The City of Glendale has until Monday to pay $25M to the NHL "to cover this season's Phoenix Coyotes losses," according to Rebekah Sanders of the ARIZONA REPUBLIC. The NHL sent a bill to the city Tuesday showing that "actual losses for eight months ending in March totaled" $36.6M. Glendale "promised the NHL last year that it would set aside $25 million from a utilities-repair account to pay team losses in exchange for more time to land a team owner" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 4/28). Meanwhile, Sanders reported USA Basketball Chair and former Suns Chair Jerry Colangelo "did not meet recently" with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman "to talk about the Phoenix Coyotes staying in Glendale." Colangelo said that he "called Bettman a few days ago to invite him" to the Global Sports Summit in Aspen this summer. He added that in the course of the conversation, he and Bettman "touched on the hockey franchise's fate." But Colangelo said, "I don't have a role other than to be supportive" of the team remaining in the Valley (AZCENTRAL.com, 4/26).
THRASHERS TO WINNIPEG? Sources said that if a "deal is made to keep the Coyotes in Glendale, there's a chance the Thrashers will move quickly into negotiations" with True North Sports & Entertainment "to move the team to Winnipeg" (TSN.ca, 4/28). In Winnipeg, Gary Lawless cites a source as saying the Thrashers' owners, Atlanta Spirit, "want to sell and they have no options other than Winnipeg." The source: "If the NHL gives Spirit the green light to sell to Winnipeg, the team will sell in the neighbourhood of $145 million, with the NHL taking its cut off the top for a relocation fee and Spirit receiving somewhere around $100 million. That's more than they can expect to get from a group that wants to keep the team here. The team is a financial disaster and no one wants to touch it" (WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, 4/28). Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz yesterday said that the Coyotes are "likely staying in Arizona, so Winnipeg should start looking for a different team." Katz: "Do I believe the Coyotes are coming to Winnipeg? My answer would be no. I believe the Coyotes will stay in Phoenix. I happen to know some of the commitments that were made when they went there, and there were commitments that, if they were not fulfilled, there could easily be a lawsuit." Katz added, "I think you have to start looking at some of the other potential franchises" (WINNIPEG SUN, 4/28).
