Last Monday, Spirit of Manitoba Chair Alan Sweatman told
Winnipeggers that months of work failed to raise the money needed
to keep NHL hockey alive in Winnipeg and it is time to "pull the
plug" on efforts to keep the team and build an arena. Sweatman's
admission was just over three months after the community rallied
to save the team. In early May, the Manitoba Entertainment
Complex, which had negotiated for months to purchase the club
from Barry Shenkarow, also failed. Today, THE SPORTS BUSINESS
DAILY reviews key dates in the last three months of the Jets saga
(Unless noted, the WINNIPEG FREE PRESS is the source).
May 1: Shenkarow's May 1 deadline to sell the Jets to the
MEC comes and goes without an successful offer.
May 2: Sources tell the FREE PRESS that the team could be
sold to MN investors "as early as tomorrow." The team plays its
final regular season game, a 2-1 loss to the L.A. Kings, during
which Shenkarow says for the team to survive it needs a new arena
to play in rent-free. Winnipeg fans boo during the playing of
the U.S. National Anthem.
May 3: MEC Chair John Loewen announces that his group has
given after trying to raise C$32M to buy the team and get an
arena plan. Loewen: "This is going to hurt for a while but the
facts are the NHL is not prepared to make hockey a viable sport
in small-market cities like Winnipeg." Shenkarow gives MN buyers
48 hours to submit an offer.
May 14: As a group led by MN businessman Richard Burke
struggles to put an offer together, a plan by Shenkarow to keep
the team in Winnipeg surfaces. A group made up of many MEC
members formed under the leadership of media mogul Izzy Asper
readies a plan to purchase the team's private shares (except
Shenkarow's), pay off debts and set up a reserve to cover future
losses. City, Provincial and Federal governments will each come
up with C$37M for a new arena. Asper notes chances for success
are "remote."
May 15: As Asper's group pleads for public donations, a
grassroots effort has everyone from schoolchildren to strippers
donating money to the Jets cause.
May 16: Asper tells the city council he has C$62M in
pledges and actual donations as 35,000 rally downtown.
May 17: The City Council votes 13-3 to pick up their C$37M
arena share, at a meeting called a "steel cage match."
May 19: Shenkarow refuses the low offer by Asper's group,
instead agreeing to sell the team to MN investors. The Canadian
government threatens legal action to make Shenkarow repay C$13M
in losses they covered.
May 23: Shenkarow, "unnerved" by the government's threats,
formulates a plan to keep the team in Winnipeg. June 9: After
weeks of squabbling and speculation, the group, now calling
themselves the Spirit of Manitoba, makes a formal offer to buy
the Jets' private shares for C$32M.
June 16: Spirit puts down a C$10M deposit, and are told
they must pay C$22M by August 10 to complete deal.
June 26: Spirit presents a plan for the City Council to
give contributors tax breaks.
July 6: Shenkarow says there is still a chance the team
could move before next season. NHL sources say they could be
headed for Nashville, Oklahoma City or Twin Cities.
July 14: Asper cites unhappiness with internal squabbling
among Spirit members and hints he may pull out. July 19:
Spirit calls on citizens to back their C$61M in pledges and come
up with an additional C$20M before the August 15 deadline.
July 24: Spirit now says they need C$80M by August 15.
July 27: The City Council defeats a measure to grant charitable
tax status to contributors to the team.
August 8: Spirit says they don't have enough time to raise
necessary funds by August 15, and will give up quest if deadline
is not extended to August 31.
August 10: City Council approves Spirit's business plans,
while some Spirit members say they would rather give up than ask
for an extension.
August 11: Spirit admits they are C$20M short of C$80M
goal, withdraws request for extension of deadline.
August 14: Spirit Chair Sweatman declares the effort over
and says it is time to "pull the plug" on the effort to save the
Jets. The city of Winnipeg is left holding the bag for the
team's operating losses, which could total up to C$30M, for the
next two seasons -- or as long as they stay. IF THAT ISN'T
ENOUGH: In today's FREE PRESS, Paul Samyn notes that Manitoba
taxpayers "could be on the hook" for another C$400,000 as the
province and the Jets struggle over who gets the interest on the
C$5M contribution Manitoba made to Spirit (WINNIPEG FREE PRESS,
8/18). In Nashville, Jeff Legwold reports that Nashville's
pursuit of an NHL franchise "has not cooled." A spokesperson for
Nashville Mayor Phil Bredesen said the city is "extremely
interested" in getting an NHL or NBA team, but as of Tuesday,
they had not heard from the Jets (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 8/16).
