Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 16/5/2010 (3790 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The NHL and the city of Glendale have not reached a contract and there remains a "disconnect" between the two parties according to Ice Edge Holdings partner Daryl Jones.



Jones told the Free Press on Sunday that he and his partners, or anyone else interested in buying the Phoenix Coyotes from the NHL, are on hold until a deal is made between the NHL and the city of Glendale.



Glendale city council voted last Tuesday to give city manager Ed Beasley the authority to negotiate a deal with the NHL in order to satisfy conditions the league has demanded be met in order to prevent them from relocating the team. Chief among those conditions is that the city agree and put in place financial mechanisms to cover any operating losses incurred by the Coyotes should the NHL be forced to operate the team next season.



"This is coming down to the 11th hour. The NHL needs to basically have the $25 million the city agreed to in an account where they can draw the money down when they need it. The city wants to control the money and what it is dispersed for. There’s a real disconnect at this point," said Jones, who has been involved in negotiations with both the city and the NHL in an attempt to purchase the team and operate it out of Glendale’s Jobing.com Arena. "The NHL is focused solely on trying to get a deal with the city right now. So no one is having negotiations with the NHL as far as purchasing the team goes. I received an email from the NHL this weekend saying they still don’t have a deal."



The NHL purchased the Coyotes out of bankruptcy last fall and operated them last season with operation losses in the neighbourhood of US$30 million.



The NHL has a deadline of June 30 to move the Coyotes out of Phoenix without penalty as per the bankruptcy judgement set down by Judge Redfield T. Baum.



True North Sports and Entertainment has been in negotiations with the NHL to purchase the Coyotes in the event the league elected to relocate the team. The NHL and True North agreed upon a deadline of last Friday to consummate their deal and it passed with the NHL still hoping to solve its problems in the desert.