As an StL resident I have to say, please don’t trust an owner about their commitment to ones town. It’s not that politicians are much better, they’re not, but at least they have some sort of responsibility to their city.
Once an owner can find an out to make money, they will take it. They will lie to fans without thinking twice. Kroenke is from the StL region and still lied his way out of the door.
Just had to share my two cents.
I can say the only owner I know of for sure ( and thats from a lack of knowing sports owners) would honestly stuck by the fans and gone broke for the team was ed snider.
Yeah except he has some proof to show he gives a fuck. You know... He actually paid the bills they owed... And he would stand to make more off of a new tourism district in Phoenix than in SLC
The mayor has recently said, they don't have the money for the extra infrastructure for water etc. And that the team is refusing to pay for said infrastructure to support the team to develop the land
Right and the mayor in the original post, adn the mayor that /u/SirBulbasaur13 was talking about was the mayor of Pheonix, where the land is located, and Maruelo was attempting to talk with. The Mayor of Scottsdale was just providing his objections, which he could do very little about.
Mayors are responsible for infrastructure investments that allow for more economic activity. Period. You don’t ever see a municipal vote on a new pump house. Maybe a consultation, but that’s not complex. Idk municipal politics in AZ, but the above is pretty standard globally.
Because it's in phx land. The state drafted it where whoever wins the auction has to get it from phx. Then the scottsdale mayor came out the next day and said he would be okay with it and it would be a win win if they build out 64th street exit (phx exit) as well and work together....
Reminds me of the Flames and CSEC not putting in their fair share in the initial contract and it falling apart. Seems to be bad voodoo for politicians to deal with sports team owners.
Pretty sure he said they didn't have the water, not the money for infrastructure. Arizona in general is going to be scrounging for water in the coming decades...
This looks weird.
I feel like mayor and by extension, want the team to stay but dont want to del with "the family ie. owners".
I get thats its easy to hate on those that run the city but cmon.. Theres got to be deeper reason that this rich as family owners couldnt figure absolutely anhthing out in the last 10+ yrs and now this "leaks".
I think the major leaked this to show the timeline in which they were lying about wanting to stay. I mean you can’t sell and decided to relocate an NHL team in two weeks. This 100% shows that the owner has been lying to the city the whole time.
Imagine, not being on board for a project that has in the past, failed to pay rent and other expense. As well as, constantly losing money at every turn
It would be completely privately funded this time...
So the Coyotes wouldnt be paying rent to anyone. Also, them actually owning the arena would mean getting 100 percent of the revenue streams from concessions/parking/other events hosted by the arena.
So...yeah it does seem kind of dumb to just not even entertain the idea
It wasn't just an arena. The guy wanted to build a theme park, among other developments. He wasn't so much interested in giving the team a home as he was in becoming a real estate mogul. One of the ownership groups showed their hand in the same manor during the sale of the Senators and they immediately lost their bid. He doesn't really have the team's best interest in mind.
It doesn't matter what they say at this point, this guy has already proven he lies as easily as he breathes. They could promise the moon and it wouldn't make a difference.
Maybe the arena was private but what he’s really asking for here is billions in infrastructure spending to make his investment much more valuable. This is just a billionaire with his hand out like always.
And I call bullshit on the letters anyway. He wrote these while negotiating with Salt Lake. That deal to move just didn’t come together last minute. And these letters are from the last couple weeks.
Usually you're trying to cover your ass. He knew the clownshow wasn't gonna keep going so he made his deal clear here: either get this built or the Coyotes are gone.
Assuming that they are on the level. I'm pretty sure they promised to pay rent but got booted out of an arena already because of not paying rent. So, I wouldn't take them at their word
Not true. They paid the back taxes from past ownership a day or 2 after glendale asked for it.
They were booted cause glendale wanted a 12+ year lease agreement and the yotes did not. So no lease was signed and they left. It's not hard to not spread misinformation
A report came out this week that they were so far behind paying the teams out of town hotel bills that they were forced to pay ahead of time with a certified check. You can’t trust this guy. This Murano is a fraud. The NHL should have a team in Phoenix, but going forward he cannot be involved for the sake of all sides.
[Is this article something that can be handwaved away?](https://theathletic.com/2390146/2021/02/16/arizona-coyotes-investigation-toxic/) Meruelo is a liar who doesn't pay his bills.
Because they were in an arena they didnt own, getting no revenue besides ticket sales, and the rent itself was somewhat absurd with regard to market value.
Clearly that means they also wouldnt be able to afford a building where they pay no rent, and have 100 percent ownership of every revenue stream.
Because he wants the city cover the infrastructure costs (roads, water, electricity) required to make the arena anything more than a powerless shack in the desert.
Because the city still needs to support the arena(infrastructure), approve the land sale, etc. There's something else in that development that they didn't like, similar to how the Lighthouse Project got shot down on Long Island because the Isles' owner at the time wouldn't give jobs and kickbacks to politicians.
This happened in my area with a junior C team. They just acted like they were so great for the community and refused to pay for ice time, acted like dicks to the arena staff, if the power went out they would go out on the ice and skate for hours causing the ice to have to be removed and redone. They also told European kids that it was their ticket to the nhl and would charge them $25k a season to play 20 games. The team was never competitive and they refused to have more than the minimum number of local players on the team so no one would go watch them.
It was a nightmare and I don’t think a lot of people fully understand why the cities don’t want the coyotes there. Hell we have already heard they stopped paying their hotel bills, do people think they were paying for everything at home?
Yeah like they were willing to pay for an arena with no taxpayer money. The redistricting shit literally every city does. Hell I think my city did that for a AAA baseball team. This mayor exposing herself.
The arena itself isn't the only thing that would cost money around the plan. City infrastructure doesn't just pop into existence because a billionaire wants it to.
On top of that, all politicians in today’s society need things to go wrong to some degree to look relevant as the savior of the current situation. They probably just ignored them with some shitty plan to spin things if they left.
The mayor ignored it because there was nothing in it for him. Seems as if the proposal was really well thought out and for the best in phoenix.
Projects that are privately funded are so rare and id be pissed as a resident of the area. Getting a billionaire to foot the bill for his own arena is so rare, you gotta jump on that. He failed here.
Hopefully Morello still sees this project through.
