Islanders suitor Bob Gutkowski has met with SFX
Entertainment to "discuss the possibility of a joint
venture" to buy out the team's "hindering" Nassau Coliseum
lease from SMG, according to Barry Baum of the N.Y. POST.
The potential partnership would reunite Gutkowski and SFX,
which acquired The Marquee Group from Gutkowski last year.
A source "close to the situation" said that an SFX-Gutkowski
pairing is "not to a point where anything is defined." But
another source said SFX "would not be involved in buying or
running" the club because that would be left to Gutkowski
and his purchase partners. Instead, SFX would be involved
in building a new arena on the 70-acre plot where the
current one stands. A "high-ranking" SMG representative
said that Gutkowski's group "doesn't have the money needed
to buy out SMG's lease," which runs until 2015. Gutkowski
denies the claim and maintains that SMG is being
"inflexible" in negotiations (N.Y. POST, 2/11).
ALMOST HOME: In N.Y., Richard Sandomir cites sources as
saying that YankeeNets' $175M purchase of the Devils "could
be completed by the end of the month" (N.Y. TIMES, 2/11).
