It's official Thrashers to Winnipeg

Illegal Curve

The NHL will officially will now only be about 150 miles from Grand Forks, ND. I believe one reader told me I was out of touch and delusional if I thought that the NHL would make it's return to Winnipeg, Manitoba. I guess I wasn't delusional after all. The vote to move the Thrashers to Winnipeg was unanimous as well. For all of you're Jets news visit the Illegal Curve blog.

NEW YORK (AP) —Don Waddell has been through it all with the Atlanta Thrashers since they entered the NHL in 1999.

From general manager to coach to team president, Waddell endured the ups and downs—mostly downs—as the franchise struggled on and off the ice.

After 13 years and only one playoff appearance that produced no wins, Tuesday was the day for Waddell and Atlanta to finally say goodbye to its second hockey team.

The NHL board of governors unanimously approved the sale and relocation of the Thrashers to Winnipeg, Manitoba, on Tuesday, clearing the final big hurdle in the process.

“We’ve been through the emotions and the frustrations the last few weeks, but when I look back and being there 13 years, it’s been a great run,” said Waddell, who served as general manager from the start until the 2009-10 season. “Since ’98 when I got hired, there are only four general managers that are currently with their teams.

“You’ve got to look at the positives. To be able to stay in one place for so long, it’s been tremendous for me.”

The same can’t be said of the team that once featured star players such as Dany Heatley(notes) and Ilya Kovalchuk(notes) and Marian Hossa(notes), but couldn’t keep them for one reason or another.

True North Sports and Entertainment bought the team last month and announced it was bringing the Thrashers to Winnipeg, which lost the Jets to Phoenix after the 1995-96 season.

“Obviously, everybody is sorry and distressed and unhappy that we found ourselves in the circumstance where our franchise was leaving Atlanta,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “We’re particularly sorry for the fans that are there, but obviously based on the reception that we’ve gotten, everybody is extremely excited about the opportunities in Winnipeg for our return.”

Thrashers, Atlanta were never given a chance

Image via Wikipedia Here is an interesting perspective from Atlanta.

Jeff Schultz; AJC.COM --- This is how it ends: With the weasel of a commissioner not stepping foot in the city, with another season passing without a playoff game, with a lying ownership group maintaining it did all it could to save a franchise that in reality it spent most of seven years wrecking.

Atlanta has lost an NHL expansion team to a Canadian outpost for the second time. The Thrashers are going to Winnipeg just like the Flames went to Calgary in 1980. A noon press conference today is expected to make this long, slow death official.

This isn’t about the fans or the market or certainly Gary Bettman’s fictional “covenant” with fans, which I believe he left in the same sock drawer with his conscience. It’s about greed and abandonment, plain and simple. It’s about a disingenuous ownership group, which had long lost any semblance of credibility, serving up fans swill and gruel and then wondering why the turnstiles sleep at night.

They’ll tell you they care. They don’t. They’re walking away with a fat check. While you mourn the loss of a franchise, they’re waving goodbye with one middle finger.

The NHL is leaving a city that never really was given a chance. It’s going back to a city that it left 15 years ago and that has grown by about 60,000 people and a couple of doughnut shops since. They will be discussing this decision one day at business schools, right after the sections on Charles Ponzi and Enron.

Winnipeg group schedules news conference to announce NHL franchise acquisition

Today is a good day for the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba. I had said in the past that the NHL would be making a come back in Winnipeg it was just a matter of time and I had many readers of this blog say that it was never going to happen.

WINNIPEG - The waiting is over for Winnipeg hockey fans.

True North Sports and Entertainment has scheduled a news conference for noon ET at Winnipeg's MTS Centre to make "a significant community announcement."

True North has been in negotiations with the owners of the Atlanta Thrashers to buy the NHL team and move it to Winnipeg.

Winnipeg has been without NHL hockey since the Jets moved to Phoenix in 1996.

Atlanta is saying goodbye to an NHL franchise for the second time. The Flames moved from Atlanta to Calgary in 1980.

