TheSt. Louis Blues and Savvis Center have reportedly been
soldto Dave Checketts,a 49 year old from Utah,
Checkettsis the founder of Sports Capital Partners, and the
former president andCEOof Madison Square Garden and the New
York knicks. Checketts spentten years with Madison Square
garden, during that time Checketts also oversaw the New York Rangers of
the National Hockey League. T



Checketts has a long history in sports business, he became president of
the NBA'S Utah Jazz at just 28 yearsof age in 1984, becoming the
youngest executive ever in the history of the National Basketball
Association. Checketts has also worked along side NBA
commissioner David Stern back in 1990-1991as vice president
ofdevelopment in the NBA.



Checketts currently ownsa major league soccer team , as well as a
mortgage company in salt lake city. He recently offered to
purchase the Los AngelesDodgers for a reported $650 Million from
then owner Rupert Murdoch.



The St. Louis Blueswill not comment at this point, now word on when the transaction will be made official.



Checketts has a sports background in both Basketball and the National
Hockey League. He started the highly successful MSG Network, and
has a history ofraking in revenue. He increased revenue by
550 % in his first year of running Madison Square Garden, in large part
due to raising Kicks and Rangers tix prices by 17%.Checketts won
numerous awards while running MSG.



Checketts won't hesitate to open up the wallet either. At one
point, the Knicks had the second highest payroll in the NBA, while the
Rangershad the highest salary in the NHL. While President
of the Knickshe handed out manyquestionable contracts,
including a 60 plus million dollar deal to a 38 year old Patrick
Ewing,a 100 million dollar deal to Alan Houston, signed head
coach Don Nelson to a five million dollar deal, Nelson lasted only 59
games that season. Checketts also bought out the
twentyeightmillion owed to grandma Ma' aka... Larry Johnson.



Checketts loves big names and likes to make a splash. He brought
PatRiley over to coach the Knicks, as well asMark Messier,
Wayne Gretzky, Glen Sather, and Mike Keenan to the Rangers, where
theywon a stanley cup. Blues General Manager Larry Pleau
was also with the Rangers at that time.



He drafted the legendary John Stockston and Karl Malone duo while
running the Utah Jazz. Checketts has a reputation of dropping the
hammer after taking over jobs. Shortly After taking over the
Jazz, Checketts fired eleven of the 17 members of upper level
management. Makes you wonder what the future of Mark Sauer and
Larry Pleau will be with the organization.



Checketts also has sometraces of controversyon his
record. He once denied trying to hire thenChicago Bulls
head coach Phil Jackson whileJeff Van Gundy wascoaching the
Knicks. Checketts later admitted to sneaking behindVan
Gundyin an effort to hire the hippie coach. He also signed
Latrell Sprewellafter Sprewell was reinstated by the NBA after
putting the choke hold on his coach P.J. Carlissimo. He also
hired Knicks dancers forKnick games which stirred some
controversy ( don't ask me why). Those who have worked for Checketts
have later made negative comments regarding Checketts, including Pat
Riley.



Checkettsalso played a huge part in reviving the legendary Radio
City Music Hall in New York City.He runs a syndicated
broadcasting company that airs college sports in the Mountain West
Conference and the Western Athletic Conference. Checketts
isa Graduate of both the University of Utah as well as BYU.
Checketts is the father of six children.





St. Louis Blues fans should be relieved to know that Checketts has
agreed to purchase the Savvis center as well, which should erase the
concern of the team being moved to anothercity. The big
question nowwill be if Checketts has intentions of
bringinga NBA franchise to the gateway city? He has a
building and a passion for the NBA, hmmm....this sounds familiar
doesn't it.





Like Iwrote several days ago, it appeared all the local's who
weresupposedly prepared to step up to the plate and buy the Blues
did in fact get cold feet.



This story just broke within the hour of me writing this blog.
You can be assured, more information willcontinue to be updated
on my blog as more becomes available.



More to come,



Andy Strickland



l

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