Sometime during the 2008-09 season, the NHL more or less took over the control of its sickest franchise the Phoenix Coyotes during excessive haemorrhaging of money. The NHL will soon be running the team for a third season which most likely will be the last one.
The problem around finding a suitable owner (that is not associated with the company that brought us the Blackberry) is twofold. For one, nobody in his right mind will purchase a team in Phoenix knowing that the team cannot make money in that town but could make money elsewhere. Second, the City of Glendale continues to play hardball around changes to the arena lease with any potential owner actually willing to give it a go in Phoenix. There has been a lot of whispering going on about how Ice Edge Holdings doesn’t have the money to buy the team. Recently ESPN.com reported that Matt Hulsizer could also be a potential new owner. Maybe a deal could be done if the arena lease could be settled but nothing has happened on this front.
In the meantime there is a short list of cities interested in accommodating the Coyotes including Winnipeg, Quebec City, Hamilton and Kansas City. Each has some drawbacks including a lack of a playing venue or corporate sponsorship but all would likely be better than the status quo.
I think there is no question that this will be the last season for the Coyotes in Phoenix unless there is a breakthrough in the coming months. How much more time will the NHL commit to the current process? Probably until sometime between New Years and the All-Star break. That would provide sufficient time to identify a new owner, work out an arena deal and shift around some teams to accommodate Phoenix moving out of the Pacific Division. In fact, I understand the Gary Bettman has been telling the media that Glendale has until December 31 to work on a new lease agreement. Let’s see if a hard deadline will change the dynamics of this endless negotiation.
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