TheGlendale (Ariz.)City Council voted Wednesday to , ruffling the feathers of the team's owners, who have responded by threatening legal action.
In his first public comments on the matter, NHL commi sioner Gary Bettman Nic Dowd Jersey harshly criticized the city's decision as well.
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What Glendale did is outrageous, irrational and cannot be condoned, .
The city cited an Arizona conflict-of-interest statute in voting to terminate the 15-year, $225 million agreement under which Coyotes ownership is paid to operate Gila River Arena.
The statute allows the city a three-year window toterminate a contractif a person who was significantly involved in drafting the contract becomesinvolved with the other party of theagreement. , that happened Dennis Maruk Jersey after the city dismi sed former city attorney Craig Tindall in April 2013 and continued to pay him his salary for six months as he worked as a consultant.
The Coyotes hired Tindall on Aug. 20 of that year, seven weeks after Glendale approved the arena deal. The city claims it is within its right to terminate the deal under such circumstances, and voted 5-2 Wednesday to do just that.
An attorney for the Coyotes told the council the vote"tarnished the image of the community" and that the council had made"a terrible, terrible mistake," according to the Washington Capitals Jersey Republic.
In a statement, Coyotes co-ownerAnthony LeBlanc expre sed his displeasure with the council's actions.
"We are disappointed with the city's decision to violate its obligations under the agreement that was entered into and duly approved only two years ago," he said."We will exhaust any and all legal remedies against the city of Glendale for this blatant violation of its contractual obligations to us."
Majority owner Andrew Barroway , a daybefore the vote,that the club believes it did nothing wrong.
"We certainly do not believe that there's been any breach of the agreement," he told the Republic. "We feel very strong in our Devante Smith-Pelly Jersey legal position there. More important than that, we want a positive working relationship with the city."
The Coyotes havedealtwith financial hardships since they moved to Glendalefrom Phoenixin 2003.Bettman has devoted into making sure they become a sustainablefranchise in a region that is devoid of traditional hockey fans. But he's fighting a losing battle with the city of Glendale, whichlost $8.1 million last year in its deal with the Coyotesand expects to lose $8.7 million next year.
Pouring more resources into keeping the Coyotes in Arizona seems like a lost cause,especially because there is no shortage of relocation options, includingLas Vegas,Seattle and Quebec City, among others. The team can leave Arizona after five years if financial lo ses reach $50 million or more. The team .
LeBlanc said ownershipisn't looking for the exit.
"Everyone talks about the Jakub Vrana Jersey out clause and if we wanted to pack up and leave. Gue s what:We have an out clause now and we're going the other way," he said,per the AP. "We're doing nothing but working aggre sively to make sure we can stay in what we feel is our rightful home here at Gila River Arena."
Of coursethe NHL would prefer to gain new cities by way of expansion (which would produce hundreds of millions of dollars in fees)rather than relocation. Buthow much longer will the Southwest experimentpersist? Would the NHL again a sume control of the franchise?
Bettman addre sed those concerns in his interview with The Hockey News.
Ive seen some speculation we should be taking over the team, and that isnt going to happen, he said. We Jonas Siegenthaler Jersey ve been in touch with the team and were fully supportive of all of the actions they either have or will be taking to vindicate their rights under this lease.
