Judge grants Coyotes temporary reprieve on arena deal

The battle between the Arizona Coyotes and Glendale moved from City Hall to the courtroom Friday as a Maricopa County Superior Court judge granted the team's request for a temporary injunction to keep Glendale from killing their arena deal.

Attorneys for the Coyotes filed legal claims against Glendale over the team's lease agreement for Gila River Arena, and lawyers appeared in court Friday afternoon for a hearing about a temporary restraining order. Superior Court Judge Dawn Bergin granted the motion for a temporary injunction and set another hearing on the dispute for June 29.

The next move will be in Glendale on Tuesday, when the Glendale City Council meets in executive session and decides whether to send the team a letter confirming its vote to sever the agreement.

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The council this week voted 5-2 to terminate its 15-year, $225 million agreement with the Coyotes. The city cited a conflict-of-interest law that prevents a former city employee from going to work for a company if that employee was involved in creating a contract between the city and the company.

Glendale officials said two former high-ranking city employees have worked for the team.

The Coyotes, in court documents filed Friday, said the vote to cancel the management contract damages the team in several ways, including its ability to attract free-agent players and its relationships with sponsors, vendors, fans and the community.

"Fan and team loyalty has suffered and will continue to suffer," the Coyotes documents said.

Anthony LeBlanc, Coyotes co-owner, president and CEO, said after the hearing that he would like the legal proceedings to move more quickly but was pleased with the outcome of the hearing.

"Today was just to ensure that we continue operating, and we'll continue operating," he said.

Glendale officials said the temporary injunction was expected. "The outcome is not a surprise," City Attorney Michael Bailey said in a statement. "This decision is just one step in a long process."

Glendale leaders repeated Friday that they want the Coyotes to stay, as long as the team will renegotiate the deal.

"An opportunity for the two of us to discuss the issues has presented itself, and I am optimistic that with continued dialogue we can come to an agreement that satisfies both parties," Glendale Mayor Jerry Weiers said in a statement.

Acting City Manager Dick Bowers notified the council that he contacted LeBlanc on Thursday and was planning to set up a meeting in the next few days, though it's not clear what he wants to discuss.

SAGA OF COYOTES ARENA DEAL IN GLENDALE

The court filings the team unveiled Friday claim Coyotes executives were caught off guard by the city's decision Wednesday to void its agreement with the team. The Coyotes said Weiers' claims that the fans don't understand the complexity of the arena agreement overstated the intricacies of the situation. "In fact, it is rather simple. The City Council simply does not want to live up to the deal it struck with its partner, the Coyotes, a mere two years ago," court documents state.

The club also claimed Glendale pulled the equivalent of a bait-and-switch when city officials invited team executives to a "meet and greet" on Monday that was "different than the city advertised."

"At that meeting, the City's officials told Plaintiffs that the City Council believed it had legal grounds to cancel the Agreement, but they did not inform the Plaintiffs of what those grounds were, that the City was going to, in fact, seek to cancel the Agreement, or that the City was going to try to do so immediately," the filing says.

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At Wednesday's meeting, Bailey said the conflict-of-interest law allows a city to terminate a contract if a person who was significantly involved in drafting or creating the contract for the city later becomes an employee of the other party of the contract.

The city reached a separation agreement with former City Attorney Craig Tindall in April 2013 but paid him his salary for six months and used him as a consultant. The Coyotes hired Tindall on Aug. 20, 2013, about seven weeks after Glendale approved the Coyotes deal.

"There is no evidence to suggest that Mr. Tindall was significantly involved" in negotiating, drafting or creating the lease deal, the Coyotes' court documents say.

In court Friday, Bailey said Tindall and former Assistant City Manager Julie Frisoni had conflicts of interest. Frisoni, who left the city in March, told The Arizona Republic she has been a consultant for the Coyotes in their bid for the 2018 World Junior Championship, which has since been withdrawn.