Phoenix Coyotes Ownership Saga Rages On, Hulsizer Pulls Out Of Deal
Reports today say that Matthew Hulsizer has pulled out negotiations with Glendale to buy the Phoenix Coyotes from the NHL. Or maybe, this is just all part of the process. We'll see.
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The Phoenix Coyotes ownership drama continues to drag on. According to this report, the NHL will either sell or move the team before next season. The league has owned the Coyotes for the last two years.
We all love Shane Doan, but at some point you stop showing up on line for your daily kick in the nuts. And then you stop going to games because while the hockey is fun all anyone wants to talk about is the ownership bullshit. Then you just get pissed off at hockey in general to the point where it's no longer a fun diversion but just a ritual beating that you stop taking at some point.
By the time this thing gets settled the fanbase that was already small is going to be miniscule. And I don't blame fans one bit for bolting. Sport is supposed to be fun, a hobby, not some massive headache.
So City of Glendale take your sweet time finding yet another buyer to screw over. In the mean time I'm sure more and more people will find something else to do with their time than put up with your incompetence.
The Phoenix Coyotes issued a brief statement regarding the latest turn over events in the on-going ownership saga. You don't want to read to much into these things, but you can almost feel the weariness in their terse comment.
"The City of Glendale and the National Hockey League continue to negotiate with other interested parties to secure new ownership for the Phoenix Coyotes. The objective continues to be to transition ownership of the Club to an interested purchaser in the coming months."
That's it. That's all they had to say. Then again, what else is there?
At one point this spring the sale of the Phoenix Coyotes to Chicago businessman Matthew Hulsizer was just weeks from becoming official. All signs pointed to an orderly transfer of the team from the NHL to Mr. Hulsizer and then the Goldwater Institute stuck it's nose in and tanked the deal over a dispute about city financing.
In a matter of weeks, the deal that went from almost done went to almost having the team moved to Winnipeg. Glendale stepped up and laid down another $25 million to convince the NHL to give them more time and the Winnipeg vultures immediately shifted their talons into ripping the Atlanta Thrashers out of Georgia.
Now the deal has taken another twisted turn with today's report that Hulsizer was pulling out of negotiations with Glendale over the lease and financing arrangements.
The official, who asked not to be identified, said the Hulsizer ownership group did not want to go through another several-month process of Glendale trying to sell the Coyotes to their group or other potential owners.
We said when the $25 million extension and the Thrashers moved to Winnipeg that the leverage had shifted to Glendale. Once can imagine that they overplayed their hands and Hulsizer has simply moved on to other targets. Or, this latest news could just be part of the process of calling Glendale's bluff. The city claims to be negotiating again with Jerry Reinsdorf and some other mysterious owner.
Somehow, it's hard to imagine we are anywhere close to resolution and that only hurts the efforts of the Coyotes to rebuild their relationship with local sports fans.