The NHL was unable to find an owner who wants to keep the team in Atlanta.

The MTS Centre has been home to the American Hockey league's Manitoba Moose. Both the team and arena are owned by True North, whose ownership includes Canadian billionaire David Thomson.

True North Sports was founded by chairman Mark Chipman.

Chipman is president and chief executive of Winnipeg-based Megill Stephenson Co. Ltd. and director of the Hockey Canada Foundation.

Opened in 2004 with the Moose, the farm team for the NHL's Vancouver Canucks, as its anchor tenant, the 15,000-seat MTS Centre cost $133.5 million to build, including $40.5 million in public money.

The arena is small by NHL standards with 15,015 seats _ that's 1,159 fewer than Nassau Coliseum, where the New York Islanders play.

Atlanta finished 25th in the 30-team league with a 34-36-12 record and missed the playoffs last season.

It's been a long wait for Winnipeg fans.

Jet diehards kept the spirit of the team alive on websites and chatrooms, lobbying for a team and keeping track of Jets alumni like Bobby Hull, Thomas Steen and Dale Hawerchuk.

Earlier this year it appeared Winnipeg was about to get its own franchise back, but last-minute subsidies and deal-making kept the red-ink-stained Coyotes in Arizona

But just as the Coyote door closed, the Thrasher one opened.

Related articles

• Winnipeg group schedules news conference to announce NHL franchise acquisition (thehockeynews.com)
• Expect Winnipeg to welcome NHL today at noon (thestar.com)
• Winnipeg cheers return of NHL (cbc.ca)
• True North set to announce Winnipeg NHL deal (cbc.ca)
• NHL team on way to Winnipeg (cbc.ca)

Announcement coming soon?

It looks like the Thrasher are coming to Winnipeg and we will should have an announcement soon, might even be on Tuesday. For all of the news related to the NHL’s return to Winnipeg stop by our friends at the Illegal Curve for all of the news.

TSN.CA --- The Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg situation has narrowed to a point where it's quite possible there could be an announcement as early as Tuesday.

Lawyers on the Winnipeg side have signed off on the deal and the Atlanta legal team is doing their due diligence today. If they sign off on the deal, the sale will go through, pending league approval.

If there is no announcement Tuesday, the next likely target would be Thursday.

Once an agreement has been reached, True North is expected to launch a season ticket drive.

Links to the Story

Thrashers-to-Winnipeg deal draws closer [AJC.COM]

Toews likes NHL in Manitoba [CBC.CA]

Cool your Jets - root for 'Canada's Team'No love for Canucks - it's all 'B.C. sucks' [Winnipeg Free Press]

Can the NHL survive in smaller markets in Canada?

In reading that article my first question is; are we to believe from reading this article that NHL is better off struggling in markets like Phoenix and Atlanta than the small Canadian markets like Quebec City and Winnipeg. Some my next question would be; are we to glean from the article that it would be a down grade if one of these two Canadian cities were able to have an NHL franchise again?

Let’s break this down further; the Phoenix Coyotes drew an unimpressive average of 12,208 fans per game this past season, this ranked the Coyotes 29th out of 30 teams. Also, the Atlanta Thrashers were a little better, but not much, as the Thrashers averaged an also unimpressive figure of 13,403 fans per game, that’s good enough for 27th out of 30 teams… If you don’t’ believe me click on the attendance number yourself and look at the numbers.

OTTAWA, May 4 /CNW/ - The market conditions in Québec City and Winnipeg have improved since National Hockey League (NHL) franchises left about 15 years ago— but both cities face additional challenges to make new NHL teams sustainable, The Conference Board of Canada concludes in its third publication on the pro sports market in Canada.

"Compared to the mid-1990s, when their respective teams departed, Quebec City and Winnipeg have higher populations and increased per capita disposable income, and Canadian franchises enjoy a loonie at parity with its U.S. counterpart. The prospective teams in both Quebec City and Winnipeg would unquestionably be in small markets, but the NHL's player salary cap would give them a chance to stay competitive with teams in larger cities," said Mario Lefebvre, Director, Centre for Municipal Studies, and co-author of The Four Market Pillars at Work: The Case of the Quebec Nordiques and Winnipeg Jets.

