Yet not even one year passed before a lawsuit was filed in a dispute over naming rights. Glendale even guaranteed to pay $15m per year in “management fees” to the new ownership group and included a generous provision: if the owners, RSE, accrued more than $50m in losses in five years, they could relocate. Yet after bankruptcy, the team relocated to Glendale and the city ponied up $180m of the $220m price tag for constructing a new arena. One argument, espoused by Moyes, is that the bad sight lines at the America West Arena hurt attendances and ergo the bottom line, placing the team in a hole it could never dig itself out of. An audit showed the team had never turned a profit on paper – not all that odd for a modern sports team – but the loss of $54.8m for 2008 was jaw-dropping. Moyes filed documents to support his claim that the team had lost over $70m in the years leading up to bankruptcy, and was on track to lose $45m that season. The Coyotes, though, got dragged into bankruptcy court in 2009 by then owner Moyes, so some facts emerged. After all, teams have every reason to plead poverty: they have to negotiate a CBA every few years with the players’ union they want to maximize leverage when negotiating lease terms with a city or county and often it’s in a business’s interest to keep profits – which are taxable – as minimal on paper as possible. As a rule of thumb, even in taxpayer subsidized private-public ventures, taxpayers seldom know the true state of any pro team’s finances. Off the ice, things have been even worse. This season they sit dead last in the Central Division. The Coyotes have not cracked the top half of NHL attendance since 2001, and have made the playoffs just once in the last nine seasons. Since the team moved south from Canada they have hardly distinguished themselves. The university subsequently backs out of the deal.Ģ016 – Glendale enters into a contract for sports entertainment firm AEG to manage the Gila River Arena. In 2014, they change their name from the Phoenix Coyotes to the Arizona Coyotes.Ģ015 – Glendale voids the long-term lease after an alleged violation of conflict of interest laws.Ģ016 – the Arizona Coyotes announce plans to move to the Arizona State University campus in Tempe, a 25-minute drive from Glendale, and build a new arena there. The NHL takes over and signs a short-term lease extension with the City of Glendale.Ģ010 – An ownership bid to buy the team is derailed by the threat of litigation.Ģ013 – After the league threatens to relocate the team, Glendale signs a 15-year lease to support a new ownership group: Renaissance Sports & Entertainment. ![]() And often a parting of the ways is best for both sides.įirst, a brief timeline of the Arizona Coyotes, who just may be cursed:ġ996 – the Winnipeg Jets relocate to Phoenix, Arizona.Ģ003 – the Phoenix Coyotes relocate to nearby Glendale and the Gila River Arena.Ģ009 – Moyes places the team in bankruptcy.
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