Grizzlies Owner Michael Heisley on Friday refuted reports that he will move the team after its five-year lease at GM Place is up and said that he "asked" Orca Bay Chair John McCaw during talks for the team if the arena was for sale, according to Howard Tsumura of the Vancouver PROVINCE. Tsumura noted that next season "signals the start of a five- year period during which [Heisley] will assess the viability" of the team, which he purchased for US$160M. Heisley: "No one in their right mind thinks that five years is an insignificant amount of time to make a decision on whether this franchise is going to be successful." Meanwhile, Heisley said that he has "made no commitment to the [NBA] or anybody else and (received) no restrictions from the league" regarding relocating the franchise (Vancouver PROVINCE, 4/16). Heisley, on the team's five- year GM Place lease: "[It has] nothing to do with whether I have a commitment to Vancouver or not (because) if we ain't made it in five years, then I promise you I will be gone" (VAN. SUN, 4/15). Heisley: "If you don't own the building, you want to hold your landlord to a very tight situation. If you went around the NBA and checked, you'd find most people that are tenants in a building have generally short- term leases with multiple options" (CP, 4/15). WELTS ON DECK? In Vancouver, Gary Kingston reports that former NBA/Fox exec Rick Welts is among candidates to run the business operations of the team (VANCOUVER SUN, 4/17). A HELPING HAND: The SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's Daniel Kaplan reports that SG Cowen "plans to lend" Heisley $80M to help buy the Grizzlies. As part of the loan covenants, Heisley's parent company Heico Co. "agreed to pay the club's operating losses." Heisley will also put $80M of his own equity toward the purchase (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 4/17).
