NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly yesterday confirmed that the league had “rejected a purchase bid” for the Coyotes submitted by Capstone Affluent Strategies Founder & CEO Darin Pastor on Friday, according to Craig Morgan of FOXSPORTSARIZONA.com. A source said that “one key sticking point was that Pastor’s bid financed the deal over a 15-year period while the league expects the entire deal to be completed within a three-to-five-year window, with the expected price still listed” between $150-170M. Pastor “submitted a proposal that was believed to include the highest total purchase price currently offered for the team, less annual commitment from the City of Glendale to manage Jobing.com Arena and an option to purchase the arena over a period of time.” Sources said that the “maximum amount Pastor’s group was willing to pay for the team was about” $277.5M, while the group was “asking for either $8 million annually from Glendale to manage the arena or 5 percent less than the lowest other bid.” A source said that Pastor “does not view Monday's setback as the end of his bidding process; the group will be reworking the numbers to see if it can arrive at a bid that will satisfy the league, including a shorter time frame for purchase” (FOXSPORTSARIZONA.com, 5/13). Pastor spokesperson Ryan Hall last week said that Pastor had “assembled an investment group composed mostly of family members” (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 5/14).
NEXT IN LINE: ESPN.com’s Scott Burnside wrote Pastor has “joined a long list of would-be Phoenix Coyotes suitors whose interest in owning the team could not translate to an actual money-on-the-table purchase.” Pastor, whose “family has hockey connections in the Buffalo area, emerged within the past month or so as a potential purchaser of the team.” It is “believed that investors with the former Ice Edge Group led by" Renaissance Sports & Entertainment Principal Anthony LeBlanc and AltaCorp. Capital Chair & CEO George Gosbee "remain the front-runners in being able to close a deal with the league to purchase the team" for $170M (ESPN.com, 5/13).
