The Glendale City Council will "not approve" a $15M cash request by Renaissance Sports & Entertainment to manage the Coyotes' Jobing.com Arena after RSE asked for the money to "help secure" a $125M loan, according to sources cited by Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos. Kypreos on his Twitter feed wrote, "Council believes debt created by team is so gr8 that team is all but guaranteed to fail + move shortly because of loses created by no equity." He added the NHL is experiencing "issues caused by debt loads on some clubs" like the Devils. Meanwhile, Seattle "appears not to" be an option for relocation, as a "rink won't be ready til 2014-15" (TWITTER.com, 6/21). In Phoenix, Paul Giblin reports Glendale officials are "scheduled to meet in a private session Friday for another round of discussions that could cement" the Coyotes’ future in Arizona. City Council members are "considering a proposal" by RSE to use and manage Jobing.com Arena. The city has budgeted $6M "a year for the fee, but the fee is subject to negotiation." A councilmember said that RSE "may seek" $15M in guaranteed payments. Friday’s meeting marks the "second time this week that the council has met to review the deal." City leaders on Tuesday met "behind closed doors for several hours but left with more questions than answers" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 6/21). FOXSPORTSARIZONA.com's Craig Morgan reported while initial "concerns were that the city wanted all of the revenue streams RSE included in its proposal to be guaranteed, which would have removed all risk from the city and likely killed the deal, the two sides are working on a compromise that would put" about $1.3M from a ticket surcharge in an escrow account. In an effort to "guarantee the city receives" $8.5M back in "annual revenue after it pays RSE ... the account would be applied toward the revenue shortages." If there are "no shortages, Glendale does not keep the money" (FOXSPORTSARIZONA.com, 6/20).
NO REGRETS: In K.C., Randy Covitz notes Mayor Sly James does "not regret" that the city "didn’t do more to attract the club to the Sprint Center." After investigating the "possibility of pursuing the Coyotes ... James was convinced the franchise would have been a bad business deal" for K.C. James on Thursday said, “Several months back, even before that, we put out some feelers and talked to some people we trusted who knew what the situation was … the availability, the costs … and the basic information was (the Coyotes) need a lot of money from the city in one form or the other. They said, it’s not a great deal for you, like you might hope." He added, “The question was, ‘What would it take?’ The answer was, ‘A whole hell of a lot. It might take you from a (profit) to a negative.’ It wasn’t something recommended to be done" (K.C. STAR, 6/21).
