Glendale Claims Another Buyer Exists For Coyotes (UPDATE: There May Be A Deal)

((HT: Arizona Republic/Bickley))

All this stems from Bickley's column from yesterday...

And stop the HQ if you've heard this a billion times over the last four off-seasons...

There's a meeting of the Glendale City Council on Tuesday- and the HQ had no idea who the four groups are that have bid on the idea of running jobing.com arena without an anchor tenant until today. And that, we're fairly sure is a violation of the state's Sunshine Laws...

The Arizona Republic got the list: One of the four bidders is Phoenix Arena Development Limited Partnership, a subsidiary of the NBA's Phoenix Suns that manages US Airways Center.

The other three are Philadelphia-based SMG and two local firms -- the Phoenix Monarch Group and R Entertainment.

Anyway, the HQ digresses:

From Bickley and his conversation with Councilman Gary Sherwood...

a mystery candidate that Sherwood would not reveal, one with a lot of cash and better terms for his city.

The mystery buyer told Sherwood he’d have his bid together by Friday. It sounded too good to be true.

I’ll pause while you roll your eyes.

“But that’s part of the problem,” Sherwood said. “There are other groups lurking that the NHL hasn’t brought to us. They have their one candidate. And the way I look at it is, maybe Renaissance (Sports and Entertainment) is the best for the NHL, but maybe only second- or third-best for Glendale.”

Another source said the mystery buyer is real and would bring real money to the table. Renaissance’s deal is heavy on loans, short on equity, and no person has more than a $10 million stake in the game. They want an out clause after four to five years, creating fears that they conceivably could run the team into the ground and bail.

Which, the HQ thinks, is the re-emergence of Matthew Hulsizer and his folks...

So, the larger thought is: Will Glendale do an end run on the NHL to get their Coyotes to stay, or are they screwed as a lame duck franchise that will be heading to Quebec City or Seattle...???

Remember, realignment hasn't officially taken hold, and all it really takes is for the west to stay west and for a midwest team to slide (or a Dallas)... it won't be hard...

PM UPDATE: Sportsnet's John Shannon is saying that Renaissance and the city of Glendale have agreed in principle to a deal of some sort that includes the closing of the gap between the $6-million the city has budgeted for managing jobing.com arena and the $15-million RSE was reportedly looking for...

Somehow...

But the vote is still supposed to be made Tuesday at the city council meeting... it may not be a done deal for a city operating at a deficit already...

Shannon says the deal is for 15 years- pending approval...