It's hot in Kamloops!

Believe it or not, things are heating up in Kamloops where the ownership situation involving the Blazers seems likely to come to a vote on Thursday.
The Kamloops Blazers Sports Society’s board of directors, which operates the WHL franchise on behalf of 256 shareholders, held a news conference yesterday at which president Murray Owen and directors Vic Bifano and Bob Smillie claimed that an offer to purchase from River City Hockey Inc. is unacceptable.
Owen told the news conference that if members vote Thursday to accept RCH’s offer “I personally couldn’t sign off on it.” Owen added that he has thought of resigning should the vote go in RCH’s favour.
Bifano echoed Owen, saying: “I don’t think I could sign off on it.”
The problem, the board claims, has to do with the way in which RCH wants to deal with the team’s education liability.
“Education liability has been excluded within the terms of this offer,” Smillie said of the $6.1-million offer that RCH made on July 18. “We recognize the WHL cannot accept the terms of the offer. We’re dealing with the constitution and bylaws of the WHL.”
According to RCH’s offer, the society would be liable for “the education financing commitment to the date of Closing.”
Owen said that the nine-man board is recommending that should members choose to sell their franchise, they take it to an open market. Owen also said letters have been sent to all members stating the board’s concerns with RCH’s offer.
Smillie said he isn’t against RCH owning the Blazers. “It’s certainly best if (the Blazers) were on the open market,” he said. “That doesn’t mean River City might not ultimately be the owner. But it has to be done in an open, fair way.”
The board’s news conference occurred the same day that Mike Priestner, owner of the Mike Priestner Automotive Group, placed a two-page ad in the Kamloops Daily News that compared his offer for 51 per cent of the franchise to the offer made by RCH.
All five members of RCH -- Vancouver businessman Tom Gaglardi and ex-Blazers players Shane Doan, Jarome Iginla, Mark Recchi and Darryl Sydor -- are scheduled to attend Thursday’s extraordinary general meeting of members. All five have become shareholders over the past year.