NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly has acknowledged publicly Ice Edge Holdings has resumed talks with the city of Glendale over a lease agreement.
Daly wouldn't comment on reports that Reinsdorf's deal had fallen through or that the NHL was preparing to possibly move the team back to Winnipeg if they couldn't find an owner to keep the team in Arizona.
Rebekah Sanders of the Arizona Republic guesses the City of Glendale may approve an amended Memorandum of Understanding at their next meeting Tuesday. Sanders also says a provision in Ice Edge's original deal- that parking dollars go to the team- has now been okayed.
David Shoalts, in the Friday edition of the Globe and Mail, allows that the Reinsdorf deal was somewhat contingent on US$47-million in revenue from the "tax district" he wanted approved and that Ice Edge's deal/financing may have only as little as US$20-million for a down payment.
Ice Edge, apparently, also thinks they can get a financing deal in place WHEN they have have the deal in place with the City of Glendale... and not before.
The National Hockey League has until June 30 to be patient with anyone who wants to keep a team in Arizona. Then, they can sell to whomever they please...
TSN's Darren Dreger says the league will make their decision ((or have it made for them)) in the next few weeks. He also says that there is a concern that the City of Glendale is using Ice Edge in the hopes that Reinsdorf will alter his deal- making it less based on city subsidies- and get Reinsdorf back to the table.
So much for a summer vacation...
Showing posts with label MTS Centre. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MTS Centre. Show all posts
Friday, May 7, 2010
BREAKING NEWS: Reinsdorf Bid Dead, Coyotes Moving...???
((HT: Fan590 Toronto))
According to our friends at the Fan Radio Network, the Jerry Reinsdorf-led ((and supposedly agreed to)) bid with the City of Glendale may be in the toilet...
Considering how much money Reinsdorf was ((or, to be more accurate, wasn't)) laying out for the Coyotes, his bid is now dead in the desert...
KPNX-TV News12's Brahm Resnik, via his Twitter page, relays that one of the big issues for Glendale and the Reinsdorf bid was the dollars that were to be received from the proposed "facilities district plan."
In an article written by FOSG Scott Burnside for ESPN.com, the City of Glendale is now back dealing with Ice Edge Holdings- the group they told recently to perch and rotate in favor of Reinsdorf.
Ice Edge CEO Anthony LeBlanc confirmed to Burnside that the two sides had met in the past week and are trying to put a deal together.
This brings Canada back into the fray on a number of levels...
1) Remember Ice Edge's gambit on playing games in Saskatoon to try and improve their bottom line...? That's back in play...
2) The NHL is going to put some conditions on the Ice Edge bid- considering how shaky their financing was in the first place, including guarantees that the City of Glendale would back team financial losses for 2010-2011.
The timing, according to Burnside, varies on the source and the confirmation but conventional wisdom is leaning toward the end of the week for the NHL to be happy with Glendale.
3) If the deal falls through with Ice Edge, the NHL, and Glendale, Burnside reports that there is an agreement in place with David Thomson and/or Mark Chipman to bring the Coyotes back to Winnipeg...
Again...
4) That would put the AHL's Manitoba Moose in flux, but it would give the MTS Centre a good problem- unless they thought they could juggle two hockey tenants and 90 home dates. As a consolation prize, Ice Edge could end up with the Moose and move them to Thunder Bay, Ontario- the hometown of some of the Ice Edge guys...
Which takes us back to this, the day the Jets were put up for sale...
TSN's Michael Landsberg, when he had more hair, was on the anchor desk...
((HT: TSN/JHendrix70))
According to our friends at the Fan Radio Network, the Jerry Reinsdorf-led ((and supposedly agreed to)) bid with the City of Glendale may be in the toilet...
Considering how much money Reinsdorf was ((or, to be more accurate, wasn't)) laying out for the Coyotes, his bid is now dead in the desert...
KPNX-TV News12's Brahm Resnik, via his Twitter page, relays that one of the big issues for Glendale and the Reinsdorf bid was the dollars that were to be received from the proposed "facilities district plan."
In an article written by FOSG Scott Burnside for ESPN.com, the City of Glendale is now back dealing with Ice Edge Holdings- the group they told recently to perch and rotate in favor of Reinsdorf.
Ice Edge CEO Anthony LeBlanc confirmed to Burnside that the two sides had met in the past week and are trying to put a deal together.
This brings Canada back into the fray on a number of levels...
1) Remember Ice Edge's gambit on playing games in Saskatoon to try and improve their bottom line...? That's back in play...
