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Glendale Arena

Julie Frisoni will not be a patsy for the city of Glendale.  

Frisoni, Glendale’s former assistant manager and communications director, told The Real she had nothing to do with the city’s 2013 contracts negotiations with the Arizona Coyotes to keep the team in Glendale through 2028, and that an attempt to pull her into the city’s battle with IceArizona .

A Maricopa County judge recently issued a temporary restraining order against the city after it voted to terminate its contract with the Arizona Coyotes. Ricketts was back in court June 19 asking the judge in the case “to protect and preserve public funds” by allowing the city to put its scheduled $3.75 million payment to IceArizona in an escrow account until the matter it settled.

That could be a financial hit for Spectra, which manage the building and its 30 full-time staffers on behalf of IceArizona. The building has a number of summer concerts scheduled, including Sam Smith Aug. 12 and 

Frisoni, Glendale’s former assistant manager and communications director, told The Real she had nothing to do with the city’s 2013 contracts negotiations with the Arizona Coyotes to keep the team in Glendale through 2028, and that an attempt to pull her into the city’s battle with IceArizona  Aug. 17-18. The funding fight is the newest front in Mayor Jerry Weiers’ quest to end the city’s money-losing deal with the building.

On June 10, he and the city council voted to terminate the contract because two former Glendale employees had gone to work for the team after the city contract was signed. One included former city attorney Craig Tindall, who went on to become general counsel for the team in 2013. The city is now claiming that Tindall advised the city of contract negotiations while he was under the employment of the Coyotes, a violation that allows the team to void the contract, attorneys for the city have argued.

Also named in the filing was Frisoni, who worked on a PR campaign with the Coyotes to bring a hockey tournament to Gila River Arena shortly after resigning from the city. Frisoni said she was “floored” that she was named in the court filing and said she had “zero impact on negotiating the agreement.”

Judge Dawn Bergin will take up the payment question June 29 when all sides will be back in court to weigh in on the scheduled $3.75 million payment.

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