Yesterday morning, our friend Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News provided an update on the Stars sale. While we all here at DBD have been hoping and banking on a sale within the next two months, Heika's sources say things are moving slowly.
He said that many of the parties who are involved in negotiations are in the middle of family vacations, and that talks should pick up after Labor Day. When I asked about the Forbes report that the sale of the team could go for $275 million to $300 million, he said that there is no limit on what the final price might be, and that there are a lot of variables in what the final price might be. But he said that they are not in the final stage by any means of finding out what that price might be.
Heika also mentions that he thinks Bill Gallacher and Tom Gaglardi are still the two primary bidders, and both are being "cautious" in establishing the sale price of the Stars. In my mind, that can't be a bad thing. We all want this deal done, but the more it's rushed, the more shaky it can be. Heika notes that News Corp is out of the bidding (you all can celebrate now) and that Mark Cuban declined to comment. I'm taking that to mean that Cubes is not going to bid. But that might just be wishful thinking on my part.
And keep in mind what Heika's source said about the Forbes report; it should serve as a reminder that ANY news about the sale at this point is shaky, and should always be taken with a grain of salt. (Though, I'd trust anything Heika reports on it. If you're looking for Stars sale updates, he's the only guy you should be going to.)
Now, speaking of Heika's report, SportsNet.ca published an article online that looks eerily similar to the one Heika published. Seems like that's one talkative source. While it may just be a coincidence that SportsNets "source" sounded an awful lot like Heika's, I was reminded of yesterday's Pension Plan Puppets/Toronto Sun plagiarism fiasco.I've spent the last three years engrossed in journalism in high school as Editor-in-Chief of my paper, and am in the middle of four years studying journalism at the University of Missouri....and the amount of lazy reporting going around these days makes me shake my head in disgust.
Then again, it's because of those lazy journalists that I'll be able to find a job in a few years. So keep it up, guys! Keep your seat warm for me, will you? Maybe you can make my coffee for me some day.
(Ten points to the first person to spot the Monkey Island reference.)