By Craig Morgan
East Valley Tribune
UPDATES: NHL, Glendale vow to work on Coyotes deal
Glendale mayor is confident Coyotes will stay
Coyotes fans’ worst fears were realized Thursday when prospective owner Greg Jamison acknowledged to FOX Sports Arizona that he was unable to meet a Jan. 31 deadline to complete the purchase of the team.
“We will be unable to complete a deal by the deadline,” Jamison said in a telephone conversation. “We’re still going to pursue a deal anyway, but it will be a different deal.”
Jamison had until midnight on Thursday to complete a deal to purchase the team under the original, $308 million arena lease agreement with the City of Glendale. While he could not assemble the necessary investors and money to meet that deadline, he said he remains hopeful that he can strike a new deal and that hockey will remain in Arizona for some time.
Jamison later released a statement and said he would not be conducting further interviews on Thursday. Here is the statement in its entirety.
“We will not be able to complete our purchase of the Phoenix Coyotes today in time to meet our deadline with the city of Glendale. However, our journey to purchase the Coyotes will continue. We realize this will require additional conversations with the city of Glendale and the NHL. We still believe we can reach an agreement that satisfies everyone. We hope negotiations with the city proceed as smoothly as possible, as everyone involved wants the Coyotes to remain in Arizona.”
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