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ELLMAN FACES $10M QUESTION; STRACHAN SAYS DEAL COULD BREAK

          Today is the deadline for AZ real estate developer
     Steve Ellman to make an initial payment of $10M to Coyotes
     Owner Richard Burke for the team and Burke tells Scutari &
     McManaman of the ARIZONA REPUBLIC he remains "confident"
     that the $87M deal will get done.  Burke: "I totally expect,
     after conversations [yesterday] with Steve and others, that
     this will get done [today] as scheduled."  Meanwhile, Wayne
     Gretzky said yesterday that he is still weighing Ellman's
     offer to become an investor in the team: "Some moments I
     wake up and think, `Wow, this is the right thing to do,' and
     then other times I sit back and say, `Well, maybe it's not
     the right time'" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 5/26). ESPN.com's Nancy
     Marrapese-Burrell wrote that Gretzky joining the NHL's
     ownership ranks "could be the most substantial boost to that
     side since expansion payments.  You simply can't buy that
     type of credibility" (ESPN.com, 5/25).
          DEAL IN JEOPARDY? But in Toronto, Al Strachan writes
     that "barring a financial miracle," Gretzky "will not become
     a part" of the Coyotes ownership group.  Strachan adds that
     "it seems quite possible" that the proposed sale of the team
     to Ellman "will collapse," allowing Blazers/Seahawks Owner
     Paul Allen to buy the Coyotes and move them to Portland. 
     Strachan, who writes that there is a "50-50" chance that
     Ellman will make the $10M payment today: "Since the deal has
     been pending for months and Ellman has been unable to raise
     sufficient extra capital, it is likely that the proposal
     will collapse. ... Reliable sources said that the Coyotes'
     debt load, combined with a lack of an imminent return on the
     investment makes the deal unattractive" (TORONTO SUN, 5/26). 
     

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