Phoenix Coyotes (Part One of a Series)

In order to discuss the possibility of Winnipeg as a NHL city, you must first have a proper understanding of the players involved.  By far the most complex of these, are the Phoenix Coyotes (formerly the Winnipeg Jets).
When the Jets first moved to Phoenix, they played in the United Airlines Arena, which was terrible, with restricted view seats that had to be discounted, and very few agreements about who gets revenues from what.  The city of Glendale was then involved in building the Jobing.com Arena, which cost $500M.  The team's ownership group eventually filed for bankruptcy, and the team has since been owned by the NHL itself.  Gary Bettman (NHL commissioner) is adamant that the team stay in Phoenix, for the sole purpose of its positioning in the U.S. TV market.
Matthew Hulsizer (Chicago businessman) is the only person that seems interested in buying the Coyotes and keeping them in Phoenix.  The problem is, the price tag is $170M, and he's only willing to put up the first $70M.  That's where it gets interesting!  With $500M already invested in the arena, the city of Glendale was then going to front the other $100M to make sure that there would be some return on their arena investment.  This, is where the Goldwater Institute comes in.  Under the guidance of Barry Goldwater, the institute is an independent government watchdog, promoting transparency, and curbing the wild spending habits of the Arizona government.  The institute first blew the whistle on the deal citing that: "the deal contravenes the gift clause in Arizona's constitution that prevents the government from funding private business".  Then, to revive the whole deal, the City of Glendale came up with a new plan, where they were actually going to give the $100M to Hulsizer in return for the parking rights at the arena.  The Goldwater Institute quickly quashed that plan too, since technically, the City of Glendale already owned the rights for the parking.
Barry Goldwater's major beef here, is that the City of Glendale currently has triple the debt of American cities of similar size, and shouldn't be disguising $100M of good taxpayer money, that the city is trying to throw at a franchise that is currently losing $30M/season.  Hence, the stand-off.  And that, my friends, is the convoluted, confusing, twisted tale of the Phoenix Coyotes, that should make them ripe for the picking, if not for the strange obsession of Gary Bettman that is trying to fit a round peg into a square hole.
The rest gets easier!

Stay tuned.