsidize up to $25 million in team losses this year if he doesn't and the team remains in league hands, but now, it turns out, if no buyer is in place by December 31, the NHL will move the team to Winnipeg, where it originally played until moving to Arizona in 1996.
The clause in the agreement — officially completed on Friday, and leaked to the Globe and Mail — actually only says that if no local owner is found by the end of the year, the NHL can take advantage of a "bona-fide offer from a viable purchaser who would relocate the hockey team to another market." But according to the Globe and Mail, the only other buyer who the NHL has spoken to is True North Sports and Entertainment, which just happens to own Winnipeg's hockey arena.
While you can see why the NHL would want this clause — if the search for a Coyotes owner goes on much longer, it'll outlast Law and Order — but it leaves Glendale in an awful pickle: The city now must either give in to the demands of Reinsdorf (or his competitors for the team, Ice Edge), or else face spending $25 million to keep the team in town and then still losing the team. And even if one of the "local" buyers (one is from Chicago, the other from Canada) does sign on the dotted line, there's still an excellent chance that the team will be moved anyway a few years (and tens of millions more in taxpayer dollars) down the line.
At this point, you have to wonder if it wouldn't make sense for Glendale to just cut its losses and let the team go, already — after all, if Arizona is a viable hockey market, the NHL will be back eventually (Phoenix Predators, anyone?), and if not, it's going to be hard to keep the team there long-term. And besides, it'd make all the Winnipeg Jets fans happy.
Well, I guess that's what a city gets when it makes large financial decisions based on the advice of a seven-year old child. At any rate, it seems like the choice is either to write off Jobing.com arena (while continuing to pay for it), or to subsidize the tenant and in effect bribe them to occupy the place. It seems like it ought to be a simple financial exercise at this point: just determine which of the bad options is cheaper and go with it. But rationality is scarce when the decision involves professional sports.
Posted by Dave Boz on May 24, 2010 03:59 PM
Somewhere along the line, someone mentioned to me something about the "prestige" accorded a city which has a major league team. Apparently, this "puts you on the map", or something along these lines. Aww, who'm I fooling, this is on page 1 of the Relocation Threat Playbook.
In the politicians' copy of said book, there must also be a page about never, ever, asking about or even considering the cost of this prestige, no matter how vile, foul, and unconscionable it is, especially for someone in whom is vested the public trust. If they actually did consider this, a deal like this would have been laughed out of existence, not signed, sealed, and delivered. Ah, what a vaingloriously fantastic life it must be to be a politician; there is no creature on earth, neither man, beast, nor otherwise, so expertly and obliviously skilled at spending other people's money.
Posted by Tom on May 25, 2010 01:23 AM
Well, this nonsense is putting Glendale on the map of Stupidistan: what city wants to be known for being so foolish? If I'm an entrepreneur, I'd rather avoid the place (and not only because it's in Wingnuttia County AZ).
Posted by Anderson on May 25, 2010 01:26 PM
Well, putting these guys back in Winnipeg isn't any stupider than their leaving for PHX in the first place.
Posted by Marty on May 25, 2010 02:41 PM
ROTFLMAO. The city leaders of Glendale could have avoided this mess by accepting the Balsillie offer. Instead, they hitched their wagon to the NHL's boy blunder.
I suspect the city leaders of Glendale will become familiar with another chapter of the bankruptcy code, chapter 9. Who knows? Maybe they can get lucky and draw the same bankruptcy judge who is either ignorant or unfamiliar with bankruptcy law?
Posted by bevo on May 26, 2010 07:40 AM
ROTFLMAO. The city leaders of Glendale could have avoided this mess by accepting the Balsillie offer. Instead, they hitched their wagon to the NHL's boy blunder.
I suspect the city leaders of Glendale will become familiar with another chapter of the bankruptcy code, chapter 9. Who knows? Maybe they can get lucky and draw the same bankruptcy judge who is either ignorant or unfamiliar with bankruptcy law?
Posted by bevo on May 26, 2010 07:41 AM
The city of Glendale was $15M in debt but not to worry they made cuts! They won't be raising taxes (some fees will be raised) and mostly cutting city services (the usual fire, police, library, code compliance, parks, public works, safety, and planning).
A city does not actually need services when it has a sports team so let the good times roll! You will be happy to know that youth and rec sports will be cut because with a hockey team in town, kids can just watch.
Posted by floormaster squeeze on May 26, 2010 09:52 AM
The city of Glendale was $15M in debt but not to worry they made cuts! They won't be raising taxes (some fees will be raised) and mostly cutting city services (the usual fire, police, library, code compliance, parks, public works, safety, and planning).
A city does not actually need services when it has a sports team so let the good times roll! You will be happy to know that youth and rec sports will be cut because with a hockey team in town, kids can just watch.
Posted by floormaster squeeze on May 26, 2010 09:53 AM
Ahhh, Glendale. Well City Council, it turns out your "stick with us" friends in the NHL board room weren't really your friends after all.
Who could possibly have forseen???
The only real tragedy here is that it is the city that may go bankrupt, not the brain dead elected officials who lead it there...
Posted by John Bladen on May 27, 2010 12:45 AM