2) The NHL is going to put some conditions on the Ice Edge bid- considering how shaky their financing was in the first place, including guarantees that the City of Glendale would back team financial losses for 2010-2011.
The timing, according to Burnside, varies on the source and the confirmation but conventional wisdom is leaning toward the end of the week for the NHL to be happy with Glendale.
3) If the deal falls through with Ice Edge, the NHL, and Glendale, Burnside reports that there is an agreement in place with David Thomson and/or Mark Chipman to bring the Coyotes back to Winnipeg...
Again...
4) That would put the AHL's Manitoba Moose in flux, but it would give the MTS Centre a good problem- unless they thought they could juggle two hockey tenants and 90 home dates. As a consolation prize, Ice Edge could end up with the Moose and move them to Thunder Bay, Ontario- the hometown of some of the Ice Edge guys...
Which takes us back to this, the day the Jets were put up for sale...
TSN's Michael Landsberg, when he had more hair, was on the anchor desk...
((HT: TSN/JHendrix70))
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Let's Try This Again: Coyotes To Winnipeg...?
((HT: Hockeybuzz.com/Tessier))
Okay, Peter Tessier of Hockeybuzz ((Eklund's site, for those of you outside of hockey circles)) has it that it will be the Coyotes heading back to Winnipeg to hang out in the MTS Centre NEXT SEASON, not the Atlanta Thrashers.
Yes, David Thomson and True North would be involved. That much we have all figured out along the way- regardless of which team is playing beach blanket bingo with The Bettman. There is, apparently, the standard hook of "x" number of season ticket pledges and/or purchases as part of the switch.
But, if this in fact the move on the board, that makes you ask about the guys over at Ice Edge Holdings. If IEH is now out of the loop, the HQ guesses that they are having issues getting a suitable lease agreement with either the league as their intermediary and/or the City of Glendale over Jobing.com Arena.
David Thomson and True North would not have the same problems satisfying any kind of an exit strategy for the Coyotes if they were to relocate. The HQ thinks the checkbook is ready for any number.
Issue 2B: The AHL's Manitoba Moose...
Honestly, there is talk of the Western Hockey League's Saskatoon ((SK)) Blades moving to the town of Estavan and the Moose going west, but this could go either way. Honestly, there should be no issue with the Moose being a secondary tenant in MTS with the Coyotes as the primary. Ninety dates with hockey locks up one-quarter of a calendar year for the building guaranteeing a client and a busy winter season.
SUNDAY LATE PM UPDATE: OSG Sports has been in contact with sources close to the Coyotes organization Sunday evening. Their take is that Ice Edge is still at the front of the line with the National Hockey League and that True North hasn't moved ahead of them in any fashion.
The phrase "one in a million chance" was used where a Coyotes-to-Winnipeg move was concerned. There is still the thought of the Saskatoon gambit where the future Phoenix schedule is laid out.
More when we know more...
Friday, February 19, 2010
Thrashers To Winnipeg: Friday Update
Some new blah-blah has come out on any kind of a move of the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg... ((or any other franchise to Winnipeg for that matter))
Let's retrace some steps and fill in some possible holes...
4/12/09- Winnipeg Free Press/Paul Wiecek
Gary Bettman at the Global Summit...
"While we play to 93 to 94 per cent capacity, we'd like to play to 100 per cent capacity," Bettman said. "A 15,000-16,000 seat arena might work better in some markets than a 19,000-seat arena."
A 15,000- to 16,000-seat arena? Funny thing -- Winnipeg just happens to have one of those sitting on Portage Avenue, a shiny new building with loads of luxury boxes and precisely 15,002 seats for hockey.
Actually, the HQ thought it was 15,015...
Word of mouth stuff in Winnipeg that has no real verifiable source...
- the Moose have canceled orders for all new Moose merchandise
- contractors were reported to be at MTS Centre looking into possible expansion
- an employee apparently in the know reports that the MTS Centre was NOT made to be expanded and that the easiest way would be to add boxes at the top as Boston has done
- an employee at MTS Centre said that 41 new dates were booked for the MTS Centre
- a new state of the art 4 rink hockey training, development and practice facility,currently under construction is said to be being built because True North was told by the NHL that for a team to work in Winnipeg the city would need a practice facility for the home & away teams to use.
The HQ thinks that's an interesting point in the last bullet, considering that Chipman just recently vested himself of his lending business for C$130M.
Thursday's Toronto Sun/Chris Stevenson-QMI on the Phoenix situation...
