Watching Ice Edge Holdings and certain members of the Canadian media trade barbs back and forth is about as tedious as sitting through an 11-hour tennis match. At some point you just want to see some resolution.
Ice Edge is adamant that they’re making progress toward completing their attempted purchase of the Phoenix Coyotes, despite yesterday’s reports of doom and gloom. The group hoping to land the Coyotes said so in an e-mail excerpted by the Globe and Mail, but this part of the newspaper’s story provides the most pertinent details.
Glendale spokeswoman Julie Frisoni told the Arizona Republic that Ice Edge had not provided all the required documents. Therefore, the exclusivity deal was dead. She told the Free Press on Tuesday the city was not commenting except to say the Republic story was “accurate.”
However, Frisoni was uncertain whether the two sides have to complete the talks by Aug. 6. That deadline, mentioned in the Republic story, was when the exclusivity deal ran out, but not necessarily the time to negotiate.
This situation must really wear down Coyotes fans (and fans of hockey, in general) but the tedium doesn’t change the fact that it’s an important story for the league and the sport itself. We’ll keep you informed as the Coyotes try to travel a pot hole-filled road to sustainability.