Coyotes to Play Games In Halifax?

The newest development in the never-ending saga that has become the Phoenix Coyotes' future is news of a Toronto-based group looking to finance a $150 million bid to keep the team in Phoenix. The catch is that they believe it is necessary to play at least five of the team's home games in a Canadian city, Halifax or Saskatoon have been mentioned as possibilities, in order to generate the required revenue to fund the franchise's losses.

Ice Edge Holdings, the Toronto-based company that is placing the bid, submitted a letter of intent to the NHL this past Friday. The company's representatives will also be meeting with the NHL Executive Committee today to discuss the feasibility of their proposed bid. Interestingly enough today the NHL will also be meeting with Jim Ballsille's representatives to discuss his bid as well.

How seriously should this new bid be taken?

While the President and CEO of Trade Centre Ltd., the corporation that runs the Halifax Metro Centre, does state that it may be up to 15 years before they are able to support an NHL team. The Metro Centre only has 10,500 seats currently, not nearly enough to generate revenue worthy of the logistical issues. So do not look for Halifax to be a destination for home games of the Coyotes anytime during the coming decade.

Also Saskatoon was mentioned as a possible location for some Coyotes' home games. Back in the 1980's the St. Louis Blues were nearly moved to Saskatoon before the NHL blocked the move from taking place. In Saskatoon the Credit Union Centre is currently a 11,300 seat arena, and there are also plans to increase that capacity to 15,000 seats in the fall. This would seem to be a much more realistic choice.

At the end of the day Ice Edge Holdings has until next week, August 5, to get the proper financing in place to have an acceptable bid. To date they are rumored to have enough financing to purchase the Coyotes, but not enough to sustain the losses that are inevitable in the first few seasons of ownership.

So far the only concrete bids as far as the courts are concerned are Jerry Reinsdorf's $148 million offer to keep the Coyotes in Phoenix, and Jim Balsille's bid to move the team to Hamilton.

There have been other rumored bidders to date, but most of them have not shown the courts the money. Including the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL's owners whom the NHL named in a court document as a group that was interested in placing a bid. They seem to have fallen off the map and have not pursued the bidding process for the franchise any further.

By next week we will have a clearer picture of where the future of the Phoenix Coyotes is headed. Until then let the wheel of rumours continue to spin on the Coyotes future.