Eighteen days after he put forth a two-to-three-week timeline for

closing the deal, prospective Coyotes owner Greg Jamison had nothing new

to report when we caught up with him on Thursday.

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“We’re working to finish this,” he said. “We’re aware of the deadline, and we know what we have to do to get it to the finish.”

After

approving a $308 million arena management deal in late November, the

Glendale City Council gave Jamison until Jan. 31 to buy the team — a

deadline Jamison still believes is firm. That gives him one week to

close the deal.

Jamison still needs approval from the NHL Board

of Governors, but that is widely viewed as a mere formality if he can

bring the rest of the deal’s many moving parts to the finish line,

including his investors.

It’s been an arduous and long process

for Jamison, whose name first surfaced nearly a year ago. He’s faced

challenges assembling investors and securing financing, he’s faced legal

road blocks from citizens groups and the ever-watchful eye of the

Goldwater Institute, he’s faced the uncertainty of Glendale politics —

and then the league and players threw a lockout at him.

One thing

he has tried to avoid is a string of updates providing a very public

view of the sales process. As he has stated multiple times, that is

simply not his style. As a shrewd and experienced businessman, he

prefers an understated approach. In other words, when there’s something

to report, he’ll report it.

In all our conversations with him, he

has consistently outlined the possibility that this deal may not

happen. But again, that is his experience as a businessman talking, not

his concern that the deal will fall through.

He remains

confident it will happen. He understands Coyotes fans would like some

assurances, but with a week left, those will come in short order.

Given the way the Coyotes roll, however, we may not know until Jan. 30 or Jan. 31.