DEVELOPING: Manitoba Gov't Won't Subsidize NHL

((HT: Sportsnet Radio FAN590))

In a Winnipeg Free Press article yesterday, it was disclosed that True North Sports and Entertainment would need ((and was probably going to ask for)) government help to manage the debt load on the MTS Centre as part of bringing the Atlanta Thrashers to Canada...

Not so fast there, pilgrim...

Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger says taxpayers won't subsidize an NHL team in Winnipeg. He hasn't asked them, yet but that's what he thinks... that the provincial government won't cover losses...

Selinger says the province has no interest in supporting the operations of a professional hockey team. However, Selinger says the province will do what it can to help make the city a desirable place to relocate the Thrashers.

Whatever that means...

More when we know more...
Here's the HockeyCentral discussion on where Winnipeg might go if Winnipeg comes to pass...
((HT: Rogers Sportsnet/JHendrix70))

DEVELOPING STORY: NHL Gives Glendale 12-31 Deadline On Coyotes

((HT: GlobeSports/Shoalts))

In his exclusive that ran in the Globe and Mail Saturday, resident hockey watchdog David Shoalts has it on good info that the National Hockey League has given the City of Glendale until the end of the calendar year to find a buyer that will keep the Phoenix Coyotes in town, or the league will sell to a waiting buyer who will move the team...

Those words are in the agreement that the City has figured out with the league in dealing with covering the anticipated operating losses of the franchise- the ceiling being US$25-million.

The league has only admitted to talking to three groups about the future of the Coyotes: Jerry Reinsdorf, Ice Edge, and the Chipman-Thomson ((Chipman is pictured thanks, Joe Bryksa/Winnipeg Free Press)) group that would move the team back to Winnipeg.

Naturally, no one involved is commenting on the Shoalts report...

Gary Lawless, in his piece in the Winnipeg Free Press, relays some of the document:

"The owners currently have a bona-fide offer from a viable purchaser who would relocate the hockey team to another market for the 2010-11 season and contemplates that the owners [the NHL] would break even on their investment in the team through the end of the 2009-10 NHL season as well as the NHL potentially receiving a relocation fee..." the document obtained by the Globe reads.

Don Cherry addresses the issue on Hockey Night in Canada's post-game show on CBC after the Philadelphia-Montreal game Saturday afternoon...
Starting about the 1:25 mark...
((HT: CBC/NHL/HockeyHaven76))

Coyotes Sale: Friday Update

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...

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))

Round 3: PHX To WPG, Reinsdorf Back In...???

((HT: GlobeSports/Willis))

Ice Edge Holdings seems to be in a race against time with the City of Glendale to reach an appropriate lease agreement with the City of Glendale over Jobing.com Arena.

Thursday is a deadline given for either Ice Edge or a Jerry Reinsdorf/John Kaites group to get to the finish line. The City, according to Willis, is willing to extend the deadline if negotiations are going in a positive direction.

Lease negotiations have been handled by the National Hockey League and all indications are leaning toward the Reinsdorf gambit- as has been the feeling of some of OSG's sources close to the Coyotes' situation since the beginning of all of this jibber-jabber dating back to Jim Balsillie.

But... Reinsdorf may be looking for a special tax district near the arena if he is the chosen one. That would dredge up the thought again where Reinsdorf would create a White Sox spring training facility nearby as part of a package deal.

So, then, what about Ice Edge and Mark Chipman...???

Chipman will continue to lobby the League for another troubled franchise- plenty of whom are available as the HQ has discussed in recent days.

Ice Edge may be SOL in all of this...

Here's the history that Winnipeg is chasing... the day the team went up "For Sale."
Michael Landsberg, with more hair than present, anchors coverage for TSN...


Here's Coyotes captain Shane Doan addressing the whole leaving-not leaving situation in front of a bunch of Canadian microphones recently...
((HT: FS Arizona/Todd Walsh))

PM UPDATE: Mike Sunnucks at the Phoenix Business Journal allows that the National Hockey League will not own the Phoenix Coyotes for another season and that they're really looking at having a new owner in place by June.

Really looking...

Remember Ice Edge is looking for their deal with the Saskatoon gambit and Jerry Reinsdorf, in addition to his tax district, wants an out clause if the team's finances still are south of profitable...

Sources tell Sunnucks that the League is not interested in renewing its jobing.com arena lease or any contracts after the fiscal year ends.

The Phoenix Business Journal also is floating the Coyotes-to-Kansas City idea, but the HQ thinks that the Islanders are still the number one contender for that move...

PM UPDATE: Round 3- PHX To WPG, Daly Speaks

((HT: Vancouver Sun))

In an e-mail to the Camwest News Service, Scott Brown once again is trying to put out fires from the Phoenix Business Journal article:

"We’ve seen the piece this morning in the Phoenix Business Journal and can say there is no truth to the claim True North Sports & Entertainment has agreed in principle to purchase the Phoenix Coyotes. That is simply not true.”

Brown also denied that Thomson is involved with anything...

“It should be noted that while David Thomson is a partner in True North Sports & Entertainment, he has not nor will not be leading any attempts to acquire an NHL franchise in Winnipeg,” said Brown.

Remember our talks about Mark Chipman...???

NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly appeared on the Fan590 in Toronto Monday afternoon. He confirmed that the league has had discussions with Mark Chipman and David Thomson about their interests in owning a franchise in Winnipeg.

He also said that there is no deal "in principle" to relocate the Coyotes anywhere and the league is concentrating on trying to keep the Coyotes in Glendale, and that the NHL can relocate the Coyotes without having to pay anything to the City Of Glendale.