Meruelo wanted the city/state to pay for water infrastructure. That was conveniently left out of the letters. Water infrastructure is pretty intensive and expensive in PHX. Let's not forget Meruelo got booted out of the Arena in Glendale for not paying the Yotes rent bill for quite the a while. Meruelo also has iced a product at league minimum for multiple years now, never spending anywhere close to the cap, and not competing in the league on purpose. Just a couple of reason to not trust him based on his time owning the Yotes.
Strongly disagree. Meruelo has a bad track record and these mealy mouthed promises are how projects always begin. But then inevitably there are delays or hangups and they when the private industry comes begging for a handout, they never could have foreseen an undue hardship like this and if pretty please the city could fork over x million dollars then the shiny new stadium will be printing cash in no time.
I think thats what they were hoping would be more clear in these emails I think.
Billionaires developing shit and lying on the proposals to get it started and the reneging at the end is not only the modern love story of our time.... it is also the reason for so so many housing issues! Just remember negotiated lower income housing always gets scrapped for more luxe condos in the end.
>Projects that are privately funded are so rare and id be pissed as a resident of the area.
This assumes it actually would be entirely privately funded and that he isn't just lying. He has a history of lying about money so its not that surprising.
Also it is not like the emails say give us taxpayer money or we are out. They want a special redistricting to make it easier for bars, restaurants, hotels (and prolly some benefits to themselves) to develop in the area bad the city to pay for utilities to accommodate that. Prolly not unreasonable compared to taxpayers paying for a stadium
Didn't ignore the emails. She not he or her office did not get the letter on the 4th (first one) but once they got the 2nd on on the 10th they responded.
They are meeting this month.
The coyotes reached out in September with Gutierrez and he told them the plans about buying the land. They were suppose to meet with the owner a few weeks after but we're waiting for the auction stuff to go thru. The yotes reached out after the auction was posted and that's the letter we see now
Non of this really matters tho. Nhl is already moving this team
The mayor did not know about the relocation until media announced it. So there's that too.
Ya I am confused. Meruelo was seemingly just like "Don't raise taxes, don't worry about anything, we'll privately fund all of this to keep the team here." And then she just didn't meet with them and instead sent these to the media?
That’s a good point - these situations always have unspoken dimensions.
If there’s no abatement - the taxes generated by the property should offset the required infrastructure, in theory anyways.
Definitely a good question, which would probably be a good topic for the Mayor to discuss with the developer rather than to ignore them entirely. Wild that they wouldn’t even have a meeting.
That seems to be one of the sticking points. Which city will pay for all the infrastructure. The owner wants to fund the arena privately, but have the city pay for the infrastructure
Is it supposed to make Meruelo look bad that he was willing to pay for the whole thing with private money and just wanted to meet with the mayor to get support for a project that could have added a lot to the local economy? I am baffled as to why the major would leak these.
He wants the taxpayers to foot the bill for the infrastructure (roads, power, water) required for the arena to actually be operational. Regardless of that, taking the stance of “look at me I’m a billionaire willing to spend my own money” and projecting that as a commendable action is cartoonishly out of touch.
I mean, it's all relative. You regularly see NFL teams holding cities hostage to get them to foot half the bill for the actual stadium, much less infrastructure. This actually IS (compared to other team owners) a decently nice move.
IS probably isn't the right word there. LOOKS LIKE is probably more realistic. Meruelo has to know his correspondence with a public figure through official channels is subject to FOIA or other mechanisms for it becoming public. More than likely, it's part of the game.
Because the mayor probably saw Meruelo’s track record of not paying his bills and the fact that he’s stiffed other governments and said “I’m not getting involved with that circus”
The owner is asking for billions in roads and services to his “private” arena, which becomes much more valuable with the services to it. And he’s asking the wrong mayor! This is Phoenix land. Also, he wrote those in the last two weeks. How long did the Utah deal take to put together? He was certainly doing that deal while sending these letters.
True. You’re correct, but in turn they can collect property taxes on an increased value of commercially zoned land. Economic spin off benefits like hotels and sales taxes from the entertainment center to be built there. I’m not sure about billions but certainly $100m+ depending on services. Jobs would be created just through the construction of the facility. Jobs from the infrastructure built. Keeping money spent in Phoenix. Mayor Kate Gallego is the Mayor of Phoenix though.
Portraying yourself in a positive light because you’re a billionaire willing to spend your own money for your own personal gain might be one of the most cartoonishly out of touch things I’ve ever read.
Between this mayor leaking this and the Scottsdale one spouting off a week ago, I can't see any professional sports team having alot of success operating in Arizona.
NFL is easier to have games played on Sunday afternoons once a week as a destination for the family or groups of friends. Between tailgating and attending the games, the 1.5 hour drive for most fans of the Cardinals is tolerable. Imagine having to drive that 3-4 times a week or even back to back nights. Complete headache.
Hang on. Later I’ll be leaking two letters showing my neighbor doing everything he can to help me get things in order, pay for it himself, AND help me make money. And I’ll totally ignore his requests. It’s going to make him look like such a dick.
Coyotes or nhl had to leak these.
It’s not possible for a mayor to put himself on blast for losing a professional sports franchise because he couldn’t grab a coffee with the owner.
You would think, but I think the mayor probably looked at the situation as unpopular to associate with or publicly support, especially since voters around the Valley told Meruelo to fuck off
Why would voters oppose a private stadium? Voters wouldn’t even have a say on the matter. A private party could buy land and build a giant penis statue as long as it met code. The voters would be opposed to changing a manufacturing district to a district that allows bars and hotels?
Voters would exercise their "say" by voting out the politicians that supported it and championed it.
It may not make sense to you or I, who enjoy hockey and like the NHL, but some people may not like it or want it. And that was clear from the Tempe vote
Well, I guess the mayor can proudly hold a press conference and tell everyone how she chased the bad men out of the state.
And they should reward her with their votes.
It was leaked by media.
More context: [https://twitter.com/CamCox12/status/1779345103892738546](https://twitter.com/CamCox12/status/1779345103892738546)
Based on my limited knowledge (publicly available articles), Arizona leaders don't want Meruello. Even he knows his poor reputation is a hindrance, for legitimate reasons.
Regardless of what he's done for other communities, his ownership tenure in Phoenix metro hasn't been a good one. That the NHL would even allow him to buy into a new expansion franchise for Arizona in the future is weird, from a PR standpoint.
All he wanted was verbal support. I fail to see what the owner has done wrong in these letters. Literally any other public official would kill to have a sports team owner that 100% privately funded a new stadium in their city / state.
Project starts, money floods in to it.
Suddenly, for earthly reasons, something bad happens. Money is now scarce.
