The voice on the phone sounded urgent.
“It’s the most important 24 hours in the
history of the Phoenix Coyotes,” the source said.
Here’s the latest:
To complete its financing, the Renaissance Sports
and Entertainment group needs a firm commitment from the Glendale
City Council. They need a number on paper. They say they
need $15 million annually.
The city has budgeted $6.5 million for management
of Jobing.com Arena.
To bridge that $8.5 million gap, the two parties
have negotiated revenue streams that will theoretically benefit both
sides. The city will get a cut of parking, which will no longer be
free for Coyotes fans. It gets a cut of future naming rights, which
expire in 2016. It’s get a portion of ticket surcharge,
and will oversee an escrow account that could pay the city even more
money.
On paper, it could amount to $7-8 million of new
revenue for Glendale every year.
But word is, the city of Glendale wants that
number guaranteed. RSE won’t go down that road. And
some fear that snag could be a potential deal-killer.
RSE’s Anthony LeBlanc wouldn’t comment on
negotiations, but wanted to address his group’s intentions and
loyalty to the Phoenix market.
“We’re not doing this to relocate the team,”
LeBlanc said. “If we end up exercising an out clause, it’s going
to mean that we lost a whole lot of money. And the way things
are trending, we really believe this franchise will be in the middle
of the pack in the NHL in terms of revenue generated.”
But time is getting short. The NHL has
agreed to wait until a July 2nd meeting for a proposed deal to go to
vote, but not a minute longer. That would make next Tuesday’s
meeting informational by nature, and allow the city time to make the
proposal public, to satisfy the need for transparency.
That also means the nuts-and-bolts negotiating
must be done by the end of an electronic session scheduled for
Friday, according to the source. If there is no clarity or
progress, it could set the Coyotes in motion, and on the road to
Seattle.
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