The "attendance-challenged, heavily indebted" Devils missed their Sept. 1 loan payment, giving their lenders a "breakaway chance to push the team into bankruptcy," according to a source cited by Josh Kosman of the N.Y. POST. The team’s "financial hardships could also affect Newark’s four-year-old Prudential Center." Team-owned Devils Arena Entertainment operates the building and "guarantees the Devils’ loans and, therefore, is in danger of also going bankrupt." Two issues are "complicating matters." Principal Owner Jeff Vanderbeek and co-Owner Ray Chambers, each of whom owns 47% of the franchise, "are on the outs." Chambers, through his Brick City Hockey unit, "has been trying to sell his non-controlling stake in the franchise for a year." But the efforts of Chambers and Baltimore-based investment bank Moag & Co. "have been unsuccessful, despite, a source said, cutting their asking price 20 percent to $200 million." Additionally, Vanderbeek's relationship with the lenders is "frosty." A source said that the Devils "have told their banks to get lost." A source said, "You have a bank group that wants nothing to do with Vanderbeek."The Devils’ "past-due loan payment of roughly $100 million is owed to a CIT-led lending group." A source added that Devils Arena Entertainment "owes $180 million" (N.Y. POST, 9/12).
