Global Wellington Financial Corporation and Oriana Capital Partners bid on May 20 to acquire both the Thrashers and Hawks as well as Philips Arena before the 2011-12 seasons. The price they were going to pay was $500 Million.
That's right. There was a buyer. A willing buyer to keep the team in Atlanta. ASG told us there were no legit buyers. They lied to us. Bastards.
The team will sell the Hawks and Philips to this group at a discounted price that does not include the Thrashers.
Screw you Atlanta Spirit Group.
Screw you.
Something didn't feel right when the team said nothing during the whole sale thing. Not to the employees, the fans, nothing. Even in the weeks leading up to the sale when EVERYONE knew it was happening.
You know what might also be a possibility? The NHL was in on the whole thing too. When Phoenix was in major trouble financially, the NHL took a great interest. In fact the NHL owns the team. When there was talk this season about Phoenix moving (along with the consistant talks about the Thrashers moving), Gary Bettman, the NHL President, went to Phoenix at least 5 times to address the issue. This is by far not the most interest the NHL has shown towards the franchise. However, the Phoenix situation was very different than the Thrashers.
In December 2008, the media became aware that the Phoenix Coyotes were losing money at a high rate and were being funded by the NHL directly. The media reports were minimized by Bettman and vice-president Bill Daly, but secretly the NHL had taken over operations of the Coyotes. In May 2009, the owner of the team Jerry Moyes put the team into bankruptcy hours before welcoming Bettman to the city who was to present a potential offer to purchase arranged by the NHL. Moyes intended to sell the team to Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie who intended to purchase the team out of bankruptcy and move it to Hamilton, Ontario.
From May until September 2009, hearings were held in Phoenix bankruptcy court to determine the fate of the Coyotes and the holding company. Two potential bidders for the team surfaced, Jerry Reinsdorf and Ice Edge Holdings, Inc. but they did not submit a bid for the team at the bankruptcy hearing. Instead, the NHL put in the only rival bid to Balsillie for the team, while they fought Moyes's plan to sell the team and move it to Hamilton against the NHL rules. Ultimately, the Phoenix court ruled that the team could not be sold to Balsillie, as the judge held that bankruptcy could not be used to subvert the league's rules. The NHL's initial bid was also declared insufficient but the judge left the window open to an improved bid. Moyes and the NHL settled, with the NHL buying the team and assuming all debts. The NHL negotiated a temporary lease with Jobing.com Arena owner, the City of Glendale, Arizona.
The NHL then proceeded to work with the two potential bidders of Jerry Reinsdorf and Ice Edge to work out a deal with Glendale. Ice Edge signed a letter of intent to buy the team from the NHL, while Reinsdorf has won the approval of the City of Glendale. The NHL has yet to deal with the purchase. On Friday, May 7, 2010, ESPN.com reported that Reinsdorf bid had fallen apart, and the City of Glendale was working with Ice Edge group to buy the team in a last ditch effort to keep them in Phoenix. The National Post criticized both bids, as both were conditional on municipal taxpayers to cover any losses that the Coyotes might incur, and suggested that keeping the team in Phoenix was never economically viable.
In July 2010, the Ice Edge bid collapsed as it did not satisfy Glendale's financial conditions. Ice Edge decided to concentrate on an effort to buy a minor league team. The City of Glendale had to step in and guarantee the team's losses for 2010–11 as a precondition of the NHL not transferring the franchise. As of November 2010, Glendale and the NHL are working to finalize a sale to a consortium of investors led by Chicago investor Matt Hulsizer. The NHL has set a December 31, 2010 deadline for the sale or it will seek to transfer the franchise to another city. Glendale made a deal with Matt Hulsizer who will buy the team from the NHL and become the Owner of the Phoenix Coyotes.
So, what about the Thrashers deal? Was the NHL conspiring to move the team? I mean, they certainly didn't fight as hard as they did for the Coyotes.
Really, I don't think so. Part of the reason the NHL was fighting so hard was because it was initially going to be against the League rules to transfer the team. They also set deadlines that would move the team. Plus, they only became owners when no one else put in a valid bid at the bankrupcy hearings. On top of that, it looks like the city of Glendale wants to keep the team there, even willing to put taxpayer money into keeping the team there. Atlanta was not so fortunate with Mayor Reed making statements about the team leaving before any official announcements were made. The NHL did put TrueNorth in contact with the Thrashers, but that's in the League's best interest. A city government that doesn't want the team, owners that don't want the team versus a city that is desperate for hockey with successful owners at the AHL level is a no brainer. And while there isn't exactly an ownership group that has put up the cash with the Coyotes, the city is behind the team. Atlanta's is not and the ownership does not have the team's best interest at heart. Did the NHL know about the offer to purchase for $500M? I don't know. One has to think so. After all, they knew about the situation in Phoenix before the possible sell. Enough that they were in court arguing against the sale. The Phoenix thing was different though as it had a team in bankrupcy and the League had taken over operations. Again, there's no evidence the NHL knew or if they have the responsibility or the right to do something about the ASG lies. I don't even know when the League would get involved with the ASG and their potential buyers. I would assume later because approval is not when the sale happens, but when it gets approved later. If they did know about the offer and the statements saying there were no offers, the League should have said something. Not that it won't approve a deal that moves the team, but to be fair to the fans in maintaining honesty.