"Whether the overall conditions are sufficient to bring back a team to the passionate fans in either city remains debatable. Quebec City has a very small corporate presence. Winnipeg's fans would face a challenge of supporting both NHL and Canadian Football League teams. Overcoming these hurdles will require a lot of work and dedication from all stakeholders."

The Conference Board's previous publication in its Playing in the Big Leagues series identified four market factors - market size, income levels, corporate presence and a level-playing field - that help to explain why NHL teams departed from Quebec and Winnipeg in 1995 and 1996, respectively.

Both the Québec City and Winnipeg Census Metropolitan Areas now have populations over 750,000 - they both stood at roughly 680,000 in the mid-1990s. As discussed in the previous briefing in this series, Defining the Market Conditions for Success, the Conference Board estimates that the population of a market must match the potential total number of tickets sold in a season. Thus, a successful NHL franchise in Canada requires a minimum population of approximately 800,000 people. This conclusion is based on a review of the sports economics literature and the Conference Board's hypothesis on key market-based factors.

Income levels have also improved in both cities. Winnipeg moved from sixth in the 1990s to fifth in 2009, in terms of per capita income levels among Canada's nine largest cities (population wise). Québec City's per capita income ranking improved from eighth to seventh place during the same time period.

The biggest change in favour of a return of NHL teams to Canada is the evolution of a more level playing field. The Canadian dollar is now hovering around parity with its U.S. counterpart, and the Conference Board forecasts that the loonie will remain in that range for the foreseeable future. As a result, Canadian teams are no longer paying an exchange-rate premium on player salaries.

In addition, a player salary cap has been established. While the NHL could do more when it comes to revenue sharing, the salary cap gives some assistance to smaller-market franchises in competing with larger centres.

Are the Jets coming back to Winnipeg? - Coyotes deal on last leg, True North ready

All I can say is yes please!!! I am seeing a lot of things on the internet that seem to be pointing in that direction. Also, Nick Kypreos and Doug MacLean were discussing this very subject on 590 A.M. out of Toronto on how they've heard from multiple sources that the Phoenix Coyotes will relocate to Winnipeg as soon as they're been eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs, that would be awesome true. [Click to listen] I guess I am going to have to be a Redwings fan as well.

The NHL is preparing to hold a gun to the City of Glendale’s head and is again planning to use Winnipeg as the bullet.

Reports that Matthew Hulsizer’s $170-million bid to purchase the Phoenix Coyotes is dead may be premature but it appears there is only one chapter left to be played out in this saga.

Expect the next move to be the NHL’s. It will involve positioning the city of Winnipeg against Phoenix in a manner reminiscent of last spring’s leverage play by commissioner Gary Bettman.

Sports radio talk in Toronto on Wednesday had the deal in the desert near or at the end of the line and the Free Press has a Glendale source stating Hulsizer has pulled any concessions he’s made off the table and reverted to his original agreement with the NHL and City of Glendale.

The next move will be Bettman’s and it will likely come in the next five to 10 days. He'll need Winnipeg's help again and it's quite possible that talks between the league and True North have begun anew.

The NHL has painted itself into a bit of a corner by waiting this long to resolve the sale and now runs the risk of having to announce relocation of the franchise during a playoff run. It would be bad enough to make such an announcement in the first round but even worse to make it in the Stanley Cup final.

It’s unlikely Bettman will wait that long to pull the trigger. Expect the commissioner to get in front of this one in the latter stages of the opening round. Bettman will give Hulsizer and the City of Glendale one final crack at closing a deal.

Mark Chipman and his partner David Thomson are still interested in an NHL franchise they would bring to Winnipeg and operate out of the MTS Centre.

Playing stalking horse for the NHL a second time will, however, come with some strings says a U.S.-based attorney with experience in sports franchise transfer-of-ownership deals.

