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Coyotes Sold!! - Also Going to Play Hockey Tonight |
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The Coyotes have been sold.
Hedge fund billionaire and apparent hockey-ownership fetishist Andrew Barroway has purchased 51% of the team for $155 million dollars. After attempting to first purchase nearly every other NHL franchise, Barroway finally gets to own an NHL team. Hey, it's the first thing I would do if I became a billionaire too!
This news brings both good and bad tidings. Although, it's almost all good.
The Good:
Beyond the obvious infusion of cash, the best thing about this sale is that it makes it virtually guaranteed that the Coyotes will stay in Arizona as long as there is an NHL.
The out clause, which says the team can move in five years if losses meet or exceed $50 million, would now seem to be impossible to act on. Rumours have circulated that the Coyotes lost almost half of that in year one. Ice Arizona - the current owners - have said that number is inaccurate, but how much can you believe someone when the answer they give is one in which they have every reason to biased towards giving?
For fans of the team, hearing they lost 24/50 in the first year is unsettling.
This, however, should put those nightmares to rest because regardless of whether or not the team lost that much money last year 1 thing is apparent:
Claiming losses of $50 million will be difficult considering Ice Arizona bought 100% of the team for $170 million dollars and then resold 51% of it for $155 only a year later. Now, math isn't my strongest subject, but it would seem to me that Ice Arizona just bought 49% of a hockey team for $15 million dollars.
No matter how you want to break down the profits of the franchise, it will be pretty hard show a loss of $50 million when the value of the franchise seems to have nearly doubled in a single year.
Assuming the NHL approves this sale, I think it's safe to say the Coyotes are now a permanent fixture in Arizona. If Barroway tries to move the team, it would seem to me that as long as the city of Glendale and/or the NHL can afford to hire a lawyer at least as competent as Lionel Hutz, the team won't be going anywhere.
As well as putting to rest rumours of a move, this deal should also allow the franchise to operate like a real team. Clearly they continue to make moves no financially stable team would make and we can now rest easy knowing they will no longer do things like trading for the Martin Erats of the world because their cap-hit exceeds their actual salary. No more sending players back to junior for an unnecessary fourth year so that you can keep him on an ECL longer. No more hovering above the salary cap floor.
This deal should be provide the franchise with a massive infusion of cash and allow them to play on an even playing field with the rest of the NHL.
The Bad
Unless Andrew Barroway turns out to be a villain from a Batman movie (admittedly a possibility with most billionaires) this move is 100% positive for the Coyotes. Owners with deeper pockets and an infusion of cash to the league's poorest franchise who also had probably the least wealthy owners are nothing but positives.
The only bad thing about this move is that I am not talking about hockey right now, but rather finances and hedge funds (which are sketchy by the way, look it up). Oh well, I'm willing to forgo the standard game preview if it means we can now sign free agents and spend to the cap. Look at what the Islanders accomplished last week with their cap-space and imagine the Coyotes making similar moves. (They did get Gagner that way, but that and the Ribeiro move where a pretty unusual situation I imagine they made because they felt they had no other options).
This is a great day for the Coyotes, who, by the way, will also play the Kings tonight. It will be interesting to see how the team responds after playing pretty lousy in the first game of the season the other night. The Kings lost their opener too, so both teams should come out pretty hungry for this one.
The NHL has all 30 teams in action tonight and if there is ever a night when it pays to have spent the $250 to have NHL Centre Ice, this is it. Gonna be a fun night, see you in the morning. (or the comments section).
Thanks for reading.
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