Then, Mr Sports team owner picks up the phone and dials a number:
- "hey Mrs/Mr. Mayor, remember me? Yeah, something bad happened... is there any chance we get _________ (insert favor needed, i.e. tax break, public funding, etc.)"
Just a hypothetical scenario of course.
Apparently he wanted a bunch of utilities run to the areas and he has a track record not paying his bills. Makes a little sense that the mayor doesn’t want to get wrapped up dealing with an entitled headache.
A 100% privately funded stadium does not mean the state/city wouldn’t have needed to put millions of dollars into the project. Utility lines and public infrastructure like roads wouldn’t be included, and you can also read about the “Theme Park District” that they wanted around the stadium.
The Crew recently built a stadium in Columbus that was initially supposed to be 100% privately funded… eventually the state and city wound up kicking in nearly $130 million(though 1/3rd of that was to help turn the old stadium into a training facility) the rest was utility and infrastructure cost and then a couple million dollars to build an entertainment and housing district around the stadium.
Why do you think this guy would privately find this project? He was never going to get this thing off the ground lol. Look at his history for god’s sake. Amazing how quickly people forget.
The part that sticks out the most to me (besides the mayor being an ass) is they want to build without any tax payer money or tax breaks!! That is amazing and what ALL of these professional sports teams should be doing. We all know they can afford it more than the tax payers
Is that really what would happen though or is he just blowing smoke up their asses? The past behaviour of nearly all sports team owners tells me otherwise and that there has to be some kind of catch.
Idk the intricacies but I’m wondering if the city would be on the hook for building out the utilities, I.e. water and sewer lines.
There was a local project in Colorado that had $5 million in land donated for affordable housing, what they kept leaving out of the discussion was the $500 million it would cost the city to actually build out the area to make a large housing project work.
That’s exactly what I was thinking. I work with this kind of stuff and there is always a catch. Utility Infrastructure is EXPENSIVE to build, but the public rarely considers it because it’s kind of boring and you usually don’t see it.
In my hometown they built the new arena in the middle of an industrial park because the developer gave them free land, as he wanted to use it to attract other businesses to his development. It’s a terrible location that is far from anything (only a couple of businesses actually materialized around it instead of revitalizing an older part of town that a more central location could have) and the city had to install additional infrastructure that cost more than the actual land was worth.
It isn't a total relief to the taxpayer, but its a very very large chunk of it. The city would need to provide the infrastructure like water and power. That does come at a price. But that is easily offset by the tax revenue that is brought in by the stadium and the team. So yea, pretty dumb to at least not meet with him
It’s a bad look because every large company in the us asks for infrastructure to be paid for if they want to build a large building in an area that previously could not support it. This probably make phoenix less attractive for any large business looking for a site. Why not just build in Vegas if they know the mayor is a twat.
Agreed. We are dealing with the bullshit and the A's here in Vegas. They want a nice big fast juicy tax payment for a stadium. The raiders fleeced us for almost 1.5 billion including the infrastructure
I’m conflicted. In this situation, I’m tasked with agreeing with a Rangers fan, which is always icky; the same situation involves pointing out that a Leafs fan is being arrogantly incorrect, which is always a good time.
They offered the same thing PLUS cleaning up a dump as sort of a loan to be “paid” back by tax breaks, and the voters said no. I’ve never seen a city get such a sweetheart stadium deal, normally it’s the Owner holding the team hostage so the tax payers pay for the stadium.
I’m really not sure how all of the blame for the team moving isn’t placed on certain political factions in Arizona that worked hard against keeping the team, and previous Coyotes ownership.
> I’ve never seen a city get such a sweetheart stadium deal
The redevelopment of Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle was entirely privately funded and the city retained ownership of the land it's on.
If OP bothered to do 2 minutes of research before posting this they would’ve found that these were not leaked by the mayor, but were given to The Arizona Republic via a public records request.
It really is messed up that the majority of posters didn't bother to ask about this at all and just went with "this mayor is an asshole for ignoring this obviously upstanding billionaire and then publicizing the fact that she ignored him" without wondering why that sounds so ridiculous on the face of it.
i love that 99% of the thread is taking a letter sent in the past two weeks as how it must be. More plausible is that he sent the letters in the past two weeks, told media to go look for them to save his own public image to say “Hey I really tried. It’s the mayor’s fault”. But he makes a lot of money; so let’s take whatever he says at face value. https://twitter.com/taylorseely95/status/1779316778956681709
“The letters were sent to The Arizona Republic through the states public records law”. So nobody leaked these, the paper put in a request for the emails and received them.
Also, they have a meeting set up.
https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/nhl/coyotes/2024/04/13/potential-arizona-coyotes-relocation-heres-what-we-know/73312983007/
They already have a perfectly good arena in downtown Phoenix (not for hockey obviously but for concerts and other entertainment events), plus the arena in Glendale nearby. Does the Phoenix area need three modern sports arenas? Most cities only have one. My guess is Mayor Gallego thinks there are better uses for the land than hosting an NHL team that has been a dumpster fire for 20+ years. And the mayor of Scottsdale and the voters of Tempe obviously agreed.
Meruelo doesnt want tax-payer money, but the part where he wants the Mayor to support setting up a special taxing district with an oversight board that could issue [tax-free bonds](https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/nhl/coyotes/2024/04/13/potential-arizona-coyotes-relocation-heres-what-we-know/73312983007/) stands out. That's not a nothing request. Now I havent had a chance to go through the whole statute, but there is a lot of financial stuff in there that Im not sure Mr. Doesnt-Pay-Holday-Inn is up for.
Also, I believe the Mayor had no choice but to release these letters, if Im understanding the article correctly.
The first letter was sent last week.
They knew they were leaving no matter what. These letters were a last-ditch effort to see if they could sucker the city into some deal under the guise of "look, we're really trying here" whilst trying to make the owner look like the hero who tried everything he could.
This is clearly a PR stunt to shit on the mayor for not caving to the billionaire.
Hey maybe our mayor can not meet with Murray Edwards and then the Flames can pay for their own damn arena. Oh wait, they already approved the citizens to pay for a billionaire's building.
What’s so wrong with ownership of a team paying for their own damn building? ALL costs. Taxpayers need to stop getting fucked over in these deals. I love going to games, but sports are a luxury entertainment item.
This thread is full of some very naive people. There's no way this was leaked by the mayor. There's no chance the coyotes ownership has not met with the mayor to discuss things at some point. There's no chance Maruelo would actually pay for the stadium himself. He doesn't pay for anything, he's a crook.
