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St. Louis Blues search for new investors going slowly

Image (1) st-louis-blues-logo-thumb-250x200-18801.gif for post 15008

We’ve seen this summer get dominated with talk about the search for owners in Phoenix and Dallas but there’s another team that’s in search of new financial blood and they’re finding that their search could drag on for a while. The St. Louis Blues lead investment group TowerBrook Capital Partners, a group with as much as a 75% share of the team, are looking to divest their interest a bit and they’re having a hard time finding people that want a piece of the pie. Jeremy Rutherford of St. Louis Today breaks down the goings on in a lengthy piece detailing the varied issues happening with the Blues.

It was no surprise to the Blues when TowerBrook announced its decision to divest in May. Ownership knew that TowerBrook had a four- or five-year window on its investment, and June completed four years.

But now, with the position in which the Blues find themselves -- seeking a new investor during a critical period of the rebuilding process -- some have questioned the decision to allow a private-equity firm with a limited horizon to finance such a large stake in the team.

That raises a huge question about whether or not having such groups that are seemingly getting involved in buying teams just for the short-term is actually a good thing. After all, hockey teams tend to thrive if they’ve got consistent leadership behind the bench a system that works for everyone involved. Having constant turnover is a good way to make sure people are never really sure what’s going on. Then again, given what’s happened in Dallas and Phoenix with their singular owners, perhaps having a group ownership isn’t so bad in the first place.

Some in St. Louis are nervous that Blues owner and figurehead Dave Checketts could be on the way out should anything happen if a new investment group take over, but it’s believed that Checketts is viewed to be too important to lose and would likely be retained because of his visibility in the St. Louis community and amongst other NHL owners.