By Mark Scott
Buffalo, NY – Monday marks yet another National Hockey League deadline for Buffalo businessman Mark Hamister in his quest to buy the Buffalo Sabres.
Hamister says it's difficult to suggest how long the process to buy the team will take. But he and partner Todd Berman are hoping to meet a deadline to sign an asset purchase agreement that would give him exclusive rights to buy the franchise and secure the team's future in Buffalo.
Hamister says this is a "very complex" transaction.
"It's complex for the creditors, it's complex for Adelphia and it is complex for the league," Hamister said. "Let's remember the last guy that bought this team took two years to go through what I've been spending just a couple of months on."
The Sabres bankruptcy will weigh heavily in the new ownership deal. It will be up to the bankruptcy court to approve the final bid. Hamister says the bankruptcy could go two ways -- it could be "relatively painless or extremely messy."
"For example, in our proposed purchase, we are suggesting that the payables be given to us, and whatever the value of those payables are as of the closing date, that be a credit off the purchase price," Hamister explained. "The reason we are doing that is to make sure all these little vendors in Western New York that have been selling, in good faith, goods and services to the Buffalo Sabres get paid."
Adelphia Communications is also a major component in the deal to purchase the Sabres. Late last week Hamister revised his proposals to Adelphia which is owed millions of dollars from the hockey club.
"There's been other proposals that have been talked about over the course of the week that suggest those are Adelphia problems," he said. "Well, if they become Adelphia problems they become problems of the bankruptcy court. It could very well be those particular creditors wind up with little to nothing."
The NHL has granted Hamister four separate deadlines to complete his asset agreement. Commissioner Gary Bettman hinted over the weekend that there would be no more extensions.
Hamister and Berman could still pursue their purchase if they don't meet the deadline. But the team could also be offered to other bidders.
Hamister said he would update Bettman on whether he'll meet the league's deadline to complete his purchase.