The conversation Daly had with Bob McCown and Stephen Brunt on "Prime Time Sports" can be listened to, in its entirety, here...

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...

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))

Thrashers To Winnipeg...? The Manitoba Denials...

((HT: Winnipeg Free Press))

"It's no different than last week's rumour and there's nothing to it," True North spokesman Scott Brown said Tuesday. "Of course we deny it; it's completely false."

What about the presser after the five-ringed circus...?

"It's no different than last week's rumour and there's nothing to it," Brown said.

The switching of the franchises in the AHL and WHL in Winnipeg and Saskatoon...?

Jack Brodsky, owner of the Saskatoon Blades, says no one has contacted him yet:
"I got a chuckle out of it," he said.

"Something like that would certainly come across my desk." WHL commissioner Ron Robison said. "No way. There are no thoughts of moving them," he said. "Saskatoon is an original member in our league and an institution in that community. That's where they'll remain. I'm not sure where that story came from."

The expansion of the arena and the visit by engineers...?

"I've heard that one, too," said Brown. "There's no truth to it."

The sale of National Leasing by Chipman...? Strategic to access actual cash since the loan industry is hurting...

So, there you go...
Take it for what it's worth...
More tomorrow...

Thrashers To Winnipeg: Round Two- Screw The Smoke...

There are two notations in The Scott Taylor blog from CITI 92.9 KICK FM in Winnipeg... the first from yesterday's entry

So are the Atlanta Thrashers about to wind up in Winnipeg? NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman says that the Thrashers ownership must get it together or else. The “or else” we aren’t sure of, but we do know this: According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Thrashers are 28th in the NHL in attendance, averaging 4,000 fans fewer per game in the 10th year of their existence (13,204, according to inflated announced figures) than in the first (17,205). The rumours get louder and it could be that the Thrashers are about to get a new owner: Mark Chipman’s partner David Thomson. Again: Believe whatever it is you want to believe...

2/12/10-Taylor

Wealthy David Thomson of Toronto, the man who most of the shares of the MTS Centre and True North Sports and Entertainment in Winnipeg, has purchased the Atlanta Thrashers of the National Hockey League and will move them to Winnipeg for the 2010-11 season. The Moose will move to Saskatoon. The announcement will be made right after the Olympics. Believe whatever it is you want to believe.

Taylor is addressing it on his show tonight 8PM EST here...

The Rod Pedersen Blog from Friday:
Pedersen is the play-by-play voice of the Regina Pats...

More fuel to the NHL-to-Winnipeg fire:

I wouldn't tamper with a city's emotions. Well, maybe Swift Current, but definitely not Winnipeg.

In Monday's column I whispered the rumour that the NHL WILL be returning to Winnipeg in time for the 2010-2011 season. Since Monday, I've received several more tips about the topic.

THIS IS JUST WHAT I'VE BEEN TOLD, but representatives of the Atlanta Thrashers were in the MTS Centre recently getting a tour with Manitoba Moose owner Mark Chipman. Apparently they're looking at the possibility of adding 3,000 seats to make the capacity around 18,000?

The arrival of an NHL team would assuredly squeeze the AHL's Moose out, and we repeated that they could be looking at Saskatoon or Regina. The rumour mill went one step further saying the Moose are looking at Saskatoon, and that Blades owner Jack Brodsky could flip his team to the Manitoba Capital.

DON'T SHOOT THE MESSENGER! This is just what I'm hearing.

It gets more interesting:

The people who run the MTS Centre would like 80+ hockey dates per year in the arena and an NHL/WHL combo would provide that nicely (a la Flames/Hitmen, Oilers/Oil Kings).

It would be ideal for the 'Dub ... you could make a Manitoba swing and play Winnipeg Thursday and Brandon Friday and head back home.

Also part of the tip I got was that Chipman is building a training complex with practice ice in an affluent area of Winnipeg. Downtown would be ideally suited, but if the practice rink is in the community where all the players from the NHL team live, all the better.

So no Winnipeg, I'm not blowing smoke. I'm just passing along some interesting info I received this week.

OSG Sports has learned that True North Sports and Entertainment's Mark Chipman sold his leasing company on February 1- National Leasing Group- for C$130M. That should be enough to float most of the purchase price of the Thrash in straight cash, but it does take up to 90 days for any sale of a publicly held company to clear a trade commission... which would lend itself to a May announcement- long after a regular season concludes, and presumably, when attention is elsewhere.

The total "value" of the Thrashers franchise is listed at US$143-million according to a Forbes annual report in 2009.

The Atlanta Spirit Group has a seven-year non-relocation clause as part of its deal with the sports leagues the franchises are tied to... that would expire in September of 2010 if the purchase date of the elements from Time Warner is held as September 21, 2003.

With the back-room questioning of Philips wanting to either remove themselves or renegotiate their deal with Spirit on the naming-rights of the arena, that could be the last element needed in Atlanta for removal and relocation...

When Jeff Schultz of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution caught up with Thrashers GM Don Waddell in late January, Waddell "acknowledged that the Thrashers will be among only a few teams penalized in the NHL’s revenue-sharing program: 10 to 25 percent. Last year’s normal share was $17million. The loss would be $1.7 million to $4.25 million for a franchise already counting pennies.

"He also acknowledged that Philips has sought to get out of its naming-rights deal at the arena and sell it to a third party. He dismissed any notion that ownership would accept a reduction in the deal with Philips."

So, you have a financial loss ((or shortfall)) on several fronts through either the fault of Atlanta Spirit or a wonky economy, and you have a lot of arrows pointing in one direction.

All that's needed now is for someone to go on the record for this...