The more I dwell on it, the more I feel Meruelo should have humbled himself, tucked his tail between his legs, and gone back to Glendale to broker a peace deal
Break the Mullet lease, which was temporary in nature to begin with. I doubt Tempe would mind, and let ASU keep the annex
It’s hard to grasp that there’s a purpose-built, not-a-bad-seat-in-the-house NHL arena with no anchor tenant sitting idle in a 6 million metro in exchange for the Delta Center in a metro of maybe 2 million. The optics on that at surface level is laughable
Also, at this point, cannot ignore the growth of affluence of Surprise and North Peoria and even to some extent Goodyear and Litchfield Park. This ain’t the 2000’s West Valley
Especially with the team turning a corner operations and on-ice product wise
It should have at least bought some time, gotten the NHLPA off of the markets back, and I cant discount it may have even been a strong business opportunity for Mereuelo. Push comes to shove I bet he could have got a favorable lease, if he approached Glendale with tact and self-awareness. Can’t ignore he may have even wanted to purchase it on the cheap and get a winning product and build some goodwill for a more calculated move
Im examining this from the perspective of post-TED failure
Just a lot to think about at the moment