There are plenty of things that happen in this world that just don’t add up. Consider for a moment the curious case of the Phoenix Coyotes. For the past 13 years they’ve been trying, albeit unsuccessfully, to sell hockey to the residents of the Arizona desert. But despite their best efforts, success has eluded the Coyotes both on the ice and on the balance sheet.
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Four Groups Step Forward to Purchase Coyotes
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↵Yet, despite this unenviable track record, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has managed to line up not one, not two, not three, but four separate prospective ownership groups who are willing to keep the team in the same city in which it has already lost more millions than I care to count. And he’s done it while the world is supposedly in the midst of the worst economic conditions since the 1970s.↵↵It’s a magic trick even Houdini himself couldn’t have pulled off in his prime.↵
↵↵So who’s in line? Most prominent is Jerry Reinsdorf, owner of the Chicago White Sox and the Chicago Bulls. Next up are Howard Sokolowski and David Cynamon, the owners of the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts. A third group is headed by Coyotes minority owner John Breslow, while a fourth group has decided to remain anonymous for now.↵
↵↵To get to the point in business where you have enough money to purchase a professional sports franchise takes smarts, guts and a lot of luck -- and I don’t want to minimize how much business savvy and hard work have to do with it. With that mind, here’s my question: What do the members of these four groups know about hockey in Phoenix that the rest of us don’t, and what can they possibly do to sell the game in a market that hasn’t already been tried?↵
↵↵I’ll be waiting. In the meantime, Jim Balsillie, a man who you would think could be an ideal NHL owner, is still on the outside looking in.↵
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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.
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