The Arizona Coyotes’ final NHL game at Desert Diamond Arena fka as Gila River Arena, April 29th 2022. Photo by Madelaine Braggs/RLGR
By Jason Wolf | Arizona Republic
The faces across the table changed, but any deal was dead on arrival.
Arizona Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo was combative in his first meeting with Glendale city manager Kevin Phelps, the government official recalled, after the businessman bought controlling interest in the NHL team in July 2019.
“The very first words when I sat down at the table,” Phelps said in an interview with The Arizona Republic. “He said, ‘I’m going to just say it right now. We’re not going to give you one more ‘blankety-blank’ dollar to play in this arena.’
“And that’s how he started out the meeting with me, to kind of be the meet-and-greet.”
