Depends on who you believe. On day one he started shitting on Glendale. No reason he couldn't look for a new project without doing that. He should have taken the Barroway route and played nice until he was gone. Everything is a negotiation. No way I believe he made a good faith decent offer to Glendale on a shorter term lease and they flat said long term or nothing. He didn't think they'd kick him out so he believed they would take whatever he offered. He even said he didn't think they'd do it in his damn presser. He thought wrong and now our team is gone. I realize you love to defend him for whatever reason but he nuked this thing from the get go. Now our team is gone. Have fun routing for Utah from your room in Meruelo's casino.
He was shocked that the City of Glendale actually kicked him out, he was shocked that Tempe resoundingly said no, and now he's shocked (but $1B richer) that the NHL bought him out. This guy is full of surprises!
Based on the ways AM seems to do business I have no reason not to believe the City of Glendale when they said Meruelo made a power move at their first ever meeting. I totally believe that he didn't even try to play nice or work out a deal with Glendale. But oops! They called his bluff. In the end the Coyotes needed Glendale more than Glendale needed the Coyotes.
I just read that Glendale is spending $40M on renovations. I think that the ASU money, offered to Glendale, would've gone a long way to a short-term deal. But I don't believe AM ever offered them anything. It would've covered half of Glendale's renovations and they'd probably be happy about it.
Fact is, the end started the minute he got kicked out of Glendale becase he didn't think they'd do it.