City of Glendale approves Phoenix Coyotes sale to new owner -NHL Update
It seems like the Phoenix Coyotes management woes will finally be coming to an end as the city of Glendale has approved the sale of their National Hockey League (NHL) franchise on Friday, June 8, 2012, which will be keeping the team in the city with a new
owner.
The deal is believed to be a 20-year lease between the city and the owner for the Jobing.com Arena worth $325 million. The city council ratified it with a 4-2 vote in favour after a six-hour long meeting with councilmen and new owner Greg Jamison, NHL Commissioner
Gary Bettman and Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly.
Jamison, who is a former CEO of the San Jose Sharks, has been advocating his situation from the start of this past regular season and has finally managed to reach and agreement with the city which at one point was about to give up the team.
"The Coyotes-Glendale situation has had an interesting history; sometimes up, sometimes down, sometimes sideways," Jamison said. "But what right now we're talking about the future and I believe in the city of Glendale."
"We've been doing this a long time," Bettman added. "We believe this team, the Coyotes, can be here with a new ownership in place and should be here."
Phoenix Coyotes have been facing a number of issues ever since losing their ownership in the past. Some of the problems included bankruptcy, dealing with player issues, signing prospects, keeping players on board and other official dealings.
During the playoffs, the Coyotes has played its best ever season as they made it into the Western Conference Finals for the first time after topping their respective division. Top players like captain, Shane Doan, had been frustrated throughout as they did
not have anyone to give them a voice when some acts were seen to be biased towards the club.
While there is still a number of voices being raised against the decision by a majority of the councilmen, keeping Phoenix Coyotes in the city is seen to be a welcomed step by most circles. Coyotes have heritage and Glendale is the city to keep them for
sure.
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