Greg Jamison to close with NHL; Announce deal at Oilers game Wednesday night
By Troy Baker
Today will be a very happy day for some and a very sad day for others. If all goes well the Coyotes will celebrate a win tonight with an actual owner.
Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports
The days have been hectic of late with no progress at least publicly on the Coyotes sale from the NHL to Greg Jamison’s group of mysterious investors. All that changed in the past 24 hours. What you believe from here on is up to you. A lot of data to decipher.
Rumors and facts are running rampant on social media. Canadians are freaking out as they still hold faint hope they could poach someone’s team. Coyotes fans are sitting on egg shells hoping all the news is true and in fact a deal will be struck before Thursday’s deadline.
This is what we do know: Greg Jamison will make an announcement to reveal the end of this Coyotes ownership saga. If Gary Bettman is indeed on his way to the valley tomorrow around noon then it is unlikely it would be to drop a bomb on Jobing.com and it’s fans. Rock and Manuch reported based on their sources the Coyotes will stay in Glendale and the deal will close on time. No a guy on twitter with 5 followers is not their source. Mike Sunnucks wrote he had several sources which all but one had them closing on Wednesday night while the other stated early Thursday. My thoughts are they will do it either before or during the Oilers game tonight at 7pm.
Rumors have the Board of Governors meeting to ratify the deal but I’m hearing more details will be finalized this morning. Some notes of contention is the fact Jamison owns part of the San Jose Sharks still. There are rules in place that limits someone from owning (I believe over 10%) so much of more than one team. If this is the case he may have to figure the details to get under the requirement with San Jose. This may have been what has stalled this progress for weeks. When you’re talking of multiple moving pieces and investors it doesn’t happen overnight.
What’s at stake? If Jamison does not close Thursday, the deal in principal will be nullified, and the new Glendale City Council will not extend him and most likely not be willing to make another deal remotely close.
We shall see in about 15 hours. Until then Twitter should be interesting.