Blues Reject $167 Million Offer

[ViPeRx007]

It makes sense he didn't take this bid. He is still reviewing mine...

[STLADOGG]

It'd be nice to have such a straight-shooter as an owner.

That interview sounded a lot like Peter with his feet kicked up on the table talking to the Bobs.

Love this guy in Scrubs.

[dmiles2186]

It'd be nice to have such a straight-shooter as an owner.

That interview sounded a lot like Peter with his feet kicked up on the table talking to the Bobs.

"What would you say...uh-ya do here?"

[Ruutu15]

Checketts got caught laundering money. He's not going to white-collar resort prison. No, no, no. He's going to federal "pound me in the ass" prison.

[goon attack]

Kick someone's ass the first day and you're cool.

[DaDitka]

Relax.......

Dave loves getting this information out there.

Now he's still got a week and a half to try and start a bidding war. He's made it know that he's got a party interested around 170 and he's willing to come down to 190.....he's hoping that may lead other interested parties to fear those two will come to a compromise and jump in at 185 or something. Either way, this deal get's done shortly and it's not like he's going anywhere. He'll still be willing to pay 167 in two weeks.

If the deadline is in fact the 30th, there is no reason for Dave to accept less then his asking price before that.

[thedoc]

I'd tell you what I'd do man... 334 chicks at the same time, man.

If you owned a hockey team I think you could pull that off man.

[DaDitka]

Potential Blues owner a true man of mystery
DAVID SHOALTS
Globe and Mail Update
Published Thursday, Sep. 22, 2011 6:28PM EDT

Max Chambers is getting a lot of attention for a fellow who was quickly dismissed as a prospective NHL owner by the St. Louis Blues.

If you read this story in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, he sure sounds like a major player in the business world. Makes you wonder why Blues chairman Dave Checketts and Game Plan LLC boss Robert Caporale, who is tending to the sale of the NHL team, would turn down Chambers’s offer of $167-million (all currency U.S.) cold, without even a hint he could get the team if he coughed up just a little more.

Then again, Chambers appears to be an international man of mystery. He told reporters he is from Calgary and the Post-Dispatch reports he is the chief executive officer of companies called Sonoma Equities and Great Northern Capital Partners. Chambers also said former NHL players Bryan Trottier and Bernie Nicholls are involved in his bid. But the only other mention of Trottier came in Andy Strickland’s True Hockey blog when the former player said all he did was call the NHL on Chambers’s behalf to ask what the procedure was for making an offer on a team.

The trouble is, next to no information on either of Chambers’s alleged companies can be found. There were no telephone numbers or addresses available nor was Chambers listed in the telephone directory.

Someone whose business involves checking out potential buyers of professional sports teams said he asked several people in Calgary, including some bankers, about Chambers. No one had ever heard of him.

However, there are lots of mentions of a Max Chambers from Calgary in media reports about failed attempts to buy sports teams going back to 2002. Here are the highlights:

The first mention of Chambers is in 2002 when he announced plans to put a CFL expansion team in London, Ont. He also talked about having the Hamilton Tiger-Cats play an exhibition game and some league games in London first. The Ticats said this was news to them and nothing further was heard.

Chambers’s next known press conference came in Orlando, Fla., in June, 2004 when he announced he was buying the Jacksonville Barracudas and the Orlando Seals, which played in a minor league called WHA2.

Even though the sale had yet to close, Chambers said NHL great Butch Goring would be the head coach and general manager of the Seals and both teams would play in a revived World Hockey Association, which was planned to fill the vacuum of the 2004-05 NHL lockout.

Whoops. A few days later David Waronker, who owned both the Seals and the Barracudas, said he was cancelling the sale. After Chambers agreed to pay $3.4-million for both teams and put up a $100,000 deposit, Waronker said, he failed to pony up the deposit.

Both Chambers and Waronka accused each other of trying to change the terms of the deal before any money changed hands. In the end, Waronka kept both teams and put them in a different minor league. By July, 2004, Chambers dropped out of sight and the idea of a new WHA sputtered along for some months and then died.

Chambers has surfaced from time-to-time – he was a tire-kicker on the Phoenix Coyotes – without getting close to buying anything.

At this point, according to sources close to the Blues sale, Game Plan has only one offer in hand for the team. It is from a Blues minority owner and is thought to be for around $100-million cash and perhaps some additional assumption of debt. That is less than the $120-million Checketts’s holding company, SCP Worldwide, owes Citibank on the Blues, which is why the sale is taking so long.

Chicago businessman Matthew Hulsizer has an interest in the team although he has not made a formal offer. But he has told Checketts and Game Plan how much he’s willing to pay, so the sale may have a few more laps to go.

[kodos]

HIlarious. So this is some sort of high stakes flim-flam man who sent a letter to the Post Dispatch and they ran with it without doing any legwork.

The rejection makes more sense now. And my hopes are re-dashed... ugh...

[dmiles2186]

HIlarious. So this is some sort of high stakes flim-flam man who sent a letter to the Post Dispatch and they ran with it without doing any legwork.

The rejection makes more sense now. And my hopes are re-dashed... ugh...

JR broached the subject in his chat on Thursday:

When things look too good to be true, you have to have some skepticism. I spoke to Chambers several times over the past few days and he is certainly eager to own a hockey team. He obviously said all of the things Blues' fans wanted to hear. But there is a lot more to getting approved as an owner in the NHL. I am not privy to his financing (where he's getting his money), inside the mind of Dave Checketts (why they're not negotiating with him) or inside the mind of Gary Bettman (whether the league would approve him). For one day, we took Chambers at his word. Now we'll see if anything develops. But I would not get overly excited about some of the things that were mentioned until more steps are taken.

[cprice12]

HIlarious. So this is some sort of high stakes flim-flam man who sent a letter to the Post Dispatch and they ran with it without doing any legwork.

The rejection makes more sense now. And my hopes are re-dashed... ugh...

I heard Belfour contacted Checketts and offered 1 billion dollars for the Blues.

Run that story P-D.

[Ruutu15]

HIlarious. So this is some sort of high stakes flim-flam man who sent a letter to the Post Dispatch and they ran with it without doing any legwork.

The rejection makes more sense now. And my hopes are re-dashed... ugh...

I heard Belfour contacted Checketts and offered 1 billion dollars for the Blues.

Run that story P-D.

He could bring his 2 Vezina, Calder, 4 Jennings trophies, Hall of Fame bust and Stanley Cup ring along for inspiration.

But seriously, I really hope that you guys can get a good permanent owner like Buffalo has. If any city in the NHL deserves it, it's St. Louis. I hate to hope for a rival's success, but you know. I've never really understood why an owner can't make it work there. I must have missed something along the way, because when did Checketts turn sour? It seemed like he would be a great owner at first. What happened?

I'd tell you what I'd do man... 334 chicks at the same time, man.

If you owned a hockey team I think you could pull that off man.

Not all chicks are into a guy with hockey teams, man

[kodos]

For a team with no money, the Blues are doing alright. The problem is they have no money and Checketts won't let them spend any money.

That's the main problem.

The other problem is that he keeps stringing us along about selling the team. Making false promises and phony deadlines and being way to quiet about everything.