AZ francize in "transition" to where? and to what?

[DelHowLich]

Copied from Jeramy Laura's column on Hockeybuzz:

"And now they’re for sale. The owner wants 1B. This owner has been a nightmare:

According to Arizona Sports’ John Gambadoro, Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo has contacted multiple parties, including groups inside and outside the state, to gauge their interest in buying the franchise. He’s seeking an asking price of $1B, $50MM more than the Senators sold for when Michael Andlauer purchased the club last summer.

I copied the quote and posted it. Today, the link to that story goes nowhere. So I went to the original source,


Arizona Sports. The very first thing I notice is a change in the quote. Still acknowledges the owner looking for a buyer but this has been added:

“Mr. Meruelo and the team are solely focused on the land auction and winning the bid. And to keep the Coyotes in Arizona,” the Coyotes told Arizona Sports on Thursday when asked about potential conversations Meruelo had with possible buyers

So, a missing story link, a “sole focus” on buying land and what should be a fairly major story about a team that refused to pay rent, has asked twice for bond funded arenas (including a 2B district for one) and the guarantee that the owner is paying for the arena out of his own funds all coincide this morning. Ok.

Last summer’s sale of Ottawa went from a year long campaign of a celebrity led group to a quick switch in buyers with the statement “we all knew Ottawa had significant debt”. It also went from a new arena to, “let’s wait and see if a new arena is warranted”. Pittsburgh had some similar issues as the press celebrates each win because a new owner is very unhappy with how the season had gone. A 3rd sale that could eclipse those disappointments combined with the broadcast scenario is not a great look. The final caveat that isn’t getting a ton of press (from the Arizona paper)

: Focusing efforts to win the Phoenix land at an auction that’s yet to be scheduled appeared to be the next step at finding a permanent home. There remained potential hurdles to cover before the team could purchase the land. - wait, I thought it was in June, right?

From the same write up:

According to the Arizona state constitution, there must be an auction advertisement in print media for a minimum of 10 weeks before the auction. The state would have 240 days from the board of appeals’ approval of that auction on March 14 to hold it.
In other words, the land auction at minimum would not take place until mid-June but would not have to be held until Nov. 9.
According to the state constitution, “the department shall reappraise or update the department’s original appraisal of property to be leased, exchanged or sold if the board of appeals’ approval of the lease or sale occurred more than two hundred forty days before the auction.”
The drafting of an auction notice had not yet been completed as of Thursday, the Arizona State Land Department told Arizona Sports.

That last part is important. The notice hasn’t been drafted and has to be up for 10 weeks in print along with a 240 day window for the board that could push the auction to November. Then, how long does it take to build a stadium?

As some of you ask, “what’s the point of covering this?” There wouldn’t be one if the league weren’t fully integrated in revenue reporting. That revenue affects players who get to vote on a raise in the cap. Add to that Arizona being a team that Bally kicked off the roster. Even while trying to raise revenues and settle bankruptcy. Whatever the league’s obsession is to keep the team in Arizona has to have fans in Quebec, fans of the original Jets franchise, Thrasher fans, Whaler fans and others all scratching their heads."

Same ole bait and switch, smoke and mirrors, BS......whatever you wish to call it, coming from the Yote's ownership.

[JimIsJustPlainOld]

I don't know what Meruelo paid for the Coyotes, but he hasn't done squat that I can see to improve that team to where it's worth $1B.

[holytoledo]

I don't know what Meruelo paid for the Coyotes, but he hasn't done squat that I can see to improve that team to where it's worth $1B.

It’s a team in the NHL. Not much else matters.

[Machine]

It’s a team in the NHL but they’re playing in an unsustainable (damn you Pops) market in a university stadium, who’s dropping a billion on that.
The fact Bettman wants to keep the team there is delusional

[holytoledo]

It’s a team in the NHL but they’re playing in an unsustainable (damn you Pops) market in a university stadium, who’s dropping a billion on that.
The fact Bettman wants to keep the team there is delusional

The league charged Seattle 650 mil for the expansion fee in 2017. Vegas’ was 500 mil just a year earlier. Arizona has Clayton Keller, 5 recent top 15 picks in their stable, etc. A billion is relatively cheap. The new owner will either relocate them or get a sweetheart arena deal. Someone will pay close to a billion for them.

[dcz28]

It’s a team in the NHL but they’re playing in an unsustainable (damn you Pops) market in a university stadium, who’s dropping a billion on that.
The fact Bettman wants to keep the team there is delusional

The league charged Seattle 650 mil for the expansion fee in 2017. Vegas’ was 500 mil just a year earlier. Arizona has Clayton Keller, 5 recent top 15 picks in their stable, etc. A billion is relatively cheap. The new owner will either relocate them or get a sweetheart arena deal. Someone will pay close to a billion for them.

