Superior Court Judge upholds Council vote on Phoenix Coyotes sale -NHL Update
In a win for the prospective Phoenix Coyotes ownership and Glendale City Council, a Superior Court Judge of the Maricopa County, Dean Fink, upheld the local body’s vote on an arena lease agreement on Thursday, June 28, 2012.
Local conservative watchdog group, Goldwater Institute, was highly aggressive in pursuit of interfering with the city’s decision to allow former San Jose Sharks CEO, Greg Jamison, to become the team’s new owner, but lost after filing an appeal in the County’s
Superior Court.
"We thought it was the right decision -- there wasn't a strong legal basis for this action at all," Glendale City Attorney Craig Tindall said. "We attempted to discuss with Goldwater Institute, they didn't talk to us before they filed, they didn't talk to
us before they got to court. It did go to court and obviously we agree with the judge's decision."
Goldwater was reportedly looking to invalidate and have the court declare void the voting by the City Council to allow the Jamison group taking over the Phoenix Coyotes and their playing arena, the Jobing.com Arena.
For the city, Jamison was the only person who was willing to manage the arena and keep the Phoenix Coyotes in the city of Glendale, which was something that fans had raised their voices for a number of times.
The vote went in favour of Jamison, 4-2, by the local City Council but was stayed upon by the Goldwater Institute, which is something President Darcy Olsen was extremely upset about.
"We are disappointed in today's decision," Olsen said in a statement. "But we are glad that Glendale taxpayers have taken matters into their own hands by working to refer the arena management deal to the ballot."
Now, Jamison is working towards finalising his proposal to officially take over the team, which is currently being ran by the National Hockey League (NHL), and would need approval from the league’s Board of Governors.
There is another factor that could put Jamison’s plans on hold once again as plaintiffs in the case, Joe Cobb and Ken Jones, go around the city and collect signatures to force a referendum by the public to resolve the issue once and for all.
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