The lawyer, who has been involved in NBA and NHL relocations deals, demanded anonymity but said the next few steps will be common practice in terms of the league’s arrangement with True North.

TSN's McKenzie: We should get answers to our Coyotes question soon.

Yes Please...

Bob McKenzie, TSN --- Where will the Phoenix Coyotes be playing next season?

Well, since you asked, I will say it's more likely to be Winnipeg than Phoenix. That's my opinion.

I say probably, and qualify it as my "opinion," because all the factual information I can find says to me very clearly that no final or irrevocable decision on the future home of the Coyotes has yet been made by any of the three vested parties - the NHL, the City of Glendale and would-be (under the right circumstances) owner Matthew Hulsizer.

And if we have learned anything in this long and winding Coyotes' saga in Phoenix it is that it ain't over until one of three parties pulls out and says it's dead.

Could that happen? Sure, it could.

When might it happen? I don't know, it could be days or maybe a week or two or three. Months is certainly not a viable answer because if the Coyotes are going to relocate to Winnipeg or anywhere else, there is much that needs to be done to facilitate it both within the league and the new market as well.

NHL keeps Winnipeg waiting...

Photo from the Illegal Curve Hockey Blog

s/t Illegal Curve. I am not sure why the NHL is keeping Winnipeg waiting? Checkout this picture, they are not doing well in the stands in Glendale Arizona.

It is pretty clear, given the paltry attendance at Coyotes games over the years, that if NHL commissioner Gary Bettman decides in the next week the bond sale is never going to happen and announces the team is headed to Winnipeg, the Coyotes attendance will crater. The team is averaging an announced crowd of 11,664 fans per game right now, which is 29th among the NHL’s 30 teams. [Globe and Mail]

If the deal in the desert dies, reincarnation in Winnipeg won't be overnight

I have been following the Coyotes story in Phoenix and seeing how it’s playing out and I have to feel just a little bit hopeful that eventually either the Coyotes or the Thrasher are going to end up relocating in the city of Winnipeg, hopefully sooner rather than later… That being said it’s not going to happen overnight but eventually.

Winnipeg Free Press --- There will not be any announcement at Portage and Main this week to reveal news that the NHL is returning to Winnipeg.

If you're hoping for that — stop. You'll only be disappointed.

There is, however, a chance that the NHL will determine it has exhausted all avenues to keep the Phoenix Coyotes in Arizona and begin to look at other options.

Winnipeg, we have come to understand, is at the top of the list of those options. But even if NHL commissioner Gary Bettman picks up the phone and tells True North's Mark Chipman it's time to start talking about a potential purchase of the franchise for relocation -- there will still be the matter of a sale agreement to hash out as well as a blessing from the NHL's board of governors.

That's a lot of steps, so cool your, uh... sorry, jets.

Reports are swirling north and south of the border that the NHL is on the verge of either closing this sale or calling it dead.

Any announcement, if one is to come at all as a result of a collapsed sale of the Coyotes to Matthew Hulsizer, would be weeks or months away.

There's a process that would need to be executed and it requires work and time and lawyers and money.

Chipman's True North Sports and Entertainment has all of the above, but the machine has to be put into action before it can spit out an NHL franchise for the city of Winnipeg and we're unsure if it's even turned on or perhaps quietly idling.

Bettman remains tied to Phoenix at this point as the Coyotes are an official franchise of the NHL and he'll be looking behind every cactus for an answer that keeps the team in Glendale's Jobing.com Arena. He's been doing that for more than two years, so don't expect him to suddenly quit.

Bettman, it should be noted, is quite resourceful when it comes to digging up monied folks willing to invest in shaky sports franchises. So don't count him or this bizarre sale agreement in Glendale out.

The commish is still swinging and he can land an unexpected jab at any moment.

Why is Bettman working so hard to save this clunker? That's a question that's being asked all over the province and likely this country.

For starters, just because many of us are convinced a return of the NHL will work in Winnipeg, there are many others who don't believe. CBC's resident genius Mike Milbury ran off at the mouth on Saturday night suggesting Winnipeg, "will need a sugar daddy willing to lose $20 million a season."

