FANS PERSIST DESPITE SAGA
The horror story continues. Following the Glendale City Council’s vote to approve the arena-management deal with Phoenix Coyotes suitor Greg Jamison in November, we believed Glendale’s hockey drama finally was resolved.
It’s hard to admit when you’re wrong, but we have to fess up: We were wrong. This saga that has spanned nearly four years already is bound to continue, as the agreement with Jamison unraveled late Jan. 31.
Arizona hockey fans believed Jamison was the hero in this lengthy horror story. Some held on tightly to that belief until the last second. But when the clock struck 11:59 p.m. Jan. 31, Jamison became another villain to the people who a month earlier had hugged and applauded, tears brimming in their eyes, at the council meeting.
He strung along fans, four City Council members and Glendale businesses with his false promises that he would finalize the sale for the Phoenix Coyotes and sign the lease agreement for Jobing.com Arena in time. He reiterated his promises to The Arizona
Republic last Monday. He issued a statement saying he failed to meet the deadline, but his “journey to purchase the Coyotes will continue.”
Can we trust him? Can Glendale trust him?
With a new mayor and City Council members vehemently against the original deal with Jamison, his ownership of the team in Glendale under the same terms seems unlikely. Now this horror story has new possible endings:
» Another group contracts a new agreement to keep the team in Glendale, which the city and the National Hockey League hope to do.
» A new arena in Arizona is built outside of Glendale, and either Jamison or another potential owner takes the team there.
» The team leaves Arizona for good, and the ordeal passes to somewhere else.
If there’s one thing to take away from this suspenseful drama, it is this: Fans love this hockey team wholeheartedly. They spent the past few months fighting off Canadian naysayers and passionately defending the team against media reports with which they disagreed.
No matter what happens to the franchise, they will continue to love their team, even if the Phoenix Coyotes may just be a memory someday.