Coyotes sale saga reaches boiling point
Mar 10, 2011, 1:48 AM | Updated: 7:29 pm
PHOENIX – The Phoenix Coyotes increasingly contentious sale saga has reached a boiling point and may see the team moved from Arizona if a solution is not reached soon.
An $197 million deal to sell the team to Chicago based investment broker Matthew Hulsizer would reportedly keep the team in Arizona and save the Coyotes from NHL ownership, but it’s has been met with heavy resistance by the Phoenix based Goldwater Institute.
The government watchdog group claims the deal could end up costing Glendale residents $100 million in interest payments over 30 years after most of the deal is subsidized by municipal bonds. The bonds would be issued as part of Glendale’s $197 million dollar incentive package to cover the difference in what Hulsizer is reportedly willing to pay, around $70 million, and what the NHL is reportedly charging for the franchise, around $170 million.
Goldwater Institute CEO Darcy Olsen joined Sports 620 KTAR’s Gambo and Ash show Wednesday to clarify the organization’s stance against the sale.
She said the institute could file a lawsuit to prevent the government from financing the sale bonds to Hulsizer if it comes at the expense of the taxpayers.
