The Arizona Coyotes are staying in Glendale for the next season. The hockey team and city agreed to new terms today, but the agreement only guarantees the Coyotes will stay at Gila River Arena until June 2017.
The biggest change in the settlement is how the money changes hands. In the old contract the city paid IceArizona, the company that owns the Coyotes, $15 million to manage the arena. The team then ended up paying about half of that back to the city in revenue generated from parking, seat agreements, ticket surcharges and other fees.
If the new agreement, which would end in 2017, is finalized by Glendale on Friday, the city will pay the team a flat rate of $6.5 million a year to manage the arena and the team will keep revenues from the parking and other fees. As part of the settlement agreement, the team will drop the lawsuit against the city.
On June 10, the Glendale City Council voted to cancel the lease agreement with the team citing a conflict of interest law. The team then sued the city after it voted to cancel the 15-year, $225 million contract. The resolution comes weeks before the two parties were due in court for evidentiary hearings.
“This revised agreement represents a positive outcome for both the city and the Coyotes" said Glendale Acting City Manager Dick Bowers. "It also allows us to move forward in a way that keeps an important economic driver in our community.
In the deal, the Coyotes promise that Craig Tindall and Julie Frisoni, the two former city employees Glendale cited as the reason for conflict-of-interest arguments, weren't involved in negotiating this new agreement. The settlement agreement goes on to say:
"...The City, City Council, City Manager, and City Attorney, collectively and individually, represent and warrant that they will never in the future seek to cancel or void the Arena Agreement or the [contract] First Amendment based on the involvement of Tindall or Frisoni, no matter how substantial or insubstantial, in initiating, negotiating, creating, drafting, or securing the Arena Agreement or the First Amendment on behalf of Glendale, so long as Tindall and Frisoni are not employed or retained as a consultant by IceArizona or any of its affiliates, divisions, parent entities, or subsidiaries."
Tindall, the former city attorney, left the city in 2013 before the lease agreement was signed and was hired by the Coyotes as general counsel shortly after. "Neither side benefits from a long, drawn-out legal battle," Coyotes co-owner Anthony LeBlanc said. "What's important is putting this dispute behind us and focusing on growing the Coyotes business and in turn, further growing revenues for the entire Westgate Entertainment District."
The agreement brings some certainty to businesses in the Westgate Entertainment District.
Adam Kariotoglou, owner of Opa Life Greek Café, says this decision is a relief.
“For us and all the other restaurants and retailers that are here, there is a lot of comfort there now that they can start doing improvements to their business and they can start hiring more people," Kariotoglou said. "Which I am prepared to start doing right away.”
His restaurant is just a few hundred feet from the stadium and he says he relies on the arena events for most of his customers.
The Glendale City Council will vote to finalize the deal Friday morning.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated to reflect the correct year the agreement ends.
Updated 7/23/2015 at 4:30 p.m.
