{coyotes} Greg Jamison is set on Phoenix Coyotes' success

Friday, 7 December 2012

{coyotes} Greg Jamison is set on Phoenix Coyotes' success

GLENDALE, Ariz. - Prospective Phoenix Coyotes buyer Greg Jamison isn't offering any gimmicks or promises of dramatic change. Rather, the California businessman says he plans to nail the basics to turn the hockey franchise around.

That means putting a good product on the ice to sell more tickets, sponsorships and suites at Jobing.com Arena in Glendale.

In an interview with The Arizona Republic on Thursday, Jamison said cementing the long-term stability of the Coyotes in the desert will go a long way to building the team's popularity and bottom line.

He is relieved to have completed "a 17-month odyssey" to clinch an arena-management deal with the Glendale City Council last week.

"There's been a lot of people who have worked on the ground to keep the team here," he said, with thanks to a loyal contingent of fans.

Jamison said he hopes to finalize the purchase of the team from the National Hockey League, see an end to a lockout that has erased a third of the season and get players back on the ice.

He said he aims to get the team in position to compete for the Stanley Cup each year and someday get the ultimate prize.

Jamison saw the San Jose Sharks advance to the Stanley Cup playoffs all but two times in his 13-season tenure as president.

Some question whether the Coyotes can ever be profitable.

"With some hard work and some luck, that's where we want to be," he said.

A life in pro sports

The 62-year-old businessman has spent more than half of his life in the professional sports world, starting in marketing for NBA teams.

He joined the Sharks in 1993, and it was there, serving on the NHL board of governors and its executive committee, that he had a front-row seat on the Coyotes saga that began more than three years ago.

The Coyotes' owner at the time filed the team into bankruptcy, and the NHL wound up as temporary owners.

Jamison stepped down as president of the Sharks in 2010, and less than a year later, was pursuing the underdog Coyotes. After all, he is credited with turning around the once-struggling Sharks. He saw a similar situation in the Phoenix market.

He said the Coyotes already have a solid starting point, with fans beyond Canadian snowbirds or winter transplants.

"There's a good foundation now of NHL and hockey fans, and we just need to add to that," Jamison said, noting the need to continue to develop youth and adult hockey leagues to eventually make hockey part of the community fabric.

He compared it to Jerry Colangelo's success in developing the Phoenix Suns, which began playing in 1968 as an expansion team, as the Valley's first professional sports team.

Jamison said having the stability to be able to tell fans and sponsors that the Coyotes are here to stay will build on the team's on-ice success.

The goal is to sell out the arena, sponsorships and suites, and book more non-hockey events, from big-name concerts to family events and conventions.

"Those are the basics — you just need to execute on it," he said.

Rebuilding the business

Jamison's focus is mainly on buying the team and rebuilding the business side of it.

An option he has with Glendale to purchase the arena isn't on his priority list.

"There's the opportunity to do so, and that may be the extent of it. ... At this point, we know it's there," Jamison said.

Purchasing the arena, which the city spent $180 million to open in 2003, could rid Glendale of that debt payment.

It's unclear whether it would end the arena-management fee the city pledged, averaging $15 million annually the next 20 years.

Interim City Manager Horatio Skeete said that would have to be negotiated.

Obtaining the arena-management fees as part of the recently voted-upon deal was a long and contentious task.

A split council approved the deal with Jamison, although some called the fee excessive.

Jamison said the controversy wasn't unexpected.

"There's always going to be decisions, especially with municipalities, that are going to have opposite views," he said.

But he noted that he twice got council approval for the deal, first in June and again last week after some changes to the agreement.

Jamison said he remains optimistic about future dealings with the city.

"They've committed to it and we've committed to it, and as long as we can stay on track and go forward and things continue to go down a good path, then I think we're in good shape," he said.