The Arizona Tire Fires?

It hasn't been a good week for this fellow. If you're not sure who that is, that's current NHL-owner-without-a-team executive Alex Meruelo, and his week went from bad to worse when news broke twice about his little organization that's working to get an NHL team back in the Phoenix area. Public relations people will tell you that the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about, but the news stories that were reported this week makes me wonder if the NHL would actually consider Meruelo as a potential owner if the five-year grace period expires.

I say this because it was reported on Monday by PHNX Sports' Craig Morgan on Twitter that the Coyotes reportedly laid off employees beginning late last week where those employees "were told they are employed until the end of the month and then will get a severance package that includes an amount equal to an additional paycheck along with healthcare for the month of July."

Considering that there is no Arizona Coyotes franchise in operation, no one should be surprised that the layoffs were coming. How it was done and the little compensation given to those affected employees, though, are what drew the ire towards Meruelo of many on social media. Imagine being told that your job is done at the end of June and all you get is one additional bi-weekly pay statement and four weeks of health insurance? How would you feel if that's the message you got at the end of last week?

Meruelo received $1 billion to hand his franchise over to the NHL in the deal to move it to Salt Lake City. The total cost of his severance package he's offering to his soon-to-be-terminated employees likely won't even break $100,000. If you're doing the math, the optics simply look terrible when you consider everything that's happened over the last few months with this franchise.

The Athletic's Katie Strang reported on April 24, "Employees within the franchise's business side have been told their jobs are safe until the June 27 land auction. Meruelo said on Friday that those jobs will be evaluated over the next 60 days but that his intent 'is to keep everything intact.' Those who remain behind have been told to focus efforts on the Tucson Roadrunners, the Coyote’s AHL affiliate that Meruelo still owns."

And that leads to the next embarrassing gaffe for Meruelo this week. Today, a whole new level of stupidity was revealed by the Arizona State Land Department, and this one's a doozy.

Corina Vanek and Taylor Seely of the Arizona Republic reported today that the "Arizona State Land Department announced Friday it scrubbed an auction for desert land in north Phoenix that the hockey team owner Alex Meruelo eyed for development of a new arena."

Yes, that's the same auction that Meruelo thought he was going to win outright, stating on April 4, "My family and I are committed to winning this land auction and building a transformative entertainment district that will not require taxpayer funding for the first time in Arizona history. We will buy this land, build this development and finish a project that will incur the cost of more than $100 million in infrastructure improvements with no burden placed on taxpayers."

With no auction taking place, there's another commitment on which Meruelo failed to deliver which is almost his modus operandi at this point. Nonetheless, there are some details here that really need to be examined because it seems that Meruelo's team simply does not like to read rule or fine print when it comes to major deals like securing land for an arena.

According to Vanek and Seely, "Phoenix spokesperson Teleia Galaviz said the Land Department asked for an interpretation of the zoning on the site, and the city had determined a sports arena was not allowed under the existing zoning. An arena would require 'approval of a special permit through the rezoning process,' she said."

Doubling down on that statement, "Phoenix Councilman Jim Waring, whose district the proposed arena would be in, said Friday that the Coyotes should 'get a zoning attorney. They don't have one. Get in the city, come up with a plan and go through the process. Then buy it.'"

Imagine being Alex Meruelo for a second here. He spends all this time, energy, and money to come up with designs for a new sports and entertainment complex, he gets a number of people on his team to review the auction details and be prepared for bidding, and he states confidently that he will win the auction for the land... yet he didn't check with a zoning attorney on whether he could actually build an arena on that land? He made his fortune in real estate and construction, but FAILED TO CONSULT A ZONING ATTORNEY. How does anyone at the NHL offices think this is acceptable?

How many gaffes is the NHL willing to let this guy make? He's clearly not qualified to own a professional sports franchise after he was kicked out of Gila River Arena for not paying $1.3 million in taxes, failing to pay players signing bonuses, having the NBA reject him as an owner, having unpaid bills and invoices, and fostering a wholly toxic environment. He not only failed to build an arena in Tempe, but also failed to win the hearts of voters who made it clear they didn't want his arena in their neighbourhood. At this point, Meruelo doesn't seem remotely qualified to run a lemonade stand, let alone a professional sports franchise.

As per Katie Strang of The Athletic, "On March 6, Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly met with Meruelo and asked whether he could look his players in the eyes and give them an honest answer of when they’d have an NHL-caliber home. He told them he could not."

Things only get worse after speaking with David Leibowitz, a former communications consultant for the Coyotes, who told Strang, "I have not witnessed a group more committed to doing things the wrong way and failing to develop any sort of meaningful support in the political community, business community and with the influential stakeholders they need to make this happen."

If I were a conspiracy theorist, the termination notice being given to all his employees a week ago despite telling Strang that everyone was safe until the land auction almost makes me think Meruelo knew that the auction would be called off. I don't subscribe to the conspiracy idea, but that's almost too coincidental in terms of the timing. Nevertheless, Meruelo has stated that he'll push forward with the idea that he'll get his special land permit and start building his arena and entertainment complex despite having no staff to assist him nor any support from politicians and power brokers in the city.

I don't know how the NHL views Alex Meruelo as anything but a problem, and I'd be convincing 31 other owners to cut Meruelo loose if I owned a team. The very obvious and egregious missteps he's shown in his short time as an NHL owner shouldn't be overlooked, and the NHL should be looking to terminate their business with him ASAP based on these latest gaffes. No other league would tolerate this kind of stupidity and embarrassment from one its owners, and yet the NHL sits by quietly in the hopes of securing the Phoenix television market.

If the NHL somehow grants a revival of the Coyotes under Meruelo's watch, there should be one condition for that to happen: rename the franchise as the "Arizona Tire Fires". That's the only way this entire mess will make any sense.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!