Bidders For Glendale Arena

I know the name of the arena in Glendale is Jobing.com arena, but it’s owned for the time being by the City of Glendale.

Calendar Watching

The last regular season game scheduled for the Coyotes is April 27. The club is scratching and clawing to make the playoffs and just might manage it. That said, so far nobody with any knowledge of or ability to influence the resolution of the Coyotes fiasco has mentioned a deadline.

The schedule the city is proposing for finalizing an arena management agreement has finally come to light. The designated arena management search company, Beacon Sports Capital, will be acting as tour guides of the arena for prospective managers in a few weeks (May 6-10). The next step will be for Beacon to propose two or three “finalists” to the City of Glendale for consideration. Once a company is selected, an arena management agreement will be negotiated by May 24. Everything will be completed by July 1 when the new manager will take over management of the arena.

There’s a deadline for you, July 1. I assume the NHL is on board with this schedule.

The NHL and prospective candidates for purchasing the Coyotes have remained silent about any schedule at all. In fact, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has stated they will be negotiating with their candidates and then coming to Glendale with their proposals. We know that groups have been submitting their proposals to the NHL recently.

I’m Not Sayin’

While Bettman professes he has been speaking regularly with Glendale mayor Weiers, if that’s indeed true then BOTH Bettman and Weiers are sidestepping the process put in place by the elected officials of Glendale. The process for which the city is paying $400 an hour. The process that was supposed to eliminate amateur sports deal negotiators such as mayors and city managers so there would be a better chance for success.

The city has been playing their cards very close to the vest, denying public records requests and holding essential information back using the executive session tactic. Ironically, they’ve ramped up the lack of transparency the newly elected mayor and council members decried in their campaign talks. Who’s to blame? Jerry Weiers.

Glendale and the NHL could be pursuing their own objectives and assuming they have the other party over a barrel. The result of that lack of respect for each other could result in both sides losing out on a special opportunity to successfully make Glendale’s investment FINALLY pay off. Instead, machismo and stubbornness might be in control. Mutually assured destruction. I understand and empathize with both sides, though.

You Jump First

The NHL, having seen multiple deals fail over the past four years, has decided to change things up and drive the bus this time. That’s fine, a fresh start with the possibilities of the new CBA is a good thing for the NHL to control. We should also assume that the NYC lawyers are brushing the dandruff off their three piece suits and looking at Glendale as being run by a bunch of rubes who were given multiple chances and ended up with zilch. So, they’re going to handle all the rough parts and then tell Glendale what they need to make it happen.

Glendale, having seen multiple deals fail over the past four years, has decided to change things up and drive the bus this time. That’s fine, a fresh start with new people aboard can throw out all the baggage, get a deal done and blame it all on Scruggs and the ex council members. Hiring an outside consulting firm for a STILL invisible Request for Proposals and vetting of prospective managers is something new and worth a try. So, the city will handle all the rough parts and the tell the big city lawyers about REAL salsa and how the deal is going to happen.

There’s fingers to be pointed all over the place.

Hockey Not Required

There will be multiple bidders approaching Beacon with proposals that do not include an anchor tenant with a guaranteed forty plus nights a year. We might even see some completely unqualified people like Phoenix Monarch Group giving it a shot, although even the old “suggested” RFP had enough qualifications needed that they’d be easily tossed in the round file unless they had some sort of inside political connections.

It’s possible that some bidders are already working with prospective Coyotes purchasers to manage the arena and have the Coyotes a client. While I can’t see how that would work out economically for the new Coyotes owner, there are plenty of smart people working on this thing that they may have come up with an outside the box deal.

Let’s leave that AND the sale of the arena (which COULD be economically feasible) discussions for another time. Let’s look at one group that probably should be making a serious bid for the arena management contract.

Experience Counts

A likely candidate to be able to handle the management of the Glendale arena is Philadelphia based Global Spectrum. They already run the University of Phoenix stadium among other facilities. They also are in broadcasting, ticketing, food services, pretty much everything needed to make an arena work. Their parent company is Comcast.

They also own the Philadelphia Flyers.

They would also have been my choice to perform the task Beacon has been hired for, assuming they weren’t going to be involved in the bidding process. Since Beacon has been hired, there’s another reason to assume Global Spectrum will be throwing their hat in the ring officially, and soon. While my opinion is that Beacon has a conflict of interest because of their relationship with Reinsdorf, their association with Global Spectrum is another step removed.

With those chops, one might wonder if Global Spectrum is also talking to the NHL about the Coyotes. My thinking is they are NOT currently, mostly because of the inflated $170M price the NHL is insisting on for the hockey club. If I was bidding against these guys to manage the arena, I’d be really nervous.

Peter Sullivan, Global Spectrum Regional VP and the General Manager of UOP Stadium, knows what he’s doing. I assume that some, or all, of the prospective Coyotes buyers have at least picked his brain about what it takes to be successful in Glendale. They may have even figured out some way to propose a mutually beneficial partnership, I know I would have done that early on.

You’d have to think Global will be preparing two proposals, one with hockey and one without.

UOP Stadium doesn’t have the benefit of an extended hockey season with a bunch of games, so Global has to fill in the dates with other events. Imagine you had BOTH adjoining venues at your disposal to offer prospective clients. If it was too big for the arena, we’ve got that big stadium over there. And vice versa. Parking? Sure we’ve got tons.

Maybe Global Spectrum could even keep the Cardinals from suing Glendale over parking issues?

It still seems highly unlikely that they could manage a profitable venture without all those guaranteed hockey nights. The expenses WOULD be reduced by the substantial amount it costs to run the massive ice house, but that’s where the economies of “no hockey” end.

It will be interesting to see the Global Spectrum proposal, assuming it ever escapes the cone of silence that is Glendale government.