Confirmed with Link: All-Purpose Coyotes Arena Talk: [Update] Land Auction Cancelled, Meruelo waiving ownership rights.

[Bonsai Tree]

Anyone giving AM any benefit of the doubt at this point needs their head examined.

They burned all bridges with that public statement. It’s over

Without question Meruelo is a dick AND he got screwed by this underhanded move by the State.

 

[Bonsai Tree]

I understand it all too well. There are people who latch on to an attitude and an image, and once they do it's nearly impossible to shake them out of it with facts or evidence. The problem has only gotten worse of late, even though you'd think that with the increasing availability of facts and due diligence, it would improve. But now that people can just call anything they don't like "fake news," you're seeing a huge uptick in grifter culture and cult-of-personality campaigns all over the place.

No matter how publicly and blatantly Meruelo shoots himself in the foot, or proves that he's trying to fake his way through things with bluster and bullshit, there are going to be people out there who will not let go of their conviction that Meruelo is a misunderstood financial genius and that the corrupt world is out to get him. How, after all, can someone who owns an island possibly be as incompetent as he seems? And it's because they fail to account for luck, random chance, and context.

Meruelo's not the first, nor will he be the last, rich guy who believes himself to be not only competent, but exceptional in all walks of life simply because of the size of his bank account. And he's also not the first or last rich guy onto whom credulous admirers will latch regardless of the demands of reality.

Make Arizona Great Again

 

[Mosby]

At least the mouse cursor wasn't visible in the statement this time. Progress.

 

[The Feckless Puck]

Make Arizona Great Again

MAGA - Meruelo's Ass Got Annihilated

 

[TheLegend]

Here I thought you were familiar with the internet.

I am….. more than you possibly could ever fathom.

 

[Knights2017]

Without question Meruelo is a dick AND he got screwed by this underhanded move by the State.

What is underhanded?? They're allowing Meruelo the opportunity to get the zoning they need but to allow an auction before that is done would've been like selling your house without knowing the buyer can qualify.

Meruelo copium running rampant

 

[JasonDemersWasOkay]

I get being distrustful of government but we should all be much much more distrustful of bad actor billionaires

 

[awfulwaffle]

We lost a long time ago and didn't know it. You can bitch about AM all you want for the next ten years or more because you will have plenty of time on your hands waiting for a team to come back. Then you will be calling the new group grifters because they will be wanting tax abatements that will make AM's ask look like chump change.

This is what I don't understand. Even if ishbia were to buy the team, he would need to renovate footprint, or build a new place outright. He's not going to do that with his own money, and he'll have leverage because of the Suns. Bit the city of Phoenix just sank a bunch of money into renovating, I don't see them helping any time soon.

Any new owner that comes in is going to be looking for deals also. That's just the nature of the business.

 

[StreetHawk]

This is what I don't understand. Even if ishbia were to buy the team, he would need to renovate footprint, or build a new place outright. He's not going to do that with his own money, and he'll have leverage because of the Suns. Bit the city of Phoenix just sank a bunch of money into renovating, I don't see them helping any time soon.

Any new owner that comes in is going to be looking for deals also. That's just the nature of the business.

Sad reality of arenas and cities is that it costs the city/state like $10-11 mill per every 1 year that they get out of the lease with the team. City covered about $160 mill of the $250 mill renovation.

Only way an NHL and NBA team share an arena when 1 of them is already there is for the 1 owner to own both. Ishbia would pass on sharing a new arena (assuming that the city then decides to build on this land that the coyotes wanted), just like Sarver. They are not giving up total control of an arena for half control.

But, AZ is supposed to be large market. Thus, there isn't really a better location for the Suns than PHX is there? Even SEA/LV are not a match for AZ. Unless someone wants to lose that valuation going to a smaller market.

 

[MayDayMayDay]

Meruelo pulling the Runners out of the Mullet games. What a f***in baby.

 

[GhostofTommyBolin]

Hahahahahaha! What a whiny bitch.

Roadrunners reverse course, won't play 6 games at Mullett Arena

The Roadrunners announced they will play all of their home games in Tucson after previously saying six games would be played in Tempe.

arizonasports.com

 

[Knights2017]

This is what I don't understand. Even if ishbia were to buy the team, he would need to renovate footprint, or build a new place outright. He's not going to do that with his own money, and he'll have leverage because of the Suns. Bit the city of Phoenix just sank a bunch of money into renovating, I don't see them helping any time soon.

Any new owner that comes in is going to be looking for deals also. That's just the nature of the busines

Ishbia already completed the teams new corporate HQ downtown Phoenix and he hasn’t even been owner for 2 years. He’s proven himself already. AM has proven he can’t do a f***ing thing so far except lose our team.

