Not great if you can’t get a meeting with the mayor.
toedragrelease
Why would the Mayor leak these? Seems kind of shitty on his part to just ignore all these emails and not even meet with the Coyotes.
spc1221
The mayor looks like an ass for not meeting and then releasing these letters.
ArbitraryOrder
Wait, the Coyotes didn’t leak these? This makes the mayor look like an asshole.
Pasco08
Mayor leaking this just makes him look like an idiot honestly. Lost the team and the investments and money it would have brought.
Flyinghud
This seems like some boiler plate stuff. The mayor leaking them is an asshole move.
fdisfragameosoldiers
Between this mayor leaking this and the Scottsdale one spouting off a week ago, I can’t see any professional sports team having alot of success operating in Arizona.
nm13g
Dude definitely does not want to lose his NHL franchise.
akd_56
Weird signature
morgaine125
Is it supposed to make Meruelo look bad that he was willing to pay for the whole thing with private money and just wanted to meet with the mayor to get support for a project that could have added a lot to the local economy? I am baffled as to why the major would leak these.
2LostFlamingos
Coyotes or nhl had to leak these.
It’s not possible for a mayor to put himself on blast for losing a professional sports franchise because he couldn’t grab a coffee with the owner.
All he wanted was verbal support. I fail to see what the owner has done wrong in these letters. Literally any other public official would kill to have a sports team owner that 100% privately funded a new stadium in their city / state.
kickn-it-old-skool
The part that sticks out the most to me (besides the mayor being an ass) is they want to build without any tax payer money or tax breaks!! That is amazing and what ALL of these professional sports teams should be doing. We all know they can afford it more than the tax payers
bath_and_toaster
Mayor was offered a free team and state of the art stadium and said “Nah” WTF
USAJourneyman
Arizona mayor a dick
Holiday-Director-351
Hang on. Later I’ll be leaking two letters showing my neighbor doing everything he can to help me get things in order, pay for it himself, AND help me make money. And I’ll totally ignore his requests. It’s going to make him look like such a dick.
bbraz761
Hey maybe our mayor can not meet with Murray Edwards and then the Flames can pay for their own damn arena. Oh wait, they already approved the citizens to pay for a billionaire’s building.
Cottagewknds
Sounds like there was a communication issue. They now have a meeting scheduled
Vic_Hedges
And Merulo has proven himself to be reliable and trustworthy business man.
Also, I believe the Mayor had no choice but to release these letters, if Im understanding the article correctly.
Grimmer026
What an asshat. The mayor thinks he’s the good guy in this?
Well at least all those fans and employees, and soon to be displayed families of teams members will know it wasn’t for a lack of trying on the organizations part.
Done in by politicians.
Trenton17B
The mayor is a fucking moron. Just lost a free professional sports team and a brand new arena facility.
Niconium
If OP bothered to do 2 minutes of research before posting this they would’ve found that these were not leaked by the mayor, but were given to The Arizona Republic via a public records request.
SPIE1
Fuck that Mayor.
canadianbigmuscles
If I was the owner I’d pack up and leave to a different city.
mrk1224
“The letters were sent to The Arizona Republic through the states public records law”. So nobody leaked these, the paper put in a request for the emails and received them.
Whatever this is, it’s evident that Arizona no longer wanted an NHL team. They haven’t proved otherwise.
StatikSquid
Wow the mayor didn’t even sit down to speak with them? What a huge asshole
SMA2343
Oh damn. This just makes the Mayor look even more of an ass. What was their plan?
Danroy12345
Seems like the yotes owner actually does love Arizona but Arizona don’t love him back. He’s willing to put 68 million of his own money to build an arena. Big L for the mayor not sure why he released these because it makes him look like the bad guy.
Kevinwithak
Let’s just be very clear. The meruelo family has been trying to off load this team since they made it legal to own a casino with out either being tied to a reservation or owning a sports franchise. Since then this guy has made moves that goes against NHL goals and the state. All these letters are attempt to save face with the league and the fans.
NameIsPetey
Took 27 years for the coyotes to finally be held tot he standard of an NHL team and they cried coyote the whole way. Too bad.
Daddiobaddio40
So basically he’s asking “politely” for the mayor the find a way to tax his constituents to pay for the means to fund a “district” surrounding his honey hole because he came up with this great plan to build an arena without taxpayer money? He’s passing the buck to the mayor. This is clearly not wanted by the residents. It’s political suicide for the mayor. I do not blame the mayor one bit for not responding to this. It’s been a long horrible process and the people have spoke. They do not want an NHL team specifically owned by this meuello fella.
dekrepit702
A new location that “fans” can make excuses about being too far?
justusesomealoe
I’m starting to get the feeling Arizona wasn’t interested in having a hockey team
Semprovictus
imagine being mad at the wrong people and chosing to ignore expansion, taxes and additional gdp into your economy?