Milbury was quickly shut down by ESPN's Pierre LeBrun and host Ron McLean, who apparently have done more homework on the subject, but the reality is many NHL types are still skeptics when it comes to Winnipeg.

ESPN; Delay of Coyotes sale has cascading effects

Hum, this is an interesting little news tidbit that just came across the Tweet Deck. Why do I get the feeling that the Desert Dogs are on life support in the Phoenix area? They can only fool around so long before the NHL is going to pull the plug on the Coyotes.

Scott Burnside, ESPN --- The trade deadline isn't the only deadline looming on the NHL landscape.

The City of Glendale, never quite on the same page as anyone else when it comes to getting the job done, failed to begin selling bonds to raise money that would go to Chicago businessman Matthew Hulsizer as part of an agreement on a new lease for Jobing.com Arena. That bond sale must go through before the lease agreement with Hulsizer is finalized, and that deal must be completed before the league will close on its sale of the Phoenix Coyotes to Hulsizer.

Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly told ESPN.com Friday that the league has established no deadline for the sale of the bonds and multiple sources familiar with the deal insist they expect the deal will close, just not as soon as had been anticipated.

One of the reasons for the delay in the bond sales, which were expected to be completed by this week, is the specter of a lawsuit by watchdog group the Goldwater Institute.

Goldwater threatened legal action because the deal may contravene state rules on subsidizing private businesses. If the monies committed by the City of Glendale are greater than what they would receive through parking revenues and other monies that would go to the city as part of the deal, it would break state rules.

It's not clear whether Goldwater will take the municipality to court if the deal is consummated.

While the NHL may not have imposed a deadline the reality remains that the NHL does not have infinite patience with the City of Glendale.

Lundar resident faces charges over 911 calls

You really cant make this stuff up. It's almost comical, if he wasn't breaking the law, it also sounds like this guy might want to stop drinking, sober up and got some much needed sleep.

WINNIPEG — At least one local hockey fan thinks it’s criminal the Winnipeg Jets haven’t returned home.

A 33-year-old resident of Lundar, Manitoba is facing numerous charges after allegedly making a series of 911 calls which included demanding RCMP officers somehow bring the National Hockey League back to the province.

"He began the conversation by saying he wanted the Jets back. He was quite upset about it," a justice source told the Free Press on Wednesday. The incident occurred last year but was never reported publicly by police. The Free Press uncovered details this week through court documents.

The potential return of the NHL has been a hot topic in recent years, with many believing it’s a matter of when, not if, Winnipeg gets a team back. And while the subject usually triggers passionate debate, this is believed to be the first time it has ever prompted police action.

The emergency dispatcher politely told the angry caller there was nothing she could do to help him and reminded him that he was tying up a valuable resource before hanging up. But the man continued to phone back, claiming he had a lot on his mind.

"He had apparently been drinking and told police he hadn’t slept in days. He started talking about world conglomerates, things like that. He was hallucinating, obviously," said the source.

Reinsdorf group withdraws from Coyotes competition

You have to wonder how long before the NHL final says Phoenix you're out? Just move the team back to Winnipeg where it belongs.

(AP) — PHOENIX - A group headed Jerry Reinsdorf has withdrawn from efforts to purchase the Phoenix Coyotes, a move that leaves Ice Edge Holdings as the last potential buyer that would keep the NHL team in Arizona.

Reinsdorf, owner of the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Bulls, issued a statement Monday night saying "it was time to move on."

The Reinsdorf group once was the front-runner to buy the team but had fallen out of favor in recent weeks while Glendale officials worked out a memorandum of understanding with Ice Edge, a group of Canadian and American investors.

The Glendale city council is to vote Tuesday night on that memorandum, which gives Ice Edge exclusive negotiating rights for 60 days.

A new lease for the Coyotes to play at Jobing.com Arena is a necessary step before Ice Edge can proceed to try to purchase the team from the NHL.

