If Greg Jamison thought he had a major hurdle to leap over in getting the Glendale, Ariz. City Council to approve a lease agreement to operate Jobing.com Arena, a larger obstacle clearly remains.
After the council agreed to give Jamison and his investment group $320 million over the next 20 years to manage the Phoenix Coyotes' home rink, Jamison’s contingent completed step one of a two-step process.
Since the group became a major player 17 months ago, its priority focus was acquiring the Coyotes franchise from the NHL, which has maintained ownership for the past three years. The lease agreement assured Jamison’s group that it could control the hockey venue and use the arena as a bargaining tool to purchase the team.
For the past three years, the NHL merely acted as a custodian for the Coyotes franchise and was never involved in marketing the team, filling seats in Jobing.com Arena, obtaining corporate sponsors or selling suites.
The only interest the NHL maintained was the viability and sustaina ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Mark Brown