By Caitlin McGlade | The Arizona Republic
The third attempt to allow Glendale residents to vote on a multimillion-dollar hockey deal failed.
Organizer Ken Jones said this was likely his last attempt to block the agreement. Jones needed to collect nearly 7,000 signatures by Friday to put the deal on the ballot. He estimated that he and his 25 volunteers collected about threequarters of that. Jones pulled referendum papers in July, shortly after the City Council approved the deal to keep the Coyotes in town. The contract requires the city to pay the buyers, IceArizona, $15 million a year to manage Jobing.com Arena, with the expectation the city will get back $8 million to $11 million in revenue.
The National Hockey League expects to finalize the sale today. The Goldwater Institute, which has opposed a city hockey deal, announced in July that it wouldn’t take legal action.
