Ice Edge Holdings Sends Letter to Glendale Residents

The guys over at Ice Edge Holdings aren't done yet. In fact they've released a new letter to the media and to the citizens of Glendale regarding their offer. Below is the complete letter:

April 12th, 2010

Dear Citizens of Glendale: On Tuesday your City Council will face an important vote as it relates to the future of professional hockey in Glendale, and really all of Arizona. Similar to the expectations that were placed on your Coyotes when this season began, the story of Ice Edge Holdings is one that began with very modest expectations.

Admittedly, the makeup of our group is both youthful and limited in terms of experience in owning professional sports teams (although one of our partners, John Breslow, is a former owner of the Coyotes). However, we are very successful and experienced in our own realms of finance and technology. Most importantly, we are successful in the hockey world. In fact, two of our partners played collegiately at Yale University. While we are successful business people, we are first and foremost hockey fans and that is the reason we have undertaken this endeavor.

We are clearly the group that the Canadian hockey media loves to hate. Three of us are Canadians, and we understand our fellow countrymen struggle with the idea of hockey in a non-traditional hockey market. It is unfortunate that these opinions are being formed in a vacuum. Perhaps if they would simply come to a game in Jobing.com Arena to see the passion of Coyotes fans, they would understand first hand that NHL hockey can, and will, succeed in Glendale.

We have spent the last eight months working on a solution to keep the Coyotes in Glendale for the long term. No one is paying us to do this. We are simply passionate hockey fans who believe in the long term future of Glendale and its hockey team. This is not about creating a business option for ourselves, but rather it is about developing a successful business plan to enable the Coyotes to succeed long term.

While the pundits have consistently doubted us, we have continued to prevail at every turn. On Tuesday we will face another test as your city council votes on our proposal for a new lease for Jobing.com Arena. We believe our proposal is, far and away, the superior choice for the Citizens of Glendale.

While our proposal is available for review on Glendale's website, we would like to highlight a number of key points relating to our Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU"):

- While not stated in the MOU, Ice Edge intends to honor the term of the original lease, which is an additional twenty four years. We would then intend to sign a new lease for an additional thirty years. We have not requested the ability to relocate the franchise.

- Ice Edge intends to increase the revenue of the team by adding ticket surcharges that will equate to $2.0 million per year and charge for parking that averages $7.5 million per year over the life of the lease. This will come from Ice Edge as owners of the team, and not the tax payers of Glendale. In fact, the City of Glendale will share in the above two new revenue streams in a true partnership with Ice Edge and the Coyotes.

- The City of Glendale has proposed the idea of creating a fund to offset losses on their arena for up to $5 million per year for ten years, which would be funded by new revenue streams and not adversely impact taxpayers.

- Ice Edge would like to be able to play five games in a sister city. We would ONLY do this after consultations with fans and in a manner that would benefit the Citizens of Glendale and Coyotes fans.

- We have worked closely with the NHL over the past eight months, and believe our proposal is one that adheres to the requirements the Commissioner has outlined to us as key in order for the Board of Governors to approve the sale. We believe the facts show that our proposal is a long term solution for the City of Glendale. We hope to have your support and the support of your council members on Tuesday.

Yours in hockey,

Anthony LeBlanc, Chief Executive Officer
Keith McCullough, Chairman
Daryl Jones, Chief Operating Officer
Todd Jordan, Chief Financial Officer
John Breslow