A local group intent on buying the Prince George Cougars plans to file its purchase application with the Western Hockey League office late Friday afternoon.
Greg Pocock, who heads a group that includes several Prince George businessmen and NHL players Eric Brewer and Dan Hamhuis, said the agreement in principle to buy the team from Rick Brodsky has to pass a formal approval process with the WHL before it is finalized.
Assuming that does happen and he becomes the Cougars' principal owner, Pocock said the new ownership group has no intention of ever moving the team out of Prince George, despite what was reported in The Citizen when news of the pending sale first broke on March 3.
"We're not buying a team to move a team, we're buying a team to keep it in Prince George," said Pocock. "There's been no discussion about moving the team at any point in time, and certainly not within two years, which has previously been stated in the paper.
"We're a group of Prince George business people, we've lived here our whole lives and we're not interested in doing a business deal that would require us to relocate our businesses or operate elsewhere. We're here in Prince George and want to make a go of it here."
WHL commissioner Ron Robison said once an application has been filed it will take about six weeks to review the merits of the new ownership group before entering into a franchise transfer agreement.
Then it would go to a vote in a special meeting of the WHL board of governors. Approval of the sale would require a two-thirds majority.
"That normally takes about six-to-eight weeks to complete, but we normally don't start that process until such time we receive a purchase and sale agreement between the existing owner and the purchaser and we have not received anything yet," said Robison.
"We don't want to create the impression that just because a purchase may have occurred that it will be approved by the league. In fairness, it's another level of tests you go through to make sure they meet the criteria for ownership in the league."
Governors have to be in attendance at the meeting to take part in the vote. Robison said the earliest possible date for that vote would be on May 1, the day of the WHL bantam draft. Failing that, the league has set an alternate date for those discussions, June 10-11. The most recent change of WHL ownership happened in August 2013, when Jack Brodsky (Rick's brother) sold the Saskatoon Blades to Mike Priestner.
Pocock said the initial negotiations to buy the team began last September.
There was at least one other local group involved until late February, when Brodsky told that group the team had been taken off the market.
"Rick was pretty clear all along that if he could do a deal with a local group he really wanted to do what he could to keep the team here and I think that's pretty honourable," said Pocock, whose company, Prince George Hydro Mechanical, has been a group season ticket purchaser since Brodsky moved the team from Victoria in 1994.
Sources close to the deal say it is worth $7 million but Pocock said the actual purchase price will remain confidential. Brodsky could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Pocock said having the ownership involvement of former Cