CT Gov. John Rowland "said he has made his best offer"
to keep the Whalers in Hartford, "and now the team's owners
must decide whether to stay," according to Christopher
Keating of the HARTFORD COURANT. In his first public
comments after three meetings in seven days with Whalers
Owner Peter Karmanos, Rowland said he "expects Karmanos to
respond within the next week" to the state's latest proposal
to build the team a new arena. Rowland: "It's really up to
them to make a business decision about whether to stay or
not." Karmanos: "The next step is for me to get back to
(Rowland) and we will negotiate from there." The COURANT's
Keating reports that one of the "biggest stumbling blocks in
the negotiations is believed to be finding a way to cover
the Whalers' financial losses" while the arena is being
built. With an arena taking 2-3 years to complete, losses
pegged at $15M a year could amount to $45M before the new
arena opens. Whalers President Jim Rutherford, on a
decision timetable: "I don't think there's a drop-dead date
... we'll all have a better idea where everything stands in
10 to 14 days" (HARTFORD COURANT, 3/14).