When asked if Ice/Edge was working on financing or trying to recruit more owners into the group, Daly replied:
“There are a couple of things that are more specific I can’t go into … the structure of the transaction needs to be defined a little more. I know they’re working hard and they’ve made some progress.”
While rumours of a transfer of the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg have sprung up this week (without much foundation, apparently), don’t discount Winnipeg coming up as a possible destination if the Phoenix deal falls apart and a relocation scenario needs to be considered.
Although, Ice Edge has made it clear, already, that Saskatoon is an outlet for a handful of home regular-season and playoff games to offset any lack of attendance in Glendale. Whether that was negotiated as part of the new lease deal is currently unclear...
The Globe and Mail's James Mirtle thinks it may be an give-and-go with Phoenix through his Twitter account: That Winnipeg rumour is everywhere lately for some reason... if anything, a non-sale in Phoenix could lead there perhaps
So, now our weekend supposition deals with two possible franchises in a match race to Winnipeg. Notice that Kansas City has been left out of the discussion for relocation for the Thrashers and Coyotes- the Islanders have been left out of the talk of other markets.
The dance continues...
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Thrashers To Winnipeg: Thursday Update
((HT: Toronto Sun/Wiebe-QMI))
A couple of quick quotes from Bill Daly, the Number Two at the NHL...
“There has been absolutely zero discussion at the league level of Thrashers to Winnipeg,” Daly told The Sun in an e-mail Wednesday night.
“There is no truth whatsoever to these rumours.”
And the whole idea of the Bettman visiting MTS Centre...?
"Gary (Bettman) did not visit Winnipeg earlier this week — or even earlier this year for that matter,” Daly said Wednesday.
Of course, that's what the league is going to say...
Scott Taylor was on the "Illegal Curve" radio program last night on Kick FM in Winnipeg to discuss what he knows and what he thinks may go down...
Taylor is under the impression that "Bettman has had it" with Atlanta Spirit as the owners of the Thrash- just as much as he's had it with the old Tampa duo of Oren Koules and Len Barrie. This is corroborated by the Bettman interview with Jeff Schultz of the AJC from February 7:
“Ultimately, the ownership situation has to be straightened out,” Bettman told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It’s difficult to operate a franchise when owners aren’t getting along. It’s even more difficult in a recession climate. A team has to be at its very best. Issues have to be resolved and everybody has to be together so they can interact with fans. But that’s difficult when the owners aren’t together.”
Taylor thinks that if Thomson-Chipman/True North were to purchase any franchise, Thomson would also want to purchase the arena. If Spirit were to decline that idea, then Thomson would want to move the Thrashers. Winnipeg would be one of the first places he would look to relocate. His top three places for franchises are Western Ontario, Winnipeg, and Quebec City.
The main issue in Winnipeg is the corporate dollars and support. According to Taylor, Winnipeg businesses ((nationally based or otherwise)) are currently spending 2008 dollars in a 2010 environment. True North would not operate under the idea, according to Taylor, of operating a bottom line linked to a revenue sharing share. In a town of over 700-thousand, the franchise would need to be economically sound in what Taylor called a "boutique arena" in the MTS Centre ((pictured, thanks to the MTS Centre their ownselves)).
The HQ still thinks that True North is playing their cards right by denying everything and saying nothing where the possible relocation of the Thrashers is concerned. Jim Balsillie wanted a public forum where his interest in the Phoenix Coyotes was concerned. You see what that got him...
Bettman desperately wants Nashville, Atlanta, Tampa Bay, Phoenix, Florida, and Columbus to work- it was his gambit to expand in that direction. The Preds and the New York Islanders are already floundering- Wang having lost over US$400M since he's bought in. The HQ still thinks that if Charles Wang doesn't get his Lighthouse Project approved, he's heading to Kansas City. And Bettman still believes that Canadian teams won't draw in US markets. The more Canadian teams his league has, the less attendance he feels will be involved overall.
The economy of all the aforementioned franchises, however, will eventually mean traditionally-served hockey markets will get the franchises anyway.
The HQ still thinks one of three things will happen- but not as immediately as everyone may think...
1) True North purchases the Thrashers under the impression that they would "give hockey a chance" in Atlanta. When attendance figures do not meet "expectation levels" set forth by the National Hockey League and True North, the team moves for the subsequent season- whichever one that is...
2) The Thrash will be bought and relocated for the 2010-2011 season and move to Winnipeg and the MTS Centre. The announcement will have to be made in a Thrashers off-season and before the schedule makers have their chance to create the '10-'11 work of art. Nashville and Atlanta would then switch positions in conferences- the Predators making the Southeast division a "truly" southeastern division. Winnipeg joins the Central Division with Chicago, Detroit, Columbus, and St. Louis.
