Glendale Has Spent $2.1M On Outside Help To Keep Coyotes In Town

City Of Glendale Has Spent $2.1M On Consultants During Fight To Keep Coyotes

The city of Glendale has spent $2.1M on "outside consultants to keep" the Coyotes in town, according to public records cited by Rebekah Sanders of the ARIZONA REPUBLIC. Glendale in the past year "used the money on two legal firms, three sports-business experts and a media spokesman, trying to protect the city's investment" in Jobing.com Arena. Glendale officials claim that the "high cost of top advisers was necessary to avoid the larger financial setback of losing the team." Glendale Mayor Elaine Scruggs said, "We had to do what was best for our long-term future. Certainly, no expense was being spared by the other side." But city officials and Glendale residents "have been concerned about the city's legal bill." Glendale City Council member Phil Lieberman: "'Ridiculous' is the only term I can use" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 10/18).

HOWL AT THE MOON: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Jacqueline Palank noted the Coyotes' new "Join The Pack" promotional campaign, which entitles some fans to free tickets after a victory, "won't be the first or last time the Coyotes turn to price-slashing to fill the stands." In addition to the "Join The Pack" effort, the team already "drastically reduced ticket prices for their home opener" earlier this month. The "Join The Pack" promotion appears to be an effort to "bond the team to the community, creating a fan base that will continue buying tickets and maybe even fight for the team to stay put" (WSJ.com, 10/16). However, the TORONTO STAR's Damien Cox wrote the 6,899 fans in attendance at Thursday's Blues-Coyotes game at Jobing.com Arena "illustrated where this bankrupt franchise is really at." The game attracted the "smallest, non-weather related attendance for an NHL game in recent memory," and we "now know how much destruction was done to the Phoenix hockey business over the summer months as the battle between the NHL and Jim Balsillie dragged on" (THESTAR.com, 10/16).