WHL commissioner Ron Robison said Monday afternoon that nothing is imminent regarding the sale of the Portland Winter Hawks.
In fact, he said, no one has even made an offer to purchase the franchise.
“Not right now there isn’t” anything imminent, Robison said. “There’s certainly a lot of interest out there. There hasn’t been any formal offers to purchase put forward at this time but there have been several groups express interest.”
Hockey fans in the Portland area have been abuzz with speculation involving Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s Vulcan Sports and Entertainment getting involved. There was even a suggestion made that Vulcan had joined forces with a group that includes PGA veteran Peter Jacobsen and former Winter Hawks coaches and players like Brent Peterson, Brendan Morrow, Marian Hossa and Ray Ferraro.
That, Robison said, hasn’t happened.
“They have expressed interest . . . but only in an exploratory way,” Robison said of Vulcan, which owns the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers and has a minority share in the MLS’s Seattle Sounders. “There really isn’t anything at this point that you can say is anything concrete.”
As for Vulcan partnering with the Peterson group, Robison said: “No. Not at this point. No.
“Again, there has been interest expressed by both groups but nothing has been put together at this point in time.”
The Peterson group indicated an interest in the troubled franchise two or three months ago. Jim Goldsmith, who is the CEO, Jack Donovan, the president and governor, and counsel John Bryant purchased the Winter Hawks from a group led by Ken Hodge prior to the 2006-07 season.
Over the last two seasons, the Winter Hawks are 28-110-3-3. They didn’t make the playoffs in either season.
Vulcan also owns the Rose Garden, the 17,544-seat facility in which the Winter Hawks play some games, and controls Memorial Coliseum, the building that is the Winter Hawks’ home base, through a management contract with the city of Portland.
Robison did say that he is in regular contact with Vulcan CEO Tod Leiweke.
“I chat with Tod on a regular basis,” Robison said. “He’s a guy I’m in contact with. He’s certainly motivated to be part of a solution only because they see, as we do, the Portland Winter Hawks being an important part of that market and their facilities.”
The Winter Hawks’ owners, present and past, have long complained about having what they feel is an unfavourable lease, something that should go away were Vulcan to be involved at the ownership level.
“We see (Vulcan) as a very key part of whatever arrangement is made to moving forward,” Robison said. “It has to include the building because that has been a major challenge.
“Essentially, they control the terms of the lease. With a longer-term lease, we have to address that as part of this process.”
