Phoenix Coyotes Hockey on AZ Vibe

Earlier this afternoon I spoke with Daryl Jones who is the Chief Operating Officer of Ice Edge Holdings about the status of the progress of the Ice Edge Holdings purchase of the Phoenix Coyotes. In addition, yesterday there was a rumor floating around that Ice Edge Holdings had withdrawn from the purchasing the Phoenix Coyotes. This too was also addressed.

Has Ice Edge withdrawn their offer to Purchase the Phoenix Coyotes?

No. We’re still involved with the process and (we’re) hopeful to close the deal

Can you sum up for Coyotes fans where everything stands now in regards to the purchase process?

We’re at where we’d expected to be in the process in terms of getting things done. This takes time. I don’t think we’re or behind or ahead of where we should be. It’s a matter of a lot of legal agreements to put in place that takes time to construct. It’s going to come down to, we think, the lease agreement that will probably be the most critical part of the deal. We’ve been working hand in hand with the City of Glendale for a while. We feel comfortable that we can consummate a good commercial relationship.

What are you looking for from the City of Glendale in terms of the lease?

I would think that’s not probably appropriate to get into the specifics. The revenue streams are such the leases that are typical for any lease that’s really what we’re looking for.

When it comes to the Negotiations with the City of Glendale, has Gift Clause of the Arizona State constitution been a challenge in said negotiations?

We understand they have to abide by that clause. It really hasn’t been a challenge. They really can’t get around it. Anything that we structure…any partnership that we structure has to obviously abide by any relevant law.

Is the Ice Edge group prepared to accept the amount of years in the lease?

Our intention would be to fulfill the duration of the lease, which is 26 years. If we’re successful in closing the deal it should keep the Coyotes here for a while, yeah. The bottom line is this is a great hockey product that we’re seeing this year (it’s) something that sports fans and hockey fans should be excited about right now.

On the Fan 950 a few days ago, you stated that the Coyotes would lose $20 million this year. Does that figure include revenue sharing and playoff revenues?

That was a number that the NHL used in one of their court filings. I don’t know. My guess that it would not include playoff revenue just because it hasn’t happened already. I don’t think they’re going to project for something that you can’t really project for at this point. It was me just re-stating what the NHL had stated in court filings. (So) that does not include playoff revenue.
The team is not nearly as in bad shape as people think it is. Just doing simple math… If they (the Coyotes) had the same attendance last year that they have this year that would probably get you seven or eight million more in revenue. You get down to a loss of $12 million before playoffs add to that whatever you think you can get more for parking it could be 4 or 5 million. All of a sudden, you have a loss of 7 million. The bottom line is this not a team, franchise or market that needs to lose in the future…. in the 30-50 million dollar range like they have in the past.

At what point will Ice Edge walk away from the deal?

When we don’t think that there is a deal to be done. We’re putting our own money into this, we have investors that are putting money in and banks that who are willing to back us. If we looked at it (and said) ‘You know what? We can’t make money on this, we’re not moving forward’ that’s when we would walk away.