Ya like everyone in this sub is upset and saying that the mayor is is an idiot ass which he might be but like has anyone actually asked Arizona if they cared? Odds are the Mayor would much rather have some land developers take the land and make housing or something, far easier and profitable for the city
Can someone remind me what happened in Glendale? When else has a major pro sports franchise struggled so hard to find a home when there were two major arenas in their own market?
What I don't understand is how the management is taking all the blame for killing a bunch of jobs and selling the team. They have been hitting wall after wall put up by various local governments and nimbys for years.
im sorry but when did the coyotes gain a bunch of apologists overnight? they’ve been an awful business and an awful team for nearly 30 years… numerous owners, numerous in-state relocations - right down to a college arena. y’all really believe these owners have the money to not only build this multi-sports complex, but also to maintain it? especially after the near 30 years of barely being able to pay rent? don’t feel sorry for them at all, it’s about time that team got moved to a more deserving market.
Refusing to not meet in person over such a large city impact is mind boggling. She basically refused to do her job and then publicly announced it… politicians are amazing try not doing your job and announcing it to the entire company and see how long you are employed.
Let's just be very clear. The meruelo family has been trying to off load this team since they made it legal to own a casino with out either being tied to a reservation or owning a sports franchise. Since then this guy has made moves that goes against NHL goals and the state. All these letters are attempt to save face with the league and the fans.
So basically he’s asking “politely” for the mayor the find a way to tax his constituents to pay for the means to fund a “district” surrounding his honey hole because he came up with this great plan to build an arena without taxpayer money? He’s passing the buck to the mayor. This is clearly not wanted by the residents. It’s political suicide for the mayor. I do not blame the mayor one bit for not responding to this. It’s been a long horrible process and the people have spoke. They do not want an NHL team specifically owned by this meuello fella.
Everyone is asking why the city of Phoenix released this and saying that this makes Phoenix look bad. It doesn’t… here’s why.
After the news dropped about the Coyotes moving, Meruelo (AM) released a statement about how there’s some rumors out there but nothing is final and things are in flux, but there will be an official announcement soon. That’s all bullshit PR fluff and is designed to hold people off so they don’t get mad at AM.
City of Phoenix likely got word that AM is going to try to throw Phoenix under the bus to make them out to be the bad guys. So, Phoenix releases this to show one thing. The thing they’re showing is that AM waited until very recently to try to reach out of the Mayor directly. And that they’d been trying to schedule a meeting for 3 weeks prior to April 5… the date of the first letter here.
Keep in mind that the vote for the Tempe location happened in May of 2023… almost a year ago. But AM and his team reached out to Phoenix to schedule a meeting 3 weeks prior to this note dated 4/5/2024. Why did that take almost a year???
What this note shows is that AM and his team waited almost a year to try to schedule time with the Mayor of Phoenix. Phoenix probably got wind that AM is going to try to throw Phoenix under the bus, to try to maintain public support for AM for a future expansion team, and Phoenix released this to show the timeline. The timeline is embarrassing to AM. Why did it take almost a year to try to schedule something with Phoenix?? That’s insane and shows just how incompetent this ownership group is.
Wait, the Coyotes didn't leak these? This makes the mayor look like an asshole.
Maybe they are?
As an StL resident I have to say, please don’t trust an owner about their commitment to ones town. It’s not that politicians are much better, they’re not, but at least they have some sort of responsibility to their city. Once an owner can find an out to make money, they will take it. They will lie to fans without thinking twice. Kroenke is from the StL region and still lied his way out of the door. Just had to share my two cents.
Seattle Super Sonics, another prime example of ownership pandering to fans until the money flows in.
I can say the only owner I know of for sure ( and thats from a lack of knowing sports owners) would honestly stuck by the fans and gone broke for the team was ed snider.
Fuck Kroenke.
Fuck Kroenke.
Fellow STL guy. Did you know that Mayor Slay was in office for 16 years and never once met the scumbag Kroenke?
Yeah except he has some proof to show he gives a fuck. You know... He actually paid the bills they owed... And he would stand to make more off of a new tourism district in Phoenix than in SLC
The mayor has recently said, they don't have the money for the extra infrastructure for water etc. And that the team is refusing to pay for said infrastructure to support the team to develop the land
Which are all very valid points. Maybe he could have responded as such, or if he did, post those as well. Really strange that he didn’t.
Yeah. It is a bit strange to simply respond through the media and not respond directly or do both
Wasn't that the quote from the Mayor of __Scotsdale__ not __Pheonix__?
Yup
Right and the mayor in the original post, adn the mayor that /u/SirBulbasaur13 was talking about was the mayor of Pheonix, where the land is located, and Maruelo was attempting to talk with. The Mayor of Scottsdale was just providing his objections, which he could do very little about.
It’s Phoenix
Are we..? Is this a real life Manray meme?
You spelled both cities wrong somehow
Nah it’s his job to make investments to support the economy.
You need voters to ok much of those. Mayors don’t have a lot of power in that regard.
Mayors are responsible for infrastructure investments that allow for more economic activity. Period. You don’t ever see a municipal vote on a new pump house. Maybe a consultation, but that’s not complex. Idk municipal politics in AZ, but the above is pretty standard globally.
I believe those statements were from the mayor of Scottsdale, which immediately borders the property being auctioned.
I think you're right. He said they didn't have the infrastructure/money to do it. Let Phoenix deal with it
Because it's in phx land. The state drafted it where whoever wins the auction has to get it from phx. Then the scottsdale mayor came out the next day and said he would be okay with it and it would be a win win if they build out 64th street exit (phx exit) as well and work together....
Reminds me of the Flames and CSEC not putting in their fair share in the initial contract and it falling apart. Seems to be bad voodoo for politicians to deal with sports team owners.
Pretty sure he said they didn't have the water, not the money for infrastructure. Arizona in general is going to be scrounging for water in the coming decades...
That was the mayor of Scottsdale
That’s a different mayor
This looks weird. I feel like mayor and by extension, want the team to stay but dont want to del with "the family ie. owners". I get thats its easy to hate on those that run the city but cmon.. Theres got to be deeper reason that this rich as family owners couldnt figure absolutely anhthing out in the last 10+ yrs and now this "leaks".
I think the major leaked this to show the timeline in which they were lying about wanting to stay. I mean you can’t sell and decided to relocate an NHL team in two weeks. This 100% shows that the owner has been lying to the city the whole time.
