Judge Approves NHL Purchase of Coyotes
Judge Redfield T. Baum granted his approval to the NHL in terms of the sale of the Phoenix Coyotes, signing off on the sale order Monday after lawyers made a few final adjustments to the deal.
The NHL has now purchased the Phoenix Coyotes franchise for about $140 million from Jerry Moyes. Former Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky was not in on the new agreement as the owner of a small portion of the team, but he also did not file any formal objection with the court.
“This now opens up the opportunity to initiate and finalize negotiations with other parties for the long-term success of the team in Glendale,” the city of Glendale said in a released statement.
The deal closes off a bitter battle over the team, finally sealing the deal for a lot less money than Moyes would have liked. In the end, however, the former owner needed to cover his losses and took the only deal remaining in play. As part of the deal, the league will reduce the amount of money it says Moyes owes it from $30 million to $15 million.
The NHL is hoping to turn around and re-sell the team. “The league also will engage immediately in a process to identify — and expedite sale of the franchise to — new ownership that is committed to the club’s long-term success in the Phoenix-Glendale area, ” Bill Daly said in a statement.
The purchase agreement ensures that all unsecured creditors will paid with the exception of Glendale, Gretzky and Moyes. The largest secured creditor, SOF Investments, will get all of the $80 million it is owed, either in cash or over time in an agreement with the league. Gretzky has said on record that he is owed about $8 million, most of that in salary from the club.
The NHL still contends that the Coyotes can turn a good crowd in at the Jobing.com arena, but Moyes and many analysts still disagree. Despite the team’s rather good start this season, the crowds in Phoenix have been pretty sparse. Even so, the league hopes that it will keep the team in Phoenix for the time being, if for nothing else than to prove a point.
Posted by Jordan Richardson.
November 4th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
What a joke the NHL is. They are the only fools that can keep thinking the hockey belongs in cities like Phoenix. But that’s ok cause the rest of the league, mainly Canadian teams, will keep supporting their asses despite a sinkhole of a franchise.
November 5th, 2009 at 7:41 am
As soon as the the sucsessful franchise owners start realizing that they shouldn’t have to pay out of their pockets to support struggling teams things might happen.
I don’t believe the owners of Philly , Detroit, New york, Toronto and any other big shots enjoy forking out cash. Eventually somebody will wake up and realize that Gary and his goons are the cause of this mess, ( I know they Know )
Just take action for crying out loud and finally teams will not be in places where they don’t belong like Phoenix, Nashville, etc.. and in places they do belong like Hamilton,
Winnipeg, Halifax, and any other Canadian city that could support a hockey team.
Baseball, Football, and Basket ball are all American.
How many Canadian teams exist 2 Both from Toronto the Raptors, and the Blue Jays
Why in Hockey if it so Canadian are only 6 Canadian teams and 24 American teams?