SCOTT JACOBS

The Phoenix Coyotes know they’ll be playing in Glendale, Arizona this coming season.

As for how many people that come to watch them, how many companies (if any) choose to sponsor them, who will coach them, and who will get the rights to them, well, those unsettled developments are as murky as they’ve ever been. Dogged by a nightmare summer long, now into the fall battle, the Coyotes are running out of money, their fans (the few of them that remain) are running out of hope, and their status still remains in limbo.

The Coyotes filed for bankruptcy over the summer, after claiming to have lost over $300 million since moving to the desert in 1996, and their assets are drying up faster than spilt water in the Arizona sun. Sponsors refuse to throw them a dime and who can blame them? Why sponsor an inferior team, that has very few fans, stagnant in a bitter court battle.

This is not the Seattle Supersonics situation. The Coyotes have a shiny new place to play. This is the result of horrible ownership, baffling moves, and a move to a city that does sleep, and could indeed live without hockey. The Coyotes are locked in a nightmare that they can’t escape. They are the laughingstock of the sport. Blackberry billionaire Jim Basille wants to move them to Canada. The NHL wants to buy them for a lot less money and continue the search for local ownership that would give them a chance to survive– and maybe someday thrive– in Arizona. There have been more twists and turns in this story than a rollercoaster at Busch Gardens, and hockey fans, and the sports world can’t wait to get off. The whole thing just makes me want to puke. The mismanagement of the franchise right into the ground, the on again off again offers from interested local buyers, the one buyer that wanted to stick a bunch of their games in Canada, while still playing in Phoenix.

Wayne Gretzky has not been the Great One through this process. He’s been the invisible one. Today he finally stepped down after a rocking coaching tenure that showed just because you’re a great player, doesn’t mean you’ll make a great coach. He knew his time was limited. Neither Basille nor the NHL was going to keep him around, so he bolted to– I guess you could could say– save face?

Up until yesterday there was actually uncertainty if the Coyotes would play this season in Arizona. I repeat, the season starts in a week! Could you imagine moving your team to another city a week before the season starts? I can’t.

The judge has held off on ruling which bid should get the Yotes, and there’s a fear that he could fail to award it to either bidder, which might lead the team into the dark hole of dissolution. Hard to imagine contracting a team that was really successful for years when it first moved, but it’s becoming possible. With no money coming in, and time ticking away the Coyotes are running out of options.

The NHL wants to control who can buy its franchises. Basille was not approved as an NHL owner. If he gets the team anyways it could change the face of sports forever. The NHL is mortified of losing control of their owners. This could be a landmark case.

And there in the wake of this ugly divorce lie the Coyotes who are quickly fading into oblivion. No money, no sponsors ante-ing up money, and no fans is not the way to start a season.

When will this nightmare ever end?

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