Slipping on Ice Edge

A deal to keep the Phoenix Coyotes hockey team playing in Glendale’s Jobing.com arena has hit a snag as a critical deadline nears this week, according to local reports.

A group of U.S. and Canadian investors operating under the name Ice Edge Holdings has not complied with terms that Glendale officials say are required to buy the National Hockey League team, officials said.

Officials from Ice Edge and the NHL, which currently owns the team, said they expect the sale to proceed.

Ice Edge was required to show proof of its financing to negotiate exclusively with the city and work on a detailed lease for the Coyotes to play at the city-owned arena, which was financed with $180 ­million of bond debt.

Glendale spokeswoman Julie Frisoni told the Arizona Republic that Ice Edge was more than five weeks late in submitting documents. The tentative agreement between Glendale and Ice Edge aimed to conclude negotiations on Friday, Aug. 6.

The Coyotes, one of the NHL’s weakest teams financially, were sold to the league after filing for bankruptcy last spring. If a new owner cannot be found to keep the team in the Phoenix suburb, the NHL is free to sell the team to another owner who could relocate it, possibly to Canada. The league and Glendale intervened in the bankruptcy filing to prevent the team’s move to Hamilton, Ontario, under new ownership.

Without the team, the sales-tax supported arena built specifically for the Coyotes would see a sharp drop in lease revenue.

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