CarnageNSN
What even is that signature? Not even remotely close to his name
XeroKillswitch
Everyone is asking why the city of Phoenix released this and saying that this makes Phoenix look bad. It doesn’t… here’s why.
After the news dropped about the Coyotes moving, Meruelo (AM) released a statement about how there’s some rumors out there but nothing is final and things are in flux, but there will be an official announcement soon. That’s all bullshit PR fluff and is designed to hold people off so they don’t get mad at AM.
City of Phoenix likely got word that AM is going to try to throw Phoenix under the bus to make them out to be the bad guys. So, Phoenix releases this to show one thing. The thing they’re showing is that AM waited until very recently to try to reach out of the Mayor directly. And that they’d been trying to schedule a meeting for 3 weeks prior to April 5… the date of the first letter here.
Keep in mind that the vote for the Tempe location happened in May of 2023… almost a year ago. But AM and his team reached out to Phoenix to schedule a meeting 3 weeks prior to this note dated 4/5/2024. Why did that take almost a year???
What this note shows is that AM and his team waited almost a year to try to schedule time with the Mayor of Phoenix. Phoenix probably got wind that AM is going to try to throw Phoenix under the bus, to try to maintain public support for AM for a future expansion team, and Phoenix released this to show the timeline. The timeline is embarrassing to AM. Why did it take almost a year to try to schedule something with Phoenix?? That’s insane and shows just how incompetent this ownership group is.
Ambitious_Cake2447
im sorry but when did the coyotes gain a bunch of apologists overnight? they’ve been an awful business and an awful team for nearly 30 years… numerous owners, numerous in-state relocations – right down to a college arena. y’all really believe these owners have the money to not only build this multi-sports complex, but also to maintain it? especially after the near 30 years of barely being able to pay rent? don’t feel sorry for them at all, it’s about time that team got moved to a more deserving market.
40 Comments
Not great if you can’t get a meeting with the mayor.
Why would the Mayor leak these? Seems kind of shitty on his part to just ignore all these emails and not even meet with the Coyotes.
The mayor looks like an ass for not meeting and then releasing these letters.
Wait, the Coyotes didn’t leak these? This makes the mayor look like an asshole.
Mayor leaking this just makes him look like an idiot honestly. Lost the team and the investments and money it would have brought.
This seems like some boiler plate stuff. The mayor leaking them is an asshole move.
Between this mayor leaking this and the Scottsdale one spouting off a week ago, I can’t see any professional sports team having alot of success operating in Arizona.
Dude definitely does not want to lose his NHL franchise.
Weird signature
Is it supposed to make Meruelo look bad that he was willing to pay for the whole thing with private money and just wanted to meet with the mayor to get support for a project that could have added a lot to the local economy? I am baffled as to why the major would leak these.
Coyotes or nhl had to leak these.
It’s not possible for a mayor to put himself on blast for losing a professional sports franchise because he couldn’t grab a coffee with the owner.
It was leaked by media.
More context: [https://twitter.com/CamCox12/status/1779345103892738546](https://twitter.com/CamCox12/status/1779345103892738546)
All he wanted was verbal support. I fail to see what the owner has done wrong in these letters. Literally any other public official would kill to have a sports team owner that 100% privately funded a new stadium in their city / state.
The part that sticks out the most to me (besides the mayor being an ass) is they want to build without any tax payer money or tax breaks!! That is amazing and what ALL of these professional sports teams should be doing. We all know they can afford it more than the tax payers
Mayor was offered a free team and state of the art stadium and said “Nah” WTF
Arizona mayor a dick
Hang on. Later I’ll be leaking two letters showing my neighbor doing everything he can to help me get things in order, pay for it himself, AND help me make money. And I’ll totally ignore his requests. It’s going to make him look like such a dick.
Hey maybe our mayor can not meet with Murray Edwards and then the Flames can pay for their own damn arena. Oh wait, they already approved the citizens to pay for a billionaire’s building.
Sounds like there was a communication issue. They now have a meeting scheduled
And Merulo has proven himself to be reliable and trustworthy business man.