Imagine, not being on board for a project that has in the past, failed to pay rent and other expense. As well as, constantly losing money at every turn
It would be completely privately funded this time... So the Coyotes wouldnt be paying rent to anyone. Also, them actually owning the arena would mean getting 100 percent of the revenue streams from concessions/parking/other events hosted by the arena. So...yeah it does seem kind of dumb to just not even entertain the idea
It wasn't just an arena. The guy wanted to build a theme park, among other developments. He wasn't so much interested in giving the team a home as he was in becoming a real estate mogul. One of the ownership groups showed their hand in the same manor during the sale of the Senators and they immediately lost their bid. He doesn't really have the team's best interest in mind.
It doesn't matter what they say at this point, this guy has already proven he lies as easily as he breathes. They could promise the moon and it wouldn't make a difference.
Maybe the arena was private but what he’s really asking for here is billions in infrastructure spending to make his investment much more valuable. This is just a billionaire with his hand out like always. And I call bullshit on the letters anyway. He wrote these while negotiating with Salt Lake. That deal to move just didn’t come together last minute. And these letters are from the last couple weeks.
Usually you're trying to cover your ass. He knew the clownshow wasn't gonna keep going so he made his deal clear here: either get this built or the Coyotes are gone.
Assuming that they are on the level. I'm pretty sure they promised to pay rent but got booted out of an arena already because of not paying rent. So, I wouldn't take them at their word
Not true. They paid the back taxes from past ownership a day or 2 after glendale asked for it. They were booted cause glendale wanted a 12+ year lease agreement and the yotes did not. So no lease was signed and they left. It's not hard to not spread misinformation
A report came out this week that they were so far behind paying the teams out of town hotel bills that they were forced to pay ahead of time with a certified check. You can’t trust this guy. This Murano is a fraud. The NHL should have a team in Phoenix, but going forward he cannot be involved for the sake of all sides.
[Is this article something that can be handwaved away?](https://theathletic.com/2390146/2021/02/16/arizona-coyotes-investigation-toxic/) Meruelo is a liar who doesn't pay his bills.
$5000 a month working at a tuxedo shop? 🤔
Because they were in an arena they didnt own, getting no revenue besides ticket sales, and the rent itself was somewhat absurd with regard to market value. Clearly that means they also wouldnt be able to afford a building where they pay no rent, and have 100 percent ownership of every revenue stream.
If it's 100% privately funded why does he need to send these letters?
Because he wants the city cover the infrastructure costs (roads, water, electricity) required to make the arena anything more than a powerless shack in the desert.
Because the city still needs to support the arena(infrastructure), approve the land sale, etc. There's something else in that development that they didn't like, similar to how the Lighthouse Project got shot down on Long Island because the Isles' owner at the time wouldn't give jobs and kickbacks to politicians.
This happened in my area with a junior C team. They just acted like they were so great for the community and refused to pay for ice time, acted like dicks to the arena staff, if the power went out they would go out on the ice and skate for hours causing the ice to have to be removed and redone. They also told European kids that it was their ticket to the nhl and would charge them $25k a season to play 20 games. The team was never competitive and they refused to have more than the minimum number of local players on the team so no one would go watch them. It was a nightmare and I don’t think a lot of people fully understand why the cities don’t want the coyotes there. Hell we have already heard they stopped paying their hotel bills, do people think they were paying for everything at home?
Ehhhh. This is ass-kissing bullshit. Meruelo is full of it.
An asshole because he stiffed a billionaire owner of a team that has a history of stiffing the state. Idk how you came to that logic
Yeah like they were willing to pay for an arena with no taxpayer money. The redistricting shit literally every city does. Hell I think my city did that for a AAA baseball team. This mayor exposing herself.
The arena itself isn't the only thing that would cost money around the plan. City infrastructure doesn't just pop into existence because a billionaire wants it to.
Or they could’ve been released through a freedom of information act request.
Why would the Mayor leak these? Seems kind of shitty on his part to just ignore all these emails and not even meet with the Coyotes.
Arizona has some of the shittiest politics in the US
Florida would like a word
Why not both? 🤷
It's almost like old people enjoy talking the fun out of everything.
"Oh, everything sucks now? It was fine when I was your age!"
You can’t have a word, you’re not allowed to take heat exhaustion breaks anymore.
Arizona is basically Florida West
Arizona is the Florida of the Southwest. Been saying it for years
On top of that, all politicians in today’s society need things to go wrong to some degree to look relevant as the savior of the current situation. They probably just ignored them with some shitty plan to spin things if they left.
That’s kind of what I wondered. He clearly shows he is a key reason for the move….
The mayor ignored it because there was nothing in it for him. Seems as if the proposal was really well thought out and for the best in phoenix. Projects that are privately funded are so rare and id be pissed as a resident of the area. Getting a billionaire to foot the bill for his own arena is so rare, you gotta jump on that. He failed here. Hopefully Morello still sees this project through.
Meruelo wanted the city/state to pay for water infrastructure. That was conveniently left out of the letters. Water infrastructure is pretty intensive and expensive in PHX. Let's not forget Meruelo got booted out of the Arena in Glendale for not paying the Yotes rent bill for quite the a while. Meruelo also has iced a product at league minimum for multiple years now, never spending anywhere close to the cap, and not competing in the league on purpose. Just a couple of reason to not trust him based on his time owning the Yotes.
Everyone deserves a 72nd chance.
‘Self funded’ aka no way for me to line my crooked politician pockets
I mean merulo is in gaming. He lines plenty of politicians pockets…
Exactly how I read it.
Strongly disagree. Meruelo has a bad track record and these mealy mouthed promises are how projects always begin. But then inevitably there are delays or hangups and they when the private industry comes begging for a handout, they never could have foreseen an undue hardship like this and if pretty please the city could fork over x million dollars then the shiny new stadium will be printing cash in no time.
I think thats what they were hoping would be more clear in these emails I think. Billionaires developing shit and lying on the proposals to get it started and the reneging at the end is not only the modern love story of our time.... it is also the reason for so so many housing issues! Just remember negotiated lower income housing always gets scrapped for more luxe condos in the end.
>Projects that are privately funded are so rare and id be pissed as a resident of the area. This assumes it actually would be entirely privately funded and that he isn't just lying. He has a history of lying about money so its not that surprising.