True North confirmed as owner in waiting

Another day, another turn of events in the on going saga that is the Phoenix Coyotes. It’s like an on going bad soap opera that never ends. I do wonder if the Jets are being played in order to secure a buyer for the Phoenix Coyotes?

The NHL has told the City of Glendale to sell the Phoenix Coyotes to a buyer willing to keep them in Arizona by Dec. 31 or the team will be moved to Winnipeg.

True North Sports and Entertainment, a group led by Mark Chipman and David Thomson, have had the framework of a relocation deal in place with the league for some time, and is the third party the league is referring to in an agreement reached between the NHL and the city of Glendale on Friday.

A document sent by the league to the city of Glendale last week says the NHL has a bona-fide offer from a viable purchaser who would relocate the hockey team to another market for the 2010-11 season and contemplates that the owners (the NHL) would break even on their investment in the team through the end of the 2009-10 NHL season as well as the NHL potentially receiving a relocation fee.

True North had no comment when reached on Saturday, but the Free Press has learned they are the third party the league refers to in the agreement.

On Friday the City of Glendale reached an agreement with the league to cover operating costs up to US$25 million to keep the Coyotes in Jobing.com Arena for the 2010-11 NHL season.

The league has held discussions with the Ice Edge group and Jerry Reinsdorf, who owns the Chicago Bulls and Chicago Whitesox. Both say they want to keep the Coyotes in Phoenix.

It is believed Ice Edge isn’t interested in further talks without exclusivity that would make it the only prospective buyer to keep the team in Arizona.

"The owners currently have a bona-fide offer from a viable purchaser who would relocate the hockey team to another market for the 2010-11 season and contemplates that the owners [the NHL] would break even on their investment in the team through the end of the 2009-10 NHL season as well as the NHL potentially receiving a relocation fee..." the document obtained by the Globe reads. [read the rest of the article]

Hum! This is an interesting turn of events. They should just go ahead and move the team back to Winnipeg. The NHL has been a failure in Phoenix and yet Gary Bettman keeps up with the charade in the desert.

Winnipeg’s hopes to get back in the NHL jumped again, as the league issued an ultimatum to the city of Glendale – find a buyer for the Phoenix Coyotes by Dec. 31 or we will sell them to someone we have waiting to buy and move the team.

The threat is included in the agreement between the NHL and the suburban Phoenix city in which the city agreed to pay up to $25-million (all currency U.S.) of the Coyotes’ operating losses for the 2010-11 season. That agreement was completed on Friday and a copy was obtained by The Globe and Mail.

There was no mention of the prospective buyer in the agreement but the only buyers the NHL has admitted speaking to in connection with the Coyotes, aside from Jerry Reinsdorf and the Ice Edge group who both want to keep the Coyotes in Arizona, are Canadian billionaire David Thomson and Mark Chipman, the CEO of True North Sports and Entertainment, who own and operate the MTS Centre in Winnipeg.
[Read the article]

Winnipeg still 'ready, willing and able' (links)

Here is a really nice story that I found in today's Face off. I still think the NHL will end up in Winnipeg and ground work is being laid right now as we speak. There are too many NHL teams in places that aren't hockey markets bleeding money.

Still, few were willing to concede defeat following Glendale city council's decision to pay up to US$25- million to the NHL to run the team out of Jobing.comArena for another season, if a buyer for the struggling franchise is not secured by then. Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz said there was still a good chance the city would have a team in the next three years.

"There are still several markets in the NHL in the United States that are bleeding and I don't think they'll be able to stop the bleeding," he told reporters in Winnipeg yesterday. "It's important for us to be ready, willing and able when the time comes."

Rumours that the time has come have washed over the prairies in ebbs and flows ever since the Jets moved to Phoenix in 1996. This week, it was reported the NHL had a contingency schedule for next season that included Winnipeg.

Darren Ford, who runs JetsOwner.com,a website championing the Jets' return, said this week's smoke was as close as he has seen to fire. "I think we are very close. I still remain having a very good vibe," Ford said. "I know the moods remains positive and whether that means [a team will move to Winnipeg] for next season or not, I don't know. But there are so many other teams bleeding red ink, this could be the domino effect we've all been waiting for."

