Greg Jamison misses deadline to buy Coyotes

Prospective Phoenix Coyotes owner Greg Jamison missed a deadline to purchase the club from the National Hockey League in order to receive the arena-management deal negotiated with the Glendale City Council.

In order to receive the arena-management deal, which would pay him $15 million a year to run Jobing.com Arena, the home of the Coyotes, Jamison had to purchase the team from the League by 11:59 p.m. local time Thursday night.

"We will not be able to complete our purchase of the Phoenix Coyotes today in time to meet our deadline with the city of Glendale," Jamison said in a statement. "However, our journey to purchase the Coyotes will continue. We realize this will require additional conversations with the city of Glendale and the NHL. We still believe we can reach an agreement that satisfies everyone. We hope negotiations with the city proceed as smoothly as possible, as everyone involved wants the Coyotes to remain in Arizona."

Because Jamison missed that deadline, the agreed-upon deal for the arena-management rights is no longer available and a new deal will have to be negotiated. The deadline was a contractual provision existing between Glendale and Jamison that is not directly tied to the potential sale of the team.

NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly issued the following statement Friday afternoon:

"We remain hopeful the Coyotes sale process will be resolved successfully and we will continue to work with the City of Glendale to move the process forward."

“Today, we were informed by the National Hockey League that Mr. Jamison was unable to close on his purchase of the Coyotes. Mr. Jamison will continue to work with the NHL and the City of Glendale to close a deal that will keep the Coyotes in the Valley," Coyotes President and COO Mike Nealy said in a statement Friday afternoon. "Although there is no set timetable, hopefully it will be soon. The Coyotes will continue to be owned by the NHL and nothing changes for our organization. We will work hard on and off the ice to provide our fans with a winning team that they can be proud of. We would like to thank all of our great fans and corporate partners for their incredible patience and loyalty throughout this process. We know it's been difficult and we appreciate their support.”

Jamison said he still hopes to buy the team and keep it in Arizona.

"To Arizona's sports and hockey fans and the City of Glendale, we appreciate your patience and diligence," said Jamison, the former president and chief executive officer of the San Jose Sharks. "We wish everything was completed today as we worked extremely hard on the deal. However, we have taken significant steps to keep the Coyotes in Glendale for the long term. I've seen firsthand the wonderful support Arizona hockey fans have provided the Coyotes, and we will continue our efforts to keep the NHL in Arizona."