 

[RemoAZ]

I get being distrustful of government but we should all be much much more distrustful of bad actor billionaires

The rich elite either own the government/politicians or are both a politician and mega rich. The insider trading most politicians do is just more blatant theft right in front of our eyes and nobody does anything about it because of course, the rich elite control what laws get to be voted on.

 

[RemoAZ]

Not sure if this was posted already:

Alex Meruelo, Coyotes don't deserve an NHL return

Pro hockey does not belong in the desert. Not under Alex Meruelo, who has burned bridges with entities the Coyotes need to build a new arena.

arizonasports.com

A few pieces of the article:
“No one should be surprised at this ownership groups’ incompetence and duplicity,” Tempe councilman Randy Keating told Front Office Sports. “They were told several times what they needed to do to move forward with the auction by the City of Phoenix and not only chose not to do so, but then had the gull to cast blame. The call is, and always has been, coming from inside the house. Fans deserve so much better.”

The land department does not want to sell a seemingly important piece of developable land to an untrustworthy ownership group that wasn’t wanted in Glendale (the city) or Tempe (the voters). And the ASLD especially should not have if it caught any sense that the city of Phoenix wasn’t going to clear the way for the Coyotes to develop the land. Or if it thought the Coyotes might not have the easiest financial path to develop the land before getting to building.

Mayor Kate Gallego’s spokesperson told AZCentral that a pro sports arena is not allowed under the existing zoning. The Coyotes’ former zoning lawyer, Nick Wood of Snell & Wilmer, said in April that he believed rezoning was not necessary.



There are nuances and complications in those two messages that don’t jive.

What is clear is that zoning semantics probably could be cleared up if there was motivation for Phoenix to bring the NHL back within its boundaries.

Why wouldn’t Phoenix want the Coyotes?

For starters, look at Meruelo’s history and reputation.

So here’s where we are: You can blame Glendale city leaders for forcing the Coyotes out. You can blame Tempe voters for not welcoming them in. Blame the NHL and commissioner Gary Bettman, the latter who deserves massive credit for somehow convincing an owner living in a false reality to sell his hockey team to a Utah ownership group, lending an unlikely lifeline for Meruelo to restart the franchise. That was quite the threading of the needle. Sure, you can blame Phoenix for not doing everything in its power to bring back the NHL team.



But at some point, save the conspiracies that span multiple cities and the freakin’ NHL that didn’t want this version of the Coyotes in Arizona. Blame Alex Meruelo.

 

[Arizonatah Coyetis]

Meruelo is getting chased out of town.

 

[The Feckless Puck]

Meruelo is getting chased out of town.

We can only hope.

 

[TheLegend]

Meruelo pulling the Runners out of the Mullet games. What a f***in baby.

After realizing in the release from the Roadrunners they blamed the cancelled auction as the reason for not playing at Mullett is juvenile as best ......

..... and an insult to juveniles.

 

[TheLegend]

 

[XX]

Won't be missed in the slightest. Maybe it finally dawned on him that he wasn't wanted by the league or by the other owners.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

Full article

 

[SKNJD9]

He's gone, congrats Yotes fans. Hopefully the NHL can source a ownership group and get the process to get a building built relatively quickly.

 

[Jagged Ice]

Good riddance to this complete failure.

 

[The Feckless Puck]

A billion dollars richer, but at least we won't have to deal with his idiot son anymore.

 

[SniperHF]

What happened to being hyped about still having the logo?


On am ore serious note I know some people are putting stock into what Narin has to say about another group potentially out there but.......I'm not buying it. How many times have we heard that line over the years only to end up with the Ice Edge's of the world, or other various pretenders that don't actually have the money to get it done right? The answer is a lot.

There's literally no reason for the NHL to prefer this market as an expansion over untested markets like Houston and the like, or giving Atlanta an actual shot again. They'll let it cool off for a decade at least.

There are too many hurdles for this to be done semi-quickly like the original 5 year time table.

 

[SKNJD9]

What happened to being hyped about still having the logo?


On am ore serious note I know some people are putting stock into what Narin has to say about another group potentially out there but.......I'm not buying it. How many times have we heard that line over the years only to end up with the Ice Edge's of the world, or other various pretenders that don't actually have the money to get it done right? The answer is a lot.

There's literally no reason for the NHL to prefer this market as an expansion over untested markets like Houston and the like, or giving Atlanta an actual shot again. They'll let it cool off for a decade at least.

There are too many hurdles for this to be done semi-quickly like the original 5 year time table.

The fact there is no red tape now with a AZ team will make them 100000% more attractive, not absorbing a failed ownerships debt/problems will go a long way to attracting ownership. The only dealing with AM required is the branding....sucks that this guy will get a second payday but if hockey returns to AZ it has to be the yotes and has to be the kachina