Red ink flowing at record rate

Winning games hasn't done much for the Phoenix Coyotes' bottom line.

The club is 12-9-0 as of yesterday, but it lost $5-million (all currency U.S.) in October, the first full month of the NHL season, according to documents filed in an Arizona bankruptcy court this week.

So far this fiscal year, which began July 1, the Coyotes have lost $15.9-million, the filings show. If that pace continues, the Coyotes could lose close to $50-million this season.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly isn't fazed by the reported losses and said they won't impact the league's efforts to sell the club.

"I don't expect that publicly reported loss numbers will have any impact whatsoever on our ability to sell the club," Daly said in an e-mail yesterday. The "losses in the short term don't seem to be factoring into the interest of potential buyers. They have much bigger, longer-term vision of the investment." Daly added the league has fielded a number of inquiries about the club. "Lots of calls and discussions [i.e., more than six]. Not sure I would classify them all as interested bidders."

He also questioned the accuracy of the figures filed in court, noting they were compiled by current majority owner Jerry Moyes, who put the club into Chapter 11 protection last May. The league has been critical of Moyes for running the club into the ground and trying to sell it to Jim Balsillie, who wanted to move it to Hamilton. The bankruptcy court eventually ruled Balsillie's bid could not proceed.

The NHL took control of the Coyotes this month after paying creditors about $140-million. Daly and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman have insisted they want to sell the team to an owner who will keep the Coyotes in Phoenix.

Ice Edge Holdings, a group of Canadian and U.S. businessmen, has indicated that it is interested in buying the club, but the group has yet to submit an offer. Other potential buyers include Toronto Argonauts co-owners Howard Sokolowski and David Cynamon as well as Jerry Reinsdorf, owner of the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Bulls. However, it is understood that none of them has submitted an offer yet.

One source familiar with the bidding said there is concern among potential buyers about the club's growing losses and sagging attendance, which has fallen below 10,000 for some games.

"I'm not sure how it wouldn't worry any potential buyers," the source said. "This team is losing a lot of money currently, the new owner cannot stop that in the short term, one, two years, so they better have a good cushion."

The court filings reveal the Coyotes' efforts to stem the red ink have not succeeded. After selling out the home opener on Oct. 10, with prices for some good seats as low as $25, attendance for the next games has been as low as 5,855. According to figures complied by ESPN, the Coyotes are averaging 9,736 a game, by far the lowest in the NHL. The club announced another seat sale yesterday for several games with ticket prices for good seats once again going for $25.

The court filings also revealed that the club had some unusual expenditures in October. It spent $3,500 on Hockey Hall of Fame "induction tickets", $970 on the Boy Scouts of America "scout night patches", and $332.67 on "tattoos" from California Tattoos Inc. New head coach Dave Tippett, who took over after Wayne Gretzky quit, received $31,000 in October.