Andrew Barroway can take his puck and go home if he doesn’t get what he wants
The former majority owner of the Arizona Coyotes has become the sole owner, giving him nearly unchecked power in all of the franchise’s dealings.
Andrew Barroway has bought out all of the minority owners of the Arizona Coyotes, which makes appeasing him the ultimate end of any entity seeking to partner with the franchise. That includes negotiations on where the Coyotes will play home games in the near and distant future.
That’s one of two matters that Barroway is likely to have at the top of his list, according to Sarah McLellan of The Arizona Republic. The other is the search for a new CEO of the franchise, which will likely preclude any serious discussions on where the team will play its home games for the 2017-18 season and beyond.
The lease with the city of Glendale that the Coyotes played the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons under has now expired, leaving the team technically without a place to call home for the time being. It appears that not only does Barroway want out of Gila Arena but the NHL wants the Coyotes out of Glendale as well.
That doesn’t mean that staying in Glendale, for at least one more season, is out of the question. The possibility of staying put not only gives the Coyotes some leverage in negotiations elsewhere, but would give the team a temporary home to theoretically act as a stop gap while a hypothetical new arena in another part of the state would be built.
That idea has gotten the support of Phoenix mayor Greg Stanton, who has proposed a new arena in downtown Phoenix for both the Coyotes and the NBA’s Phoenix Suns. It’s likely that at least part of the construction cost would have to be covered by public funds unless adequate private investments could be secured. Tax dollars in that amount would require approval by public referendum. Recent attempts at such measures across the country have failed miserably as the tide of public sentiment about tax dollars for professional sport entertainment facilities has soured.
If the Coyotes can get the Suns and investment partners on board, the possibility of a downtown mixed-use facility might prove possible yet. Brahm Resnik of KPNX wrote about how working out a deal with the Suns might have been part of the reason for the ouster of former Coyotes CEO Anthony LeBlanc. Additionally, Barroway could have an easier time finding private funding for the construction of a potential stadium as the team’s sole owner now compared to what he could have done as simply a majority owner.
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Whether a brand new mixed-use facility in downtown Phoenix or staying in Glendale until he gets a deal that he likes materializes over this off-season remains to be seen. What’s certain is that the only check against Barroway’s power as far as the Coyotes are concerned is the other NHL owners. If Barroway doesn’t get what he wants at bargaining tables, he can take his puck and go home.