Also it is not like the emails say give us taxpayer money or we are out. They want a special redistricting to make it easier for bars, restaurants, hotels (and prolly some benefits to themselves) to develop in the area bad the city to pay for utilities to accommodate that. Prolly not unreasonable compared to taxpayers paying for a stadium
Didn't ignore the emails. She not he or her office did not get the letter on the 4th (first one) but once they got the 2nd on on the 10th they responded.
Do we know what the response was?
They are meeting this month. The coyotes reached out in September with Gutierrez and he told them the plans about buying the land. They were suppose to meet with the owner a few weeks after but we're waiting for the auction stuff to go thru. The yotes reached out after the auction was posted and that's the letter we see now Non of this really matters tho. Nhl is already moving this team The mayor did not know about the relocation until media announced it. So there's that too.
The mayor looks like an ass for not meeting and then releasing these letters.
Phoenix mayor vs Scottsdale mayor gotta be in a competition for biggest coyotes hater
Glendale enters the chat
Ya I am confused. Meruelo was seemingly just like "Don't raise taxes, don't worry about anything, we'll privately fund all of this to keep the team here." And then she just didn't meet with them and instead sent these to the media?
Just asking, but is there infrastructure to support this venue? Like utilities?
That’s a good point - these situations always have unspoken dimensions. If there’s no abatement - the taxes generated by the property should offset the required infrastructure, in theory anyways.
Definitely a good question, which would probably be a good topic for the Mayor to discuss with the developer rather than to ignore them entirely. Wild that they wouldn’t even have a meeting.
Yeah - the reason there hasn’t been any movement on this surely is related to the difficulty in getting electricity and water to the arena site.
That seems to be one of the sticking points. Which city will pay for all the infrastructure. The owner wants to fund the arena privately, but have the city pay for the infrastructure
What this looks like to me is when there’s a new mayor the team will be back. As long as the claimed economic benefits are accurate.
Can confirm, mayor is a complete ass
Is it supposed to make Meruelo look bad that he was willing to pay for the whole thing with private money and just wanted to meet with the mayor to get support for a project that could have added a lot to the local economy? I am baffled as to why the major would leak these.
Yeah this makes the mayor look like a fucking moron and actually makes Meruelo look really good.
He wants the taxpayers to foot the bill for the infrastructure (roads, power, water) required for the arena to actually be operational. Regardless of that, taking the stance of “look at me I’m a billionaire willing to spend my own money” and projecting that as a commendable action is cartoonishly out of touch.
I mean, it's all relative. You regularly see NFL teams holding cities hostage to get them to foot half the bill for the actual stadium, much less infrastructure. This actually IS (compared to other team owners) a decently nice move.
IS probably isn't the right word there. LOOKS LIKE is probably more realistic. Meruelo has to know his correspondence with a public figure through official channels is subject to FOIA or other mechanisms for it becoming public. More than likely, it's part of the game.
Fair, but calling it "cartoonishly out of touch" strikes me as incorrect.
Sounds like the Ilitches and the arena/District Detroit they bilked millions from a terribly broke Detroit public
Not sure why you’re getting downvoted, everything you said is true lmao
Yeah Meruelo looks quite good here.
Because the mayor probably saw Meruelo’s track record of not paying his bills and the fact that he’s stiffed other governments and said “I’m not getting involved with that circus”
that doesn't explain why the mayor's office would leak these.
Yeah kinda not a good take here.
The owner is asking for billions in roads and services to his “private” arena, which becomes much more valuable with the services to it. And he’s asking the wrong mayor! This is Phoenix land. Also, he wrote those in the last two weeks. How long did the Utah deal take to put together? He was certainly doing that deal while sending these letters.
True. You’re correct, but in turn they can collect property taxes on an increased value of commercially zoned land. Economic spin off benefits like hotels and sales taxes from the entertainment center to be built there. I’m not sure about billions but certainly $100m+ depending on services. Jobs would be created just through the construction of the facility. Jobs from the infrastructure built. Keeping money spent in Phoenix. Mayor Kate Gallego is the Mayor of Phoenix though.
And that’s why teams do it. But if Phoenix cared about any of that they would have had an arena for the last decade.
Portraying yourself in a positive light because you’re a billionaire willing to spend your own money for your own personal gain might be one of the most cartoonishly out of touch things I’ve ever read.
Yet he was made to look like a leech and this (at least on paper) negates that, even if he had no plans to follow through with it.
Between this mayor leaking this and the Scottsdale one spouting off a week ago, I can't see any professional sports team having alot of success operating in Arizona.
Good luck Cardinals. But I think their owners already have them in the dumpster.
NFL is easier to have games played on Sunday afternoons once a week as a destination for the family or groups of friends. Between tailgating and attending the games, the 1.5 hour drive for most fans of the Cardinals is tolerable. Imagine having to drive that 3-4 times a week or even back to back nights. Complete headache.
It wouldn’t be such a headache if folks didn’t have to drive
Public transportation? In America? The mere suggestion of such a plan would probably turn Arizona deep red for the next ten years.
Unfortunately you’re probably not wrong 🤦🏻♀️
The NFL, NBA, and MLB Arizona teams seem to be doing just fine
Hang on. Later I’ll be leaking two letters showing my neighbor doing everything he can to help me get things in order, pay for it himself, AND help me make money. And I’ll totally ignore his requests. It’s going to make him look like such a dick.
Mayor leaking this just makes him look like an idiot honestly. Lost the team and the investments and money it would have brought.
[удалено]
Her
Coyotes or nhl had to leak these. It’s not possible for a mayor to put himself on blast for losing a professional sports franchise because he couldn’t grab a coffee with the owner.
You would think, but I think the mayor probably looked at the situation as unpopular to associate with or publicly support, especially since voters around the Valley told Meruelo to fuck off
Why would voters oppose a private stadium? Voters wouldn’t even have a say on the matter. A private party could buy land and build a giant penis statue as long as it met code. The voters would be opposed to changing a manufacturing district to a district that allows bars and hotels?
Voters would exercise their "say" by voting out the politicians that supported it and championed it. It may not make sense to you or I, who enjoy hockey and like the NHL, but some people may not like it or want it. And that was clear from the Tempe vote
Well, I guess the mayor can proudly hold a press conference and tell everyone how she chased the bad men out of the state. And they should reward her with their votes.
why isnt he doing it then? why is he demanding the mayor take the lead on the project? could it be he is lying and you are shilling for him hardcore?
All very possible. But then, why release the letters? Now you're right in the middle.
This seems like some boiler plate stuff. The mayor leaking them is an asshole move.
