In the latest development in the ongoing dispute between the City of Glendale and the Arizona Coyotes over the arena lease agreement, Judge Dawn Bergin has sided with the team on the matter of the fourth quarter $3.75 million payment due Wednesday, per the Arizona Republic.
The city had filed a motion to withhold the payment.
Although the fact that the payment will go ahead is good news for the Coyotes, Bergin did increase the team’s required bond to $1 million from $250K.
The city voted to terminate the arena lease agreement, but it is still at least temporarily in place because the Coyotes were successful in obtaining a restraining order. With that in mind, the Coyotes were arguing that withholding the payment would have undermined that ruling.
Both sides expressed their satisfaction with Bergin’s decision with Glendale’s acting city manager Dick Bowers saying, “The judge’s ruling enforcing an increase in the bond payment is an assurance for our taxpayers that we’re looking out for their best interests.”