On the Arizona Coyotes and their arena situation …
Darrell Jackson of the Glendale Star: (Tuesday) Officials from both Seattle and Portland said that members of the Arizona Coyotes have toured the Key Arena in Seattle and Moda Center Portland in the past three months.
The Portland Trailblazers play out of the Moda Center, and owner Paul Allen said he’d like to own a percentage of an NHL team if it came to Portland.
Key Arena spokesperson.
“(the city) recently had a tour for potential developers and potential ownership groups and there was a representative from the (Coyotes) that was part of that.”
Arizona Coyotes: Statement from Coyotes president and CEO Anthony LeBlanc.
“Recent reports by the Glendale Star that the Coyotes ownership group has explored arena options outside the Arizona market are completely false. The Star referenced an anonymous arena source and an anonymous Coyotes source, and these are a fabrication.
“The Coyotes are focused on creating one of the most taxpayer friendly facilities in the country here in the Valley. This new arena will pay for itself, create jobs and generate millions of dollars of revenue for the state, county and municipality where it’s built. We are fully committed to Arizona.”
Adam Green of Arizona Sports: Coyotes president and CEO Anthony LeBlanc was on Arizona Sports 87.7 talking about the report.
“It couldn’t be farther from the truth; it is 100 percent false”
LeBlanc added “there is absolutely no facts whatsoever in that story.”
LeBlanc continued:
“We take this stuff seriously,” he said. “Maybe a little less seriously because of the publication, but because it has gone national — which is disappointing — we take this seriously, as does the league.
“There is absolutely, unequivocally, no truth to the story whatsoever. It’s incredibly disappointing.”
Relocation rumors will follow the organization until a longer term plan is in place.
“We really do believe that we will come up with a solution in the relative short-term,” LeBlanc said. “When I say ‘relative short-term,’ that could be six months, that could be a year.
“So we have said before and we mean it, that we’re OK staying in Glendale if we know that there is certainty of a new facility coming online and shovels in the ground. And of course, the time-frame has probably slipped since we’re back to, not square one, but probably square three.”
The Coyotes were a bit blindsided by ASU backing out of the arena deal with the Coyotes.
“The thought was they didn’t want to do anything that hurts the legislation that they’re working on in regards to research,” he said. “And look, at the end of the day the charter of a university is research and education.
“I get it, I understand it. Doesn’t mean I wasn’t disappointed.”
LeBlanc admits that Gendale is the wrong location for the Coyotes.
“Everybody seems to think it’s a battle between us, the Coyotes, and the existing Glendale council,” he said. “The decision to build the facility in Glendale was prior to our ownership group and prior to the existing city council. And the honest answer is, it was a mistake. It was the wrong location for this franchise.”