May 12, 2010

Coyotes sale off, on, back off, back on?

I have been sadly negligent in covering the last few days of twists and turns in the Phoenix Coyotes saga, which was already more convoluted than New York's 12th Congressional District. Since Friday:

• Designated buyer Jerry Reinsdorf reportedly dropped his bid again, leading Glendale to go back to Ice Edge Holdings and ask them to submit a new bid.
• Talks with Ice Edge collapsed, leaving the Coyotes with no potential buyers at all.
• The Glendale city council voted to pay up to $25 million in team losses for 2010-11 if the NHL still owns the team, in order to keep it in town.

Reinsdorf's group now says that it's still in the running for the team, with one source telling AP that talks aren't dead, they're "probably more like taking a nap." But there's still no final purchase deal in place.

Best guess from here is that there's some aspect of the team's lease that Reinsdorf and Glendale are still dickering over, something not spelled out in the memorandum of understanding they signed last month. Glendale officials now say they still expect the sale of the team to go through by the end of June; don't be too surprised to see a few more curveballs like this latest one between now and then.