Usually when a company goes on the auction block, the first question asked is: Who will be interested? With the Phoenix Coyotes, however, it is the opposite game being played, with the media offering a list of who doesn't want the National Hockey League franchise.
According to the The Globe and Mail, some of the not interested include Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver and Arizona Diamondbacks managing partner Ken Kendrick. All reportedly passed on opportunities to buy the team because, for some reason, ice hockey in the hot Phoenix sun doesn't seem to fit well with them. But who can blame them when the team reportedly will lose as much as $45 million this season?
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Nonetheless, there are a few suitors, but most reportedly want to move the team, possibly back east to Hartford, Conn., the one-time home of the Whalers. However, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman would rather see the Coyotes melt in the Arizona heat, saying he will block any sale to a buyer who wants to move the franchise.
Despite the NHL advancing money to the Coyotes, Bettman called the reports of the team's potential collapse "ridiculous." The Globe and Mail said he is offering the team for next to nothing, as long as the buyers just covers their liabilities. Bettman made the announcement on Jan. 26 that the league has approved the team to go through a sale process.
Coyotes' owner Jerry Moyes is facing his own problems. Swift Transportation Co., which he is the CEO of, is facing its own financial woes, and he already reportedly lost about $200 million since he bought the team in 2001.
Whether the Coyotes are forced to continue to sweat it out in Phoenix or move to another city that it will be more suitable for let's say ... hockey remains to be seen. - Demitri Diakantonis
See story from The Globe & Mail