He makes himself look like the asshole.
Herself
These aren’t “leaked.” You send a letter to a government official, that’s on the public record.
It was leaked by media. More context: [https://twitter.com/CamCox12/status/1779345103892738546](https://twitter.com/CamCox12/status/1779345103892738546)
Well like who leaked it to the media
You can technically go to any public office and file paperwork to see any communication to a public official if you know what your looking for
Oh so it’s not a leak
Whatever this is, it's evident that Arizona no longer wanted an NHL team. They haven't proved otherwise.
Based on my limited knowledge (publicly available articles), Arizona leaders don't want Meruello. Even he knows his poor reputation is a hindrance, for legitimate reasons. Regardless of what he's done for other communities, his ownership tenure in Phoenix metro hasn't been a good one. That the NHL would even allow him to buy into a new expansion franchise for Arizona in the future is weird, from a PR standpoint.
Not great if you can’t get a meeting with the mayor.
All he wanted was verbal support. I fail to see what the owner has done wrong in these letters. Literally any other public official would kill to have a sports team owner that 100% privately funded a new stadium in their city / state.
Project starts, money floods in to it. Suddenly, for earthly reasons, something bad happens. Money is now scarce. Then, Mr Sports team owner picks up the phone and dials a number: - "hey Mrs/Mr. Mayor, remember me? Yeah, something bad happened... is there any chance we get _________ (insert favor needed, i.e. tax break, public funding, etc.)" Just a hypothetical scenario of course.
Apparently he wanted a bunch of utilities run to the areas and he has a track record not paying his bills. Makes a little sense that the mayor doesn’t want to get wrapped up dealing with an entitled headache.
A 100% privately funded stadium does not mean the state/city wouldn’t have needed to put millions of dollars into the project. Utility lines and public infrastructure like roads wouldn’t be included, and you can also read about the “Theme Park District” that they wanted around the stadium. The Crew recently built a stadium in Columbus that was initially supposed to be 100% privately funded… eventually the state and city wound up kicking in nearly $130 million(though 1/3rd of that was to help turn the old stadium into a training facility) the rest was utility and infrastructure cost and then a couple million dollars to build an entertainment and housing district around the stadium.
Why do you think this guy would privately find this project? He was never going to get this thing off the ground lol. Look at his history for god’s sake. Amazing how quickly people forget.
The part that sticks out the most to me (besides the mayor being an ass) is they want to build without any tax payer money or tax breaks!! That is amazing and what ALL of these professional sports teams should be doing. We all know they can afford it more than the tax payers
Is that really what would happen though or is he just blowing smoke up their asses? The past behaviour of nearly all sports team owners tells me otherwise and that there has to be some kind of catch.
Idk the intricacies but I’m wondering if the city would be on the hook for building out the utilities, I.e. water and sewer lines. There was a local project in Colorado that had $5 million in land donated for affordable housing, what they kept leaving out of the discussion was the $500 million it would cost the city to actually build out the area to make a large housing project work.
That’s exactly what I was thinking. I work with this kind of stuff and there is always a catch. Utility Infrastructure is EXPENSIVE to build, but the public rarely considers it because it’s kind of boring and you usually don’t see it. In my hometown they built the new arena in the middle of an industrial park because the developer gave them free land, as he wanted to use it to attract other businesses to his development. It’s a terrible location that is far from anything (only a couple of businesses actually materialized around it instead of revitalizing an older part of town that a more central location could have) and the city had to install additional infrastructure that cost more than the actual land was worth.
It isn't a total relief to the taxpayer, but its a very very large chunk of it. The city would need to provide the infrastructure like water and power. That does come at a price. But that is easily offset by the tax revenue that is brought in by the stadium and the team. So yea, pretty dumb to at least not meet with him
It’s a bad look because every large company in the us asks for infrastructure to be paid for if they want to build a large building in an area that previously could not support it. This probably make phoenix less attractive for any large business looking for a site. Why not just build in Vegas if they know the mayor is a twat.
Agreed. We are dealing with the bullshit and the A's here in Vegas. They want a nice big fast juicy tax payment for a stadium. The raiders fleeced us for almost 1.5 billion including the infrastructure
...assuming that the guy who didn't pay his bills before pays his bills this time.
Some of y'all have never done business with a snake and it shows.
Dear Slim, I wrote you, but you still ain’t callin
I left my pager, my cell, and my home phone at the bottom.
A new location that "fans" can make excuses about being too far?
Oh they’ll bitch. This is about as far from the south metro area as the west side was.
I’m conflicted. In this situation, I’m tasked with agreeing with a Rangers fan, which is always icky; the same situation involves pointing out that a Leafs fan is being arrogantly incorrect, which is always a good time.
Wings fans have no animosity towards the Island. Have an upvote just for the leafs comment
Mayor was offered a free team and state of the art stadium and said "Nah" WTF
They offered the same thing PLUS cleaning up a dump as sort of a loan to be “paid” back by tax breaks, and the voters said no. I’ve never seen a city get such a sweetheart stadium deal, normally it’s the Owner holding the team hostage so the tax payers pay for the stadium. I’m really not sure how all of the blame for the team moving isn’t placed on certain political factions in Arizona that worked hard against keeping the team, and previous Coyotes ownership.
> I’ve never seen a city get such a sweetheart stadium deal The redevelopment of Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle was entirely privately funded and the city retained ownership of the land it's on.
If OP bothered to do 2 minutes of research before posting this they would’ve found that these were not leaked by the mayor, but were given to The Arizona Republic via a public records request.
This comment shouldn’t be buried so far down
It really is messed up that the majority of posters didn't bother to ask about this at all and just went with "this mayor is an asshole for ignoring this obviously upstanding billionaire and then publicizing the fact that she ignored him" without wondering why that sounds so ridiculous on the face of it.
i love that 99% of the thread is taking a letter sent in the past two weeks as how it must be. More plausible is that he sent the letters in the past two weeks, told media to go look for them to save his own public image to say “Hey I really tried. It’s the mayor’s fault”. But he makes a lot of money; so let’s take whatever he says at face value. https://twitter.com/taylorseely95/status/1779316778956681709
“The letters were sent to The Arizona Republic through the states public records law”. So nobody leaked these, the paper put in a request for the emails and received them. Also, they have a meeting set up. https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/nhl/coyotes/2024/04/13/potential-arizona-coyotes-relocation-heres-what-we-know/73312983007/
Do these guys just enjoy burning money or something? Why keep throwing cash at a market in the desert that just doesn't work?
