The Arizona Coyotes have made their next move in the team's latest standoff with the City of Glendale.
In light of the city's decision to break its lease agreement with the club, the Coyotes filed a temporary restraining order to keep the lease intact and counter what co-owner Anthony LeBlanc referred to as "cheap political gamesmanship."
The Arizona Supreme Court granted the temporary restraining order during a hearing Friday. Granting the restraining order is routine procedure, according to Bob Bartels, a professor of law at Arizona State University.
"You march in and get it almost immediately then the court says we'll have an interim hearing within a fairly short timeframe at which time we'll have more opportunity to look at the background," Bartels told Rick Westhead of TSN. "They take some evidence, file briefs and you don't do a lot of discovery, but even at the hearing for a preliminary injunction, nothing is a final decision."
Glendale city officials, who voted 5-2 to cancel the lease agreement Thursday appear unconcerned about the Coyotes' court filings.
"Our lawyer hasn't called me and, if it was a big deal, I expect I would have heard from him," vice mayor Ian Hugh said. "We are not going to lose."
Coyotes spokesperson Rich Naim offered a snarky response to Hugh's comment, showing how little love is left between the franchise and the city.
"That's fantastic. The same person who started a process thinks he will prevail. News at 11."
The standoff will continue on June 29, when the franchise and the city will return to court for the preliminary injunction hearing.