3) The Thrash are sold to True North and renovations will be performed on the MTS Centre to add seating to the current 15,000 capacity. Atlanta will have a lame-duck season at their arena. Winnipeg gets a franchise for the 2011-2012 season.
Got all that...???
Figured what we'd do is show you what the current tenants look like...
Here's recent highlights of a full-line brawl between the Manitoba Moose and the Toronto Marlies from, about, a week ago...
((HT: American Hockey League))
A couple of quick quotes from Bill Daly, the Number Two at the NHL...
“There has been absolutely zero discussion at the league level of Thrashers to Winnipeg,” Daly told The Sun in an e-mail Wednesday night.
“There is no truth whatsoever to these rumours.”
And the whole idea of the Bettman visiting MTS Centre...?
"Gary (Bettman) did not visit Winnipeg earlier this week — or even earlier this year for that matter,” Daly said Wednesday.
Of course, that's what the league is going to say...
Scott Taylor was on the "Illegal Curve" radio program last night on Kick FM in Winnipeg to discuss what he knows and what he thinks may go down...
Taylor is under the impression that "Bettman has had it" with Atlanta Spirit as the owners of the Thrash- just as much as he's had it with the old Tampa duo of Oren Koules and Len Barrie. This is corroborated by the Bettman interview with Jeff Schultz of the AJC from February 7:
“Ultimately, the ownership situation has to be straightened out,” Bettman told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It’s difficult to operate a franchise when owners aren’t getting along. It’s even more difficult in a recession climate. A team has to be at its very best. Issues have to be resolved and everybody has to be together so they can interact with fans. But that’s difficult when the owners aren’t together.”
Taylor thinks that if Thomson-Chipman/True North were to purchase any franchise, Thomson would also want to purchase the arena. If Spirit were to decline that idea, then Thomson would want to move the Thrashers. Winnipeg would be one of the first places he would look to relocate. His top three places for franchises are Western Ontario, Winnipeg, and Quebec City.
The main issue in Winnipeg is the corporate dollars and support. According to Taylor, Winnipeg businesses ((nationally based or otherwise)) are currently spending 2008 dollars in a 2010 environment. True North would not operate under the idea, according to Taylor, of operating a bottom line linked to a revenue sharing share. In a town of over 700-thousand, the franchise would need to be economically sound in what Taylor called a "boutique arena" in the MTS Centre ((pictured, thanks to the MTS Centre their ownselves)).
The HQ still thinks that True North is playing their cards right by denying everything and saying nothing where the possible relocation of the Thrashers is concerned. Jim Balsillie wanted a public forum where his interest in the Phoenix Coyotes was concerned. You see what that got him...
Bettman desperately wants Nashville, Atlanta, Tampa Bay, Phoenix, Florida, and Columbus to work- it was his gambit to expand in that direction. The Preds and the New York Islanders are already floundering- Wang having lost over US$400M since he's bought in. The HQ still thinks that if Charles Wang doesn't get his Lighthouse Project approved, he's heading to Kansas City. And Bettman still believes that Canadian teams won't draw in US markets. The more Canadian teams his league has, the less attendance he feels will be involved overall.
The economy of all the aforementioned franchises, however, will eventually mean traditionally-served hockey markets will get the franchises anyway.
The HQ still thinks one of three things will happen- but not as immediately as everyone may think...
1) True North purchases the Thrashers under the impression that they would "give hockey a chance" in Atlanta. When attendance figures do not meet "expectation levels" set forth by the National Hockey League and True North, the team moves for the subsequent season- whichever one that is...
2) The Thrash will be bought and relocated for the 2010-2011 season and move to Winnipeg and the MTS Centre. The announcement will have to be made in a Thrashers off-season and before the schedule makers have their chance to create the '10-'11 work of art. Nashville and Atlanta would then switch positions in conferences- the Predators making the Southeast division a "truly" southeastern division. Winnipeg joins the Central Division with Chicago, Detroit, Columbus, and St. Louis.
3) The Thrash are sold to True North and renovations will be performed on the MTS Centre to add seating to the current 15,000 capacity. Atlanta will have a lame-duck season at their arena. Winnipeg gets a franchise for the 2011-2012 season.
Got all that...???
Figured what we'd do is show you what the current tenants look like...
Here's recent highlights of a full-line brawl between the Manitoba Moose and the Toronto Marlies from, about, a week ago...
((HT: American Hockey League))
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