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.
"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.
