Shoalts: Glendale Mayor Scruggs wants city's $$ back

[powerstuck]

I don't see how NHL can spread lies like

Christian Martel‏@chrimartel
@DarrenDreger I'm wondering why tsn.ca doesn't have a nordiques-meter like the jets had last year? #whynot

Darren Dreger‏@DarrenDreger
@chrimartel. Not close enough to reality just yet. The back and forth continues. Now sounds like progress being made in Phx. #whynot

The above quote was first posted by mikelvl

[objectiveposter]

Mccown just said Ice Edge is back in the mix and April 15 is the drop dead date

[Concordski]

Originally Posted by objectiveposter

Mccown just said Ice Edge is back in the mix and April 15 is the drop dead date

[Frank Booth]

Originally Posted by Mayor Bee

I've never seen a city or locality this ineptly run.

- Signed, the relative of a corrupt Cleveland politician

Are you a Russo or a Dimora?

[XX]

Originally Posted by objectiveposter

Mccown just said Ice Edge is back in the mix and April 15 is the drop dead date

[Concordski]

Originally Posted by XX

Then-Senator Obama is irritated

[GordonGraham]

Originally Posted by objectiveposter

Mccown just said Ice Edge is back in the mix and April 15 is the drop dead date

Just heard that

[Fehr Time*]

Pretty sad if the mayor is really this naive. I always thought that maybe herself or others were getting their palms greased behind the scenes by Bettman Inc to allow this type of nonsense to go on.

[OneMoreAstronaut]

Originally Posted by objectiveposter

Mccown just said Ice Edge is back in the mix and April 15 is the drop dead date

Hahaha. Wow. Major laughs right here.

[adolfz]

One year ago, the NHL told city council it was close to selling the Coyotes to Chicago businessman Matthew Hulsizer. Mayor Scruggs said the only reason she and the majority of the council members voted one year ago to provide $25-million to the NHL for a second consecutive year to cover part of the team’s losses was that NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told council the city’s money would not be at risk because the new owner would eventually cover all the losses.

It's a a poker face bluff, unbelievable! Is there any chance NHL is going to be sued over this? After all it's the money of people in struggling economy

[QcBlizzard]

Seller - Mayor, I want to sell you this 74 Pinto. Of course its rusty, one tire is flat, no driving wheel, but I assure you're gonna have a nice ride with the car.

Mayor - Well you're sure the car will run fine?

Seller - Absolutly Mayor, don't worry, trust me. I am selling as is.

Mayor - Well, fine, here's the 35 grant for this car.

Seller - Thanks so much Mayor.

[Big McLargehuge]

Arizona politicians.

[Tinalera]

Originally Posted by powerstuck

I don't see how NHL can spread lies like


The above quote was first posted by mikelvl

Dreger I find now, seems to lack objectivity-so it's hard to take him seriously anymore compared to say Mackenzie or a couple of the others.

IMO the reason they aren't doing the Nords meter is I wouldn't be surprised if they reprimanded behind the scenes by the NHL for doing the Jets.

[cbcwpg]

Originally Posted by Tinalera

Dreger I find now, seems to lack objectivity-so it's hard to take him seriously anymore compared to say Mackenzie or a couple of the others.

IMO the reason they aren't doing the Nords meter is I wouldn't be surprised if they reprimanded behind the scenes by the NHL for doing the Jets.

The Jets meter was in poor taste and I'm fairly certain Uncle Gary slapped some wrists.

[Charon of Styx]

Originally Posted by adolfz

It's a a poker face bluff, unbelievable! Is there any chance NHL is going to be sued over this? After all it's the money of people in struggling economy

A guy I know was involved in a boating accident. Clearly not his fault. His lawyer informs him nothing is clear. If the guy comes into court in a wheelchair, a sympathetic judge could say, well if my friend wasn't docked there he wouldn't have ran into his boat. 5% my friend's fault for being there.

So I guess anything can happen.

[tbcwpg]

I feel bad for the mayor having to deal with those incompetents in council and city management. She spends a bunch of time saying "I've come up with a $11 million figure" and this council member apparently hasn't been listening and says something that shows that he completely doesn't understand anything that's gone on.

[King Woodballs]

Who elects these people?

Eeeesh.

The CoG got screwed

[Conflicted Habs fan]

Take it to the judge! Take it to the judge!

[QcBlizzard]

Originally Posted by Brogosian

Who elects these people?

Eeeesh.

The CoG got screwed

Haaaaa, no, not this one. People of Glendale are not much different then people from other countries, like, say Canada.

[Motown Beatdown]

Originally Posted by objectiveposter

Mccown just said Ice Edge is back in the mix and April 15 is the drop dead date

Now they are just trolling. unless Ice Edge is one of the mega millions winners. I mean isn't that about their only chance to afford an NHL team?

