The Arizona Coyotes released a statement in response to the story of outstanding and delinquent bills, including more than $1.3MM in state and municipal taxes:
We have already launched an investigation to determine how this could have happened and initial indications are that it appears to be the result of an unfortunate human error. Regardless, we deeply regret the inconvenience this has caused. We will make sure that by tomorrow morrning, the Arizona Coyotes are current on all of our bills and owe no state or local taxes whatsoever. And we will take immediate steps to ensure that nothing like this can ever possibly happen again.
Katie Strang of The Athletic comments on the statement, explaining that the outstanding tax bill dates back to June 2020, suggesting this is not a few isolated payments that were missed. Chris Johnston of TSN notes that though there is not much concern over whether the Coyotes can pay that $1.3MM debt, the negotiation between Arizona ownership and the city of Glendale over Gila River Arena continues. The city has told the management company to not allow Coyotes workers inside if the bill isn’t paid by December 20, but long before that had also moved to terminate the lease agreement following this season. (Update: John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports radio reports that the Coyotes just wired $1.4MM to the Arizona Department of Revenue for back taxes. The team has announced that they are up to date on all bills and tax liabilities.)
- Pierre LeBrun of TSN meanwhile reports from the NHL Board of Governors meetings, noting that Fenway Sports Group is at the event to meet the rest of the executive committee. The vote on the ownership change of the Pittsburgh Penguins is expected to take place, and LeBrun notes that it is expected to be a “rubber stamp” process with no complications. Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News tweeted recently that the value of the Penguins will be set at $915MM for the sale and current owners Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle will retain just a combined five percent of the franchise.
- There’s a new player in the trade bait world, as Jeff Marek debuts his new Rink Fries column for Sportsnet by breaking down what he calls the “players of interest” as the deadline approaches. That list starts with Seattle Kraken captain Mark Giordano, who could potentially represent a huge chip for the expansion club to play at some point this season. Giordano is on an expiring contract and is now 38, but would be highly coveted at a deadline that could very well have a lack of impact defensemen available.
“Our Desert dogs ate the original bills, so we didn’t know how much we owed. The dogs then bit through the phone lines, so we couldn’t call anyone to find out how much we owed. They also ruined our wireless phones playing fetch with our players during arena pre-game hallway soccer sessions.”
MacJab-“Has anyone seen my bank card?”
“And it’s been used in a Venmo account.”
@Dave – I’m afraid the dogs ate that too! :)