A source close to NHL officials told the National Post that the Coyotes would be moving to Winnipeg if an arena lease was not successfully negotiated with the city of Glendale.

Commissioner Gary Bettman, appearing on CBC's Hockey Night in Canada on Monday night to dispel some of the rumours surrounding the Coyotes soap opera, said the league has been in discussion with Winnipeg for some time
[Faceoff.com]

Links

The case for Winnipeg; [the Globe and Mail]

Watchdog on trail of money transfer to NHL; [the Globe and Mail]

Glendale follows one bad decision with another; [the Globe and Mail]

There's still a fighting chance Coyotes may yet wind up in 'Peg; [Winnipeg Free Press]

Clock's ticking on Coyotes; [Winnipeg Free Press]

Gary Bettman: Smarmy little toad [Click to listen to podcast]

Glendale OKs Deal To Keep Hockey Team

I am beginning to wonder if the city of Winnipeg wasn't used a pawn to get the city of Glendale to cover the Coyotes losses up to 25 million dollars? We will see in the coming weeks where this is heading. Here is another interesting perspective on this matter from on Frozen Blog.

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The Glendale City Council unanimously agreed to cover up to $25 million in operating expenses for the Phoenix Coyotes during the 2010-11 season during its meeting Tuesday night.

Council members agreed to create user fees in their sports and entertainment district to cover the hockey team's costs.

The city will only instate the fees if the National Hockey League fails to find a new owner for the franchise by September.

The city said it is still negotiating with two potential owners for the hockey team.

Glendale and NHL officials said they were optimistic they would secure a new owner this summer.

If Glendale did not agree to cover the team's operating costs, NHL officials were considering moving the team back to Winnipeg, Canada.

Dozens of fans showed up to Tuesday's city council meeting to support the team

Ice Edge out; True North silent

Here is another twist in the Phoenix Coyotes possibly relocating back to Winnipeg. This seems to be a fluid ever changing story.

Monday night's late-breaking news that Ice Edge Holdings has stepped away from its negotiations with the city of Glendale didn't change the no comment stance the organization has taken on the subject of the NHL returning to Winnipeg.

Don't be surprised, however, if phone discussions and meetings were keeping True North chairman Mark Chipman and his people busy after the news began emanating from Phoenix.

"Talks have broken off," Ice Edge Holdings chief operating officer Daryl Jones told the Free Press late Monday night. "We were adamant about needing exclusivity in these negotiations and they haven't provided it. I'm not totally surprised. We've been dealing with this for a while. We thought we had agreed to certain things and expected them in writing. That didn't materialize."

Ice Edge had been working with Glendale city council to draft a lease agreement that was agreeable to both parties. Once a lease was agreed upon, Ice Edge had hoped to buy the Coyotes from the NHL, which purchased the club out of bankruptcy last fall.

Glendale city council is still expected to vote on a request to satisfy a number of NHL demands, including one that would see the city put together a financial guarantee to cover any losses incurred by the Coyotes for the 2010-11 season if the NHL is forced to operate the team for a second season.

"No comment," was all True North Sports and Entertainment communications director Scott Brown had to say when reached Monday and asked about the latest developments in Phoenix.

Ice Edge stepping out of the deal will leave Glendale city council with the choice of agreeing to cover losses for next season while the NHL tries to find a new buyer or to refuse the option and likely see the Coyotes relocated to a new city.

The hockey world is waiting to see what unfolds as the NHL and the city of Glendale battle in an attempt to keep hockey in the desert. True North is sitting off to the side and watching with interest like a duck on a pond, all calm on the surface but paddling furiously below the waterline.

Should the Coyotes become available for relocation, the NHL and True North are in position to act fast and come to a quick agreement. A deal to purchase an NHL team usually takes months but Chipman and his team have been working alongside the NHL for some time and the majority of work on such a pact has been done. [Winnipeg Free Press]