The NHL is not off the hook completely. They are certainly under the microscope to see what else comes out of this whole deal between the ASG and TrueNorth Sports. TrueNorth is suspect too, but really one can't blame them too much. It looks like the Spirit that sabotaged the Atlanta sale and did not disclose their intentions to the media and the fans. Tell the fans you are going to do everything to keep the team in Atlanta, but secretly ignore bids to sell the team to someone who would keep them here, then sell to a buyer in Winnipeg that will move them, then sell the Hawks and Philips later because you felt like that would be a better business deal. This wouldn't be nearly as hard to swallow if they had been honest about the intent to move the team or find the best possible deal, regardless of possible relocation. But to lie to us about wanting to keep them here if a good bid came along. Is half a billion dollars not enough for two teams and an arena? Really? Tell us you got a bid at $500 million and decided to pass. Don't tell us nothing materialized.
You flat out lied to us.
This is the letter from the owners. I took the liberty to highlight some parts that I find contractitory, but you can find the unaltered version currently here on the Thrashers website. My guess is this link won't work soon as the Board of Governors meets on June 21 where they are expected to approve the sale.
May 31, 2011
Earlier today, we, along with our partners, signed an asset purchase agreement to sell the Atlanta Thrashers to True North Sports and Entertainment. If ratified by the NHL, Commissioner Bettman and the league's Board of Governors, this will result in the relocation of the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg, Canada beginning with the 2011-2012 season.
It's extremely disappointing to all of us that it became necessary after all other options were exhausted. We want to express our gratitude to you, the fans, for the years of dedication you have offered to the Atlanta Thrashers.
As many of you know, for some time we have been seeking a buyer for the team or a partner willing to join with us in continuing to fund the team. We hired an investment banking firm to seek out potential investors with the expressed goal of finding someone who would keep the team here in Atlanta. In recent months, we openly indicated a growing urgency to secure assistance in off-setting our operating losses in hopes that our public plea would produce investors who, to that point, had eluded us.
After extensive effort, nobody has come forward. As a result, we had no choice but to explore the investment option presented to us by the NHL in the form of True North Sports and Entertainment.
Relocation of the Thrashers is not the outcome that any of us ultimately wanted. We knew when we purchased the club in 2004, that professional sports teams are seldom, if ever, money-making investments but rather vital community assets. We believed in the overall impact that the team had on the sports landscape of Atlanta, and over the past seven years, invested a significant amount of money into what we felt was an integral piece of the greater metropolitan Atlanta area. We are truly grateful to have been a part of this city's professional hockey history, to have made an indelible impact on the community through our players' outreach, our organization's activities and our foundation's donations, and most of all, to have been a part of paying tribute to you, our fans, each and every time our team stepped on the ice.
Thank you for the opportunity to be entertained, thrilled and inspired alongside you by Atlanta Thrashers hockey. None of this would have been possible without your support.
Sincerely,
Bruce Levenson and Michael Gearon
Let's compare one last time.
From USA Today on June 10. (It's the same link that appears earlier in this post).
"A bid has been made by a minority business group to purchase Atlanta Spirit, which owns the NBA's Hawks, the NHL's Thrashers and Phillips Arena, for $500 million, those bidding told USA TODAY.
"The Spirit already are in the process of selling the NHL franchise to Winnipeg. When the Thrashers officially vacate, the bid then would be adjusted downward.
"The CEOs of Global Wellington Financial Corp. and Oriana Capital Partners put forth a bid May 20 to acquire both teams and the arena before the 2011-12 NBA season. The new ownership group would be called W/C Holdings."
By J. Michael Falgoust and Jake Kaplan, USA TODAY
Compared to the Bruce Levenson and Michael Gearon statement from 5/31/2011.
After extensive effort, nobody has come forward. As a result, we had no choice but to explore the investment option presented to us by the NHL in the form of True North Sports and Entertainment.
Bullshit Levenson and Gearon. Bullshit. I cannot believe that the USA Today would publish such an article if they weren't sure. And they said you had a buyer. 11 days later you release a statement saying the team's been sold because no one stepped forward.
You lied.
My simple message to the Atlanta Spirit Group is this:
Screw You ASG.
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