NHL Hockey thread

[Ed Anger]

Digesting it now...

Try reading it instead of printing it out and eating it.

[Barrister]

And that didn't take long.

So what he's saying is that the Coyotes, over the life of the lease, will pay the City $75 mil.  IIRC they were going to anyways in lease payments.  And the guarantee is from the hockey team itself, so if it goes bankrupt the guarantee becomes worthless.

I feel the Jets Meter will go up again shortly.   

[Barrister]

The spelling errors, inconsistent capitalization and names, and the 2005 date stamp are what let's you know it's legitimately from Hulsizer.   

[Barrister]

I feel the Jets Meter will go up again shortly.   

March 21st:

[Barrister]

The spelling errors, inconsistent capitalization and names, and the 2005 date stamp are what let's you know it's legitimately from Hulsizer.   

GWI's response:

Illegal, expensive deal for taxpayers remains in place
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Goldwater Institute
March 21, 2011
Phoenix — Late Friday afternoon, potential buyer of the Phoenix Coyotes Matthew Hulsizer delivered a letter to the Goldwater Institute stating, "Arizona Hockey is willing to modify the lease agreement with Glendale to guaranty [sic] to the city that they [sic] will receive direct revenues from the Coyotes, Arena and parking that have a value to day [sic] of at least $75 million. If the cumulative direct revenues received from the Coyotes, Arena and parking are that amount, than [sic] the shortfall will be the liability of Arizona Hockey Holdings." No further details were presented.
"The offer recognizes the significant risk to taxpayers under the current deal and to that extent is a positive development," said Goldwater Institute president Darcy Olsen. "Regrettably, however, the proposal fails to remedy the core legal violation at issue, leaving the expensive taxpayer gamble intact."
The Arizona Republic reports that the bonds offered by the city of Glendale for Mr. Hulsizer will ultimately cost taxpayers $250-340 million. That figure includes the initial bond offering of $100 million the city plans to issue to help Mr. Hulsizer buy the team, as well as projected interest on that bond. Additionally the city is obligated to pay Mr. Hulsizer $97 million for arena management over 5 years.
Mr. Hulsizer apparently is promising only that revenues from all sources—such as arena events, rental payments, parking revenues—will total at least $75 million over 30 years and that he would make up any shortfall up to that amount. That would still leave taxpayers on the hook for as much as $362 million, which Mr. Hulsizer is not guaranteeing.
Glendale taxpayers have been given no protection against a future team bankruptcy. If the team goes bankrupt again, taxpayers will assume the full cost of bond repayment—this is on top of what taxpayers are already paying for the construction of Jobing.com Arena. Any restructured deal should legally protect taxpayers from liability for the bond repayment if the team fails again.
Arizona's Constitution categorically prohibits the use of public debt to finance private businesses. Glendale justifies public borrowing on the grounds that the city is acquiring valuable consideration in the form of parking rights. However, the city may already own a significant portion of those rights, and the team does not presently have the legal right to sell the rest. If so, the city essentially is "selling" parking revenue rights to itself, which would be a clear violation of the Gift Clause. The new proposal does not address this.
"We hope Glendale will put a deal on the table that doesn't expose taxpayers to unnecessary risk," said Darcy Olsen, president of the Goldwater Institute. In an email to the Institute, Mr. Hulsizer wrote, "I don't need the City's credit to buy the team." The Goldwater Institute has recommended that Mr. Hulsizer use his resources to buy the team and hold taxpayers harmless. In a less than perfect compromise, Mr. Hulsizer could also protect taxpayers by personally guaranteeing the full repayment amount of the bonds.
Mr. Hulsizer also says he is relieving Glendale of its obligation to pay the National Hockey League $25 million for team losses over the last year. It is not clear whether Mr. Hulsizer would actually repay the obligation, or whether the NHL would be forgiving the debt, thus costing Mr. Hulsizer nothing.
The City of Glendale continues to ignore multiple requests from the Goldwater Institute to disclose public information related to the funding source of the $25 million and the documentation supporting the proposed arena management fees.

http://www.goldwaterinstitute.org/article/5850

Gotta love it when your opponents use your own spelling errors against you.  Timmy better watch out if he ever goes against the Goldwater Institute.   

[PRC]

The Canucks lose Manny Malhotra for the season due to a puck in the eye and that is a big big loss.  He was the biggest addition to the team this year and would've been a big part of them going deep. 

[Zoupa]

And nucks fan start with the excuses as to why their team will eventually choke 

The Habs have 9 regular roster players injured, including Markov for the whole season, and lately Plekanec.

The Cup is still coming home this year. 

[viper37]

An editorial from Glendale.  Apparently, not all approve of Goldwater:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/2011/03/22/20110322goldwater-institute-editorial.html

There is yet hope for this good team to remain in place with its legion of fans

[Barrister]

An editorial from Glendale.  Apparently, not all approve of Goldwater:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/2011/03/22/20110322goldwater-institute-editorial.html

There is yet hope for this good team to remain in place with its legion of fans

Meh - the Arizona Republic has had several similar editorials in the past.  It hasn't helped them yet.

[Valmy]

An editorial from Glendale.  Apparently, not all approve of Goldwater:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/2011/03/22/20110322goldwater-institute-editorial.html

There is yet hope for this good team to remain in place with its legion of fans

Lots of name calling in that article but they fail to address in any way the central issues raised by the GWI.  What a pathetic article it reads like a whiny tweener writing in his Middle School Newspaper.

[Barrister]

An editorial from Glendale.  Apparently, not all approve of Goldwater:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/2011/03/22/20110322goldwater-institute-editorial.html

There is yet hope for this good team to remain in place with its legion of fans

Lots of name calling in that article but they fail to address in any way the central issues raised by the GWI.  What a pathetic article it reads like a whiny tweener writing in his Middle School Newspaper.