Meruelo doesnt want tax-payer money, but the part where he wants the Mayor to support setting up a special taxing district with an oversight board that could issue [tax-free bonds](https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/nhl/coyotes/2024/04/13/potential-arizona-coyotes-relocation-heres-what-we-know/73312983007/) stands out. That’s not a nothing request. Now I havent had a chance to go through the whole statute, but there is a lot of financial stuff in there that Im not sure Mr. Doesnt-Pay-Holday-Inn is up for.
Also, I believe the Mayor had no choice but to release these letters, if Im understanding the article correctly.
What an asshat. The mayor thinks he’s the good guy in this?
Well at least all those fans and employees, and soon to be displayed families of teams members will know it wasn’t for a lack of trying on the organizations part.
Done in by politicians.
The mayor is a fucking moron. Just lost a free professional sports team and a brand new arena facility.
If OP bothered to do 2 minutes of research before posting this they would’ve found that these were not leaked by the mayor, but were given to The Arizona Republic via a public records request.
Fuck that Mayor.
If I was the owner I’d pack up and leave to a different city.
“The letters were sent to The Arizona Republic through the states public records law”. So nobody leaked these, the paper put in a request for the emails and received them.
Also, they have a meeting set up.
https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/nhl/coyotes/2024/04/13/potential-arizona-coyotes-relocation-heres-what-we-know/73312983007/
Whatever this is, it’s evident that Arizona no longer wanted an NHL team. They haven’t proved otherwise.
Wow the mayor didn’t even sit down to speak with them? What a huge asshole
Oh damn. This just makes the Mayor look even more of an ass. What was their plan?
Seems like the yotes owner actually does love Arizona but Arizona don’t love him back. He’s willing to put 68 million of his own money to build an arena. Big L for the mayor not sure why he released these because it makes him look like the bad guy.
Let’s just be very clear. The meruelo family has been trying to off load this team since they made it legal to own a casino with out either being tied to a reservation or owning a sports franchise. Since then this guy has made moves that goes against NHL goals and the state. All these letters are attempt to save face with the league and the fans.
Took 27 years for the coyotes to finally be held tot he standard of an NHL team and they cried coyote the whole way. Too bad.
So basically he’s asking “politely” for the mayor the find a way to tax his constituents to pay for the means to fund a “district” surrounding his honey hole because he came up with this great plan to build an arena without taxpayer money? He’s passing the buck to the mayor. This is clearly not wanted by the residents. It’s political suicide for the mayor. I do not blame the mayor one bit for not responding to this. It’s been a long horrible process and the people have spoke. They do not want an NHL team specifically owned by this meuello fella.
A new location that “fans” can make excuses about being too far?
I’m starting to get the feeling Arizona wasn’t interested in having a hockey team
imagine being mad at the wrong people and chosing to ignore expansion, taxes and additional gdp into your economy?
What even is that signature? Not even remotely close to his name
Everyone is asking why the city of Phoenix released this and saying that this makes Phoenix look bad. It doesn’t… here’s why.
After the news dropped about the Coyotes moving, Meruelo (AM) released a statement about how there’s some rumors out there but nothing is final and things are in flux, but there will be an official announcement soon. That’s all bullshit PR fluff and is designed to hold people off so they don’t get mad at AM.
City of Phoenix likely got word that AM is going to try to throw Phoenix under the bus to make them out to be the bad guys. So, Phoenix releases this to show one thing. The thing they’re showing is that AM waited until very recently to try to reach out of the Mayor directly. And that they’d been trying to schedule a meeting for 3 weeks prior to April 5… the date of the first letter here.
Keep in mind that the vote for the Tempe location happened in May of 2023… almost a year ago. But AM and his team reached out to Phoenix to schedule a meeting 3 weeks prior to this note dated 4/5/2024. Why did that take almost a year???
What this note shows is that AM and his team waited almost a year to try to schedule time with the Mayor of Phoenix. Phoenix probably got wind that AM is going to try to throw Phoenix under the bus, to try to maintain public support for AM for a future expansion team, and Phoenix released this to show the timeline. The timeline is embarrassing to AM. Why did it take almost a year to try to schedule something with Phoenix?? That’s insane and shows just how incompetent this ownership group is.
im sorry but when did the coyotes gain a bunch of apologists overnight? they’ve been an awful business and an awful team for nearly 30 years… numerous owners, numerous in-state relocations – right down to a college arena. y’all really believe these owners have the money to not only build this multi-sports complex, but also to maintain it? especially after the near 30 years of barely being able to pay rent? don’t feel sorry for them at all, it’s about time that team got moved to a more deserving market.