At yet another riveting meeting and vote, the members of the City of Glendale's city council voted 5-2 for a 25 million dollar pay out to run and manage Jobing.com Arena through the 2011-2012 season. The move will give the NHL and interested parties one last year to try and get this mess tied up for good. At least for Phoenix Coyotes Coyotes fans they don't have to worry about relocation for another year. Well, except the inevitable continuing saga that will be played up if the NHL et al doesn't wrap this up post haste.

The meeting itself was the usual mix of Coyotes fans and some rational and some not-so-rational dissent to the idea of paying the arena management fee to keep the lights on. One of the best highlights from the meeting was Mayor Elaine Scuggs slamming Jerry Moyes for bleeding the team dry and then causing this mess to begin with. Then following that up by blasting the Goldwater Institute for using this whole process as simple a way to get publicity. It's taken long enough for everyone to be fed up with this including the Honorable Mayor.

The fact of the mater is this though, Glendale approved the cash, but the team still faces an uncertain future. If there isn't a deal done by July 1 Don Maloney is going to be awfully hamstrung trying to re-sign players and bring in new talent. That in turn will cause another season in the stands like we saw this past year. That's something the team simply can't afford. The fanbase has basically been given a mulligan, and needs to get out to the arena win or lose. That's asking a lot and may not be realistic but it needs to happen. Though the alternative is just to get the deal done and frankly, I like that better.