((HT: Globesports-David Shoalts))Gary Bettman struck out at least three times in attempts to peddle the Phoenix Coyotes ((pictured, thanks azcentral.com)), according to multiple sources.
The sources say the NHL commissioner was turned down by Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, by Phoenix Suns majority owner Robert Sarver and by Ken Kendrick, the managing general partner of the Arizona Diamondbacks, on separate occasions. All three were said to have backed out after looking at the books of the Coyotes, who are expected to lose as much as $45-million (all currency U.S.) this season.
"It's not happening," a source close to Reinsdorf said yesterday. "They're begging him to do it, but there's no way. He has no interest. Who would?"
Reinsdorf, Sarver and Kendrick could not be reached for comment.
Bill Daly, the deputy commissioner of the NHL, declined to comment.
"There is nothing I can tell you about that, for obvious reasons," Daly wrote in an e-mail message.
Jerry Moyes, the majority owner of the Coyotes, wants to sell the team because the total losses are in the neighbourhood of $200-million since he bought the club in 2001. Moyes is also having financial difficulties with his trucking firm, Swift Transportation Corporation, and is no longer willing or able to cover the Coyotes' losses.
The NHL is advancing money to the club to keep it alive and Bettman is looking for investors on Moyes's behalf. One source said Bettman cannot get any takers even though he is offering the team for nothing as long as the buyer covers the Coyotes' liabilities — the annual losses plus a large debt to a New York hedge fund, thought to be about $80-million.
"A lot of people have kicked the tires, but once they see the numbers, they walk away," said a former NHL governor who is familiar with the Coyotes' situation. "When you see they have 25 years left on their lease at $30-million a year [in losses], they tend to walk away."
The former governor said there have been inquiries from a couple of groups about the Coyotes, but only if they can move the team from its home in Glendale. The only way the Coyotes can break their lease is by seeking bankruptcy protection in the U.S. courts.
The Coyotes are trying to persuade Glendale's city government to change their lease at the Jobing.com Arena in order to squeeze more revenue out of it. However, the Coyotes already get most of the revenue from the arena. Glendale Mayor Elaine Scruggs recently told The Arizona Republic newspaper she is opposed to new taxes or fees to help the hockey team, although she is not opposed to some kind of assistance.
Reinsdorf, who also owns the Chicago Bulls of the NBA, has a connection to Glendale through his baseball team. The White Sox will hold their spring training this year at a new complex built by the city.
Bettman said in Toronto this week that the Coyotes "will be fine."
He said they will not be moved, although no new owner is yet in sight.
Those of us here at OSG HQ have long maintained that The Bettman may have no choice in the matter when all the losses and hedge fund allegiances are laid on the table. If he truly wants the league to have any kind of long-term financial viability as a 30-franchise unit, the ego needs to be put aside. More bad money can not be chasing Moyes initial decisions to borrow against himself to keep the 'Yotes afloats...
The Phoenix franchise is, in flying terms, a dead stick...
Shoalts stuff has been required reading the entire time. And we welcome the day when Canada gets another franchise it can embrace. Our odds are, though, they head to Kansas City first.
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