Anyone that would pay even close to 1 billion for that franchise has more money than brains. The average NHL franchise is worth around 1 billion but the Coyotes are not close to the average. In fact last year Forbes had them valued dead last in the NHL at 500 million...250 million less than 2nd worst Buffalo at 750 million. They don't even have an arena and the one they play in right now makes the team a complete loss of money.

That would be like paying full price for a new car that doesn't have an engine or transmission...who in their right mind would pay full price for that even if they have an engine and transmission sitting at home?

[holytoledo]

It’s a team in the NHL but they’re playing in an unsustainable (damn you Pops) market in a university stadium, who’s dropping a billion on that.
The fact Bettman wants to keep the team there is delusional

The league charged Seattle 650 mil for the expansion fee in 2017. Vegas’ was 500 mil just a year earlier. Arizona has Clayton Keller, 5 recent top 15 picks in their stable, etc. A billion is relatively cheap. The new owner will either relocate them or get a sweetheart arena deal. Someone will pay close to a billion for them.

Anyone that would pay even close to 1 billion for that franchise has more money than brains. The average NHL franchise is worth around 1 billion but the Coyotes are not close to the average. In fact last year Forbes had them valued dead last in the NHL at 500 million...250 million less than 2nd worst Buffalo at 750 million. They don't even have an arena and the one they play in right now makes the team a complete loss of money.

That would be like paying full price for a new car that doesn't have an engine or transmission...who in their right mind would pay full price for that even if they have an engine and transmission sitting at home?

Seems to me that Forbes is totally out of touch. 650 million was the price of entry 7 years ago. 650 million in 2017 is 825 million after inflation. Odds are anyone wanting to buy them wants to relocate, so not being locked into a stadium deal is probably a positive to most prospective buyers. If they sell, the price will be closer to a billion than a half a billion. It’s not about the Coyotes, it’s about the exclusivity of owning an NHL franchise.

[dcz28]

The league charged Seattle 650 mil for the expansion fee in 2017. Vegas’ was 500 mil just a year earlier. Arizona has Clayton Keller, 5 recent top 15 picks in their stable, etc. A billion is relatively cheap. The new owner will either relocate them or get a sweetheart arena deal. Someone will pay close to a billion for them.

Anyone that would pay even close to 1 billion for that franchise has more money than brains. The average NHL franchise is worth around 1 billion but the Coyotes are not close to the average. In fact last year Forbes had them valued dead last in the NHL at 500 million...250 million less than 2nd worst Buffalo at 750 million. They don't even have an arena and the one they play in right now makes the team a complete loss of money.

That would be like paying full price for a new car that doesn't have an engine or transmission...who in their right mind would pay full price for that even if they have an engine and transmission sitting at home?

Seems to me that Forbes is totally out of touch. 650 million was the price of entry 7 years ago. 650 million in 2017 is 825 million after inflation. Odds are anyone wanting to buy them wants to relocate, so not being locked into a stadium deal is probably a positive to most prospective buyers. If they sell, the price will be closer to a billion than a half a billion. It’s not about the Coyotes, it’s about the exclusivity of owning an NHL franchise.

I do agree that Forbes is out of touch since they have the Wings an original 6 storied franchise with a new arena at 15th for 1.2 billion right behind an expansion team like Seattle.

Like i said though, anyone that pays anywhere near a billion for the Yotes has more money than brains. They have accomplished nothing since moving there and they have nothing, not even a place to play in. Their Coyotes brand is worthless and if moved is sure to be changed so anyone buying them is just buying the actual player contracts and rights...nothing more. You'd have to be crazy to pay top dollar for that. Sens sold for under 1 billion and they have an arena along with a project to possibly build not only a new arena downtown but a district around it and they weren't losing money like crazy like Arizona.

[DelHowLich]

Sens had at least 50MM (or was it 500MM) in debt the new owner had to pay, that is why Ryan Reynolds and snoop Dog teams dropped out when they learned this!

[dcz28]

Sens had at least 50MM (or was it 500MM) in debt the new owner had to pay, that is why Ryan Reynolds and snoop Dog teams dropped out when they learned this!

That was because Melnyk bought the team on a credit card so to speak. He didn't have the cash to pay it all his money was tied up in businesses. He ended up losing some businesses and ended up divorced which he also lost a lot on. Then he started leveraging the team for money to try and start new businesses. Melnyk didn't even pay 200 million for the Sens and the arena so how do you think the team ended up with that much debt even though he gutted the entire front office and cut cost as much as he possibly could.

I don't really know the details of this last sale as i didn't look into it but i doubt they paid the debt on top of the price they paid. I assume the debt was part of the price and was paid on sale of the team.