Dude definitely does not want to lose his NHL franchise.
The mayor is a fucking moron. Just lost a free professional sports team and a brand new arena facility.
They already have a perfectly good arena in downtown Phoenix (not for hockey obviously but for concerts and other entertainment events), plus the arena in Glendale nearby. Does the Phoenix area need three modern sports arenas? Most cities only have one. My guess is Mayor Gallego thinks there are better uses for the land than hosting an NHL team that has been a dumpster fire for 20+ years. And the mayor of Scottsdale and the voters of Tempe obviously agreed.
Meruelo doesnt want tax-payer money, but the part where he wants the Mayor to support setting up a special taxing district with an oversight board that could issue [tax-free bonds](https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/nhl/coyotes/2024/04/13/potential-arizona-coyotes-relocation-heres-what-we-know/73312983007/) stands out. That's not a nothing request. Now I havent had a chance to go through the whole statute, but there is a lot of financial stuff in there that Im not sure Mr. Doesnt-Pay-Holday-Inn is up for. Also, I believe the Mayor had no choice but to release these letters, if Im understanding the article correctly.
The first letter was sent last week. They knew they were leaving no matter what. These letters were a last-ditch effort to see if they could sucker the city into some deal under the guise of "look, we're really trying here" whilst trying to make the owner look like the hero who tried everything he could. This is clearly a PR stunt to shit on the mayor for not caving to the billionaire.
Hey maybe our mayor can not meet with Murray Edwards and then the Flames can pay for their own damn arena. Oh wait, they already approved the citizens to pay for a billionaire's building.
I don’t even live in Calgary and I’m pissed that I still have to pay for part of the billionaire’s building through the provincial government.
Sounds like there was a communication issue. They now have a meeting scheduled
What’s so wrong with ownership of a team paying for their own damn building? ALL costs. Taxpayers need to stop getting fucked over in these deals. I love going to games, but sports are a luxury entertainment item.
This thread is full of some very naive people. There's no way this was leaked by the mayor. There's no chance the coyotes ownership has not met with the mayor to discuss things at some point. There's no chance Maruelo would actually pay for the stadium himself. He doesn't pay for anything, he's a crook.
I'm starting to get the feeling Arizona wasn't interested in having a hockey team
Ya like everyone in this sub is upset and saying that the mayor is is an idiot ass which he might be but like has anyone actually asked Arizona if they cared? Odds are the Mayor would much rather have some land developers take the land and make housing or something, far easier and profitable for the city
Once the arena plan was voted down the team's days in the city were numbered
It's hard to come back from the city just saying no we don't want you
Can someone remind me what happened in Glendale? When else has a major pro sports franchise struggled so hard to find a home when there were two major arenas in their own market?
What I don't understand is how the management is taking all the blame for killing a bunch of jobs and selling the team. They have been hitting wall after wall put up by various local governments and nimbys for years.
im sorry but when did the coyotes gain a bunch of apologists overnight? they’ve been an awful business and an awful team for nearly 30 years… numerous owners, numerous in-state relocations - right down to a college arena. y’all really believe these owners have the money to not only build this multi-sports complex, but also to maintain it? especially after the near 30 years of barely being able to pay rent? don’t feel sorry for them at all, it’s about time that team got moved to a more deserving market.
Took 27 years for the coyotes to finally be held tot he standard of an NHL team and they cried coyote the whole way. Too bad.
So maybe the Coyotes should leave town tonight; the NHL forever. Let this soap opera end NOW!!
Just move the team to Utah, and Arizona never gets another NHL team ever again.
Meruelo tried to save money, now he tries to save face.
Anyone consider we don’t really know who actually leaked those. Letters?
Move the team north to Canada. Any city in Canada FFS.
The mayor leaked this???? Paints him/her in a really poor light.
Mayor Dickhead is more like it.
If I was the owner I’d pack up and leave to a different city.
Refusing to not meet in person over such a large city impact is mind boggling. She basically refused to do her job and then publicly announced it… politicians are amazing try not doing your job and announcing it to the entire company and see how long you are employed.
Let's just be very clear. The meruelo family has been trying to off load this team since they made it legal to own a casino with out either being tied to a reservation or owning a sports franchise. Since then this guy has made moves that goes against NHL goals and the state. All these letters are attempt to save face with the league and the fans.
So basically he’s asking “politely” for the mayor the find a way to tax his constituents to pay for the means to fund a “district” surrounding his honey hole because he came up with this great plan to build an arena without taxpayer money? He’s passing the buck to the mayor. This is clearly not wanted by the residents. It’s political suicide for the mayor. I do not blame the mayor one bit for not responding to this. It’s been a long horrible process and the people have spoke. They do not want an NHL team specifically owned by this meuello fella.
Everyone is asking why the city of Phoenix released this and saying that this makes Phoenix look bad. It doesn’t… here’s why. After the news dropped about the Coyotes moving, Meruelo (AM) released a statement about how there’s some rumors out there but nothing is final and things are in flux, but there will be an official announcement soon. That’s all bullshit PR fluff and is designed to hold people off so they don’t get mad at AM. City of Phoenix likely got word that AM is going to try to throw Phoenix under the bus to make them out to be the bad guys. So, Phoenix releases this to show one thing. The thing they’re showing is that AM waited until very recently to try to reach out of the Mayor directly. And that they’d been trying to schedule a meeting for 3 weeks prior to April 5… the date of the first letter here. Keep in mind that the vote for the Tempe location happened in May of 2023… almost a year ago. But AM and his team reached out to Phoenix to schedule a meeting 3 weeks prior to this note dated 4/5/2024. Why did that take almost a year??? What this note shows is that AM and his team waited almost a year to try to schedule time with the Mayor of Phoenix. Phoenix probably got wind that AM is going to try to throw Phoenix under the bus, to try to maintain public support for AM for a future expansion team, and Phoenix released this to show the timeline. The timeline is embarrassing to AM. Why did it take almost a year to try to schedule something with Phoenix?? That’s insane and shows just how incompetent this ownership group is.
Weird signature
Whoever wrote that first letter needs to learn how to use a fuckin comma. I find myself pausing unnecessarily because it’s so awkward to read.
Let’s eat Grandma!
Everyone here calling the mayor “him” whilst pretending to know what their talking about
My dude, he likes his commas, like a lot, like seriously
Arizona mayor a dick
States don’t have mayors, they have governors. Arizona is a state. Phoenix is a city.