“The Balkan” may have not blown the save, but there may be a rain delay in any proposed sale negotiation with the Atlanta Spirit.
Three days after “680 The Fan’s” John Kincade’s mysterious “Balkan” came to Atlanta to potentially close a deal, there is no indication that the owners of the Atlanta Thrashers are prepared to part with the Thrashers, the Atlanta Hawks and the operating rights to Philips Arena.
If you read the tea leaves, there seems to be an indication that the Spirit instead is looking to either just part with the hockey team or break apart and sell the Thrashers separately from the Hawks and Philips Arena. Or perhaps, they are just looking to up the asking price.
Mike Orzanian of Forbes reports that the Spirit is looking to fetch a $110 million asking price for the Thrashers from any group willing to buy just the team, including a group possibly headed by former Braves pitcher Tom Glavine.
Under the terms of any proposed sale that would keep the team in Atlanta, the Thrashers would play at the Spirit-run Philips Arena under a rent deal that would net the Thrashers about $7 million per season.
Presumably, this figure would pass through some of the concessions and sponsorship monies that are generated during Thrashers games. It’s unknown from the report to what extent the new owners would be limited in attracting new sponsorship revenue or whether this revenue includes some of the pro-rata sponsorship monies that the Hawks and Thrashers presently generate for the title sponsors at the rink.
For example, the Spirit has one of the most lucrative naming rights deals in all of professional sports. They receive approximately $9.3 million per season from Philips Electronics for the right to adorn the rink with their corporate name and logo. That deal is thought to be contingent on the Hawks and Thrashers playing a certain number of games at the rink.
Suffice to say, unwinding the Thrashers from the rest of the Spirit’s operations would not be simple.
Another option according to Orzanian is a sale of the Thrashers to True North Sports and Entertainment, who would move the team to Winnipeg. True North would reportedly pay $170 million for the Thrashers if the Phoenix Coyotes do not move back to their former home in Manitoba.
Orzanian opines that $60 million of that figure would be soaked up by the league in the form of a relocation fee, while the Spirit would pocket the remaining $110 million. Orzanian also separately tweeted that a group is separately interested in purchasing the Hawks and arena operating rights for $240 million.
The Thrashers have not exactly been a model NHL franchise. They have just one playoff appearance and zero playoff wins in their first 11 seasons in the league. As a result, attendance has plummeted to 27th in the league and the value of the team has stagnated.
Forbes valued the team at $135 million in December, although the team should be worth $7-10 million more after the NHL inked a 10-year, $200 billion U.S. TV contract with NBC in April.
Of course, this will all be moot if the “the Balkan” is able to close out his deal to buy all three entities from the Spirit.
The mysterious figure named by Kincade after a character on his favorite soap opera, “General Hospital,” came to Atlanta over the weekend to purportedly meet with the Spirit officials in an attempt to gain an exclusive negotiating period.
But the only new detail to emerge about the identity of “the Balkan” is that he met with Kincade at the Atlanta Athletic Club on Monday. The most we have publically is a picture of “the Balkan’s” shoe, which was circulated by the 680 The Fan afternoon drive-time sports talk show host on Twitter.
The Thrashers have reportedly been on the block shortly after the Spirit purchased the team in 2004. But infighting and a lawsuit between the remaining seven members of the Spirit and rogue partner Steve Belkin chilled any legitimate buyers from purchasing the team. The lawsuit was finally settled in December, which allowed the Spirit to finally shop the team in earnest.
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