[LadyStanley]

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/n...ated-with.html

Phoenix Business Journal story update

[sandysan]

Originally Posted by LadyStanley

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/n...ated-with.html

Phoenix Business Journal story update

I am sure that it is way more complicated but after reading the transcript I have tried to summarize this as bullet points

1) the yotes go bankrupt and are bought by the NHL
2) glendale owns jobbing.com arena but enters into an agreement
such that the nhl will manage the arena
3) the nhl says they need the city to give the league money to
offset the losses the nhl accrues by owning the yotes (salaries
etc) and running jobbing.com arena
4) the city agrees to give the nhl 25 million in order that the nhl
can try to find a new owner to keep the team in glendale, but
only transfers 20 million to an escrow account controlled by the
NHL. this money is not contingent on finding a new owner and
it is not a loan that will be repaid to the city if the nhl finds a
new owner.
5) deals to sell the team fall through, no new owner
6) the mayor using a comparible arena figures out that the cost to
run jobbing.com is about 11 million, not the 20 they paid (nor
the additional 5 they agreed to but which never made it to the
nhls escrow account)
7) the mayor says that they will only pay the 11, the city attorney
informs the mayor that ship has sailed, the city does not
control the money in order to withold the 9 million
8) the mayor then says they will ask the league to give it
back the 9 million anyways because the league failed to do
what they were never contractually obligated to do.

If this is true in a general sense, why in the world would the NHL agree to send back a dime to the city ? If the city is intent that they will not float the nhl another 20 million to cover a third year of losses, then the team will move and the city of glendale will still be holding the bag for 45 million for the priviledge of having the team an additional 2 or three years. This paints the city managers with a level of incompetence so profound that I am relatively certain I am missing something.

[blues10]

Originally Posted by sandysan

I am sure that it is way more complicated but after reading the transcript I have tried to summarize this as bullet points

1) the yotes go bankrupt and are bought by the NHL
2) glendale owns jobbing.com arena but enters into an agreement
such that the nhl will manage the arena
3) the nhl says they need the city to give the league money to
offset the losses the nhl accrues by owning the yotes (salaries
etc) and running jobbing.com arena
4) the city agrees to give the nhl 25 million in order that the nhl
can try to find a new owner to keep the team in glendale, but
only transfers 20 million to an escrow account controlled by the
NHL. this money is not contingent on finding a new owner and
it is not a loan that will be repaid to the city if the nhl finds a
new owner.
5) deals to sell the team fall through, no new owner
6) the mayor using a comparible arena figures out that the cost to
run jobbing.com is about 11 million, not the 20 they paid (nor
the additional 5 they agreed to but which never made it to the
nhls escrow account)
7) the mayor says that they will only pay the 11, the city attorney
informs the mayor that ship has sailed, the city does not
control the money in order to withold the 9 million
8) the mayor then says they will ask the league to give it
back the 9 million anyways because the league failed to do
what they were never contractually obligated to do.

If this is true in a general sense, why in the world would the NHL agree to send back a dime to the city ? If the city is intent that they will not float the nhl another 20 million to cover a third year of losses, then the team will move and the city of glendale will still be holding the bag for 45 million for the priviledge of having the team an additional 2 or three years. This paints the city managers with a level of incompetence so profound that I am relatively certain I am missing something.

Any $$$$$ given to offset losses would have been in violation of the Arizona gift clause. The $25 million is/was strictly for the NHL to "manage" jobing.com arena.

Maybe the COG should have tendered out the arena management of jobing.com and selected a more appropriate bid.

[sandysan]

Originally Posted by blues10

Any $$$$$ given to offset losses would have been in violation of the Arizona gift clause. The $25 million is/was strictly for the NHL to "manage" jobing.com arena.

Maybe the COG should have tendered out the arena management of jobing.com and selected a more appropriate bid.

If this is true, why can't they actually ask the nhl for the bill for the actual cost of managing the arena and if it is 11 million they actually do get the 9 back (or can use it as "store credit" for a third year)?

Or is the deal that they agreed to provide the nhl 20 ( or 25) million irrespective of how much it cost to manage the arena ?
who in the world would agree to something like this ?

[Mork]

Originally Posted by sandysan

I am sure that it is way more complicated but after reading the transcript I have tried to summarize this as bullet points

7) the mayor says that they will only pay the 11, the city attorney
informs the mayor that ship has sailed, the city does not
control the money in order to withold the 9 million
8) the mayor then says they will ask the league to give it
back the 9 million anyways because the league failed to do
what they were never contractually obligated to do.

If this is true in a general sense . . .

Wrong.

Two separate issues.

First: In the draft budget for the next fiscal year (2013-14?), the Mayor would allocate no more than $11MM to manage and operate the arena, with or without the Coyotes, based on "brilliant" and "exhaustive" research that could probably be done with a Google search, and made much more reliable with a few phone calls and maybe even some e-mails or letters. I'm guessing the research stopped with Google, except for perhaps a call to a friend somewhere in the City of Phoenix administration.

Second: Of the $20MM already paid into escrow as part of the current fiscal year's budget (2012-13?) she is shocked to learn from the City attorney (Mr. Tindall) within the past two weeks that the City of Glendale can't unilaterally pull that money out of escrow and apply to general budgetary needs based on her assessment that the NHL "misled" Glendale into thinking that "earmarking" that money was a mere formality because a deal would soon close and Glendale would never have to pay it; the money would never be spent. Now that she's learned they can't recover it without the NHL's agreement, she wants to write to Gary Bettman asking him to take only $5MM of it now, return $15MM to Glendale now, and take payments for the $15MM over the next ten years. As to the other $5MM that was agreed but not budgeted, in her view the NHL can go to Hell.