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October 27, 2009
Coyotes-to-NHL sale at hand?
The interminable Phoenix Coyotes sale saga may be almost over, or at least entering a new phase, after team owner Jerry Moyes yesterday reached an agreement to sell the bankrupt franchise to the NHL for $140 million. The deal still has to be signed off on by bankruptcy court judge Redfield Baum, but barring complaints from other creditors — say, Wayne Gretzky — that's expected to be resolved in the next few days.
If the NHL does end up with full control of the Coyotes, expect to see a repeat of MLB's Montreal Expos relocation bidding war, with the caveat that in the Coyotes' case, the league has promised to spend at least the next year looking for local ownership. Of course, given that the two leading "local" owners are a guy from Chicago who wants Glendale to pay him to keep playing there and a group that wants to play home games in Canada, it's still likely to end up as a multi-city subsidy-grubbing campaign. Stay tuned.
God, please keep them out of KC!
Posted by Chris M on October 28, 2009 12:55 AM
Ye gods, it's California Golden Seals 2.0!
But seriously....
Moyes and company must be the densest folks alive if they don't get it that Phoenix doesn't want the NHL. Consider: the Coyotes have FREE parking, the cheapest seats in the league, a state-of-the-art arena, and still they're headed for bankruptcy. While poor old Glendale can't be blamed for wanting that $700 penalty for a relocation (though it'll be damn near impossible for them to collect) well....no one MADE them drink the damn Kool Aid, did they? And if the Coyotes had their druthers, they'd be over in Scottsdale now where the Los Arcos mall used to be.
Hockey is the only sport I regularly watch and think it's sad that the 3.5 million people within an hours drive can't/won't/don't support a team. Sorry, but it's just not working out. No amount of t-shirt cannons can fix it. Didn't Bettman lock-out the league just a couple years ago to fix another money (players salaries) problem? He'll need a drastic fix for this problem too. It's called Canada.
Posted by Doug on October 28, 2009 09:01 PM
The NHL can always ask the Arizona Cardinals (their stadium is near to the Coyotes arena) if they are interested in buying the Coyotes. Can't hurt to ask.
Posted by Daniel Francis on October 31, 2009 10:26 PM