If you want to see whining and name-calling... this is a blog from Scott Burnside, an ESPN hockey analyst/reporter:

1. Will Goldwater let Coyotes' deal go through?
Well, it looks like we'll finally find out whether the Goldwater Institute is all about the people or just all about the Goldwater Institute.

After throwing a giant bag of pucks into the mechanics of a lease agreement that would have seen the beleaguered team sold to Chicago businessman Matthew Hulsizer, thus ensuring the team's future in Arizona, the public watchdog group can claim victory after Hulsizer essentially took a knee Sunday night. In very public fashion -- appearing during the first intermission of the Fox Sports Arizona broadcast of the Coyotes' game against Chicago on Sunday -- Hulsizer agreed to cover any shortfalls in parking revenues the City of Glendale may have over the course of the lease.

The parking revenues are at the heart of Goldwater's concerns about the lease agreement and what prompted them to warn off potential investors in municipal bonds that are needed to generate revenue to close the deal. The group also threatened to sue the City of Glendale if the deal closed, creating uncertainty among investors and threatening to drive up the interest rate of the bonds.

All of this was done under the guise of protecting taxpayer interests in Glendale.

In the wake of Hulsizer's concessions and the very vocal support of the Coyotes by Sen. John McCain and former state attorney general Grant Woods, who also appeared on television Sunday, the deal now hinges on whether Goldwater will declare victory and move on or not.

One would assume this would be enough, but they are an odd bunch, those Goldwater folks.

They are funded through private donations, and the publicity they've received via the Coyotes saga has revealed rich fundraising soil. There are also other issues, like the agenda of the group given the connection between board members and the Arizona Diamondbacks -- the wife of D-backs owner Ken Kendrick, Randy, is a Goldwater board member.

Is it better for the Diamondbacks in a depressed economic market if another pro franchise disappears?

And then there are people like CEO Darcy Olsen, whose public profile has skyrocketed as a result of the process. Is it in her own best interests to keep the fight?

These are questions that will be brought into sharper focus if Goldwater doesn't let go of the bone on this one, ensuring the deal fails and the team leaves Arizona for Winnipeg.

After months of artificial deadlines and drop-dead points, it actually appears as though a resolution is at hand in the desert.

Regardless of which side of the fence one stands on, it's hard to argue that the people of Glendale -- and the people of Winnipeg, who have waited patiently in the hopes of a return of the NHL -- deserve an answer from the Goldwater people, and soon.

http://espn.go.com/blog/nhl/post/_/id/5770/5-things-goldwaters-motives-in-phoenix-preds-local-success-canucks-specialty

Now he posted this before we saw Hulsizer's mis-spelled letter so he not only gets the details of what Hulsizer was offering wrong, he then follow up by questionins GWI's motive saying alternatively they're only doing this 1. to help with fundraising, 2. because they're in league with the Diamondbacks, or 3. to feed the ego of their President.

[viper37]

An editorial from Glendale.  Apparently, not all approve of Goldwater:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/2011/03/22/20110322goldwater-institute-editorial.html

There is yet hope for this good team to remain in place with its legion of fans

Lots of name calling in that article but they fail to address in any way the central issues raised by the GWI.  What a pathetic article it reads like a whiny tweener writing in his Middle School Newspaper.

I know  
But I find it surprising that some people, in a city where they obviously don't care much about hockey, are trying to defend the subsidy to keep the team in place.

[Barrister]

An editorial from Glendale.  Apparently, not all approve of Goldwater:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/2011/03/22/20110322goldwater-institute-editorial.html

There is yet hope for this good team to remain in place with its legion of fans

Lots of name calling in that article but they fail to address in any way the central issues raised by the GWI.  What a pathetic article it reads like a whiny tweener writing in his Middle School Newspaper.

I know  
But I find it surprising that some people, in a city where they obviously don't care much about hockey, are trying to defend the subsidy to keep the team in place.

You have to remember that Glendale is only a Phoenix suburb.  Many of the people supporting the Coyotes are not Glendale taxpayers.

[viper37]

An editorial from Glendale.  Apparently, not all approve of Goldwater:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/2011/03/22/20110322goldwater-institute-editorial.html

There is yet hope for this good team to remain in place with its legion of fans

Lots of name calling in that article but they fail to address in any way the central issues raised by the GWI.  What a pathetic article it reads like a whiny tweener writing in his Middle School Newspaper.

I know  
But I find it surprising that some people, in a city where they obviously don't care much about hockey, are trying to defend the subsidy to keep the team in place.

You have to remember that Glendale is only a Phoenix suburb.  Many of the people supporting the Coyotes are not Glendale taxpayers.

that's probably the detail I am forgetting

[Barrister]

So I have heard this rumour a number of times: it is actually the Thrashers the NHL wants to move to Winnipeg.  The Coyotes have a building that was specifically built for the NHL and would be empty without them, and has a city council willing to spend hundred of millions of dollars to subsidize the team.  Atlanta on the other hand plays in the same building as the NBA Hawks, the owners want them out of the building, and the city council couldn't care less about them.

So with that backdrop, I give you:

Coyote delays jets at busy Atlanta airport

Share Print Font: +-ATLANTA — Authorities say a coyote wandered onto a runway in Atlanta, delaying flights for a few minutes at the world's busiest airport until ground crews chased the animal away.

..The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the flights were briefly delayed Tuesday afternoon at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said the coyote was spotted on the south side of the airport around 3:30 p.m.

She said an airport vehicle chased the animal into a ravine, and flights resumed after about five minutes.

The airport is ranked the world's busiest by the industry group Airports Council International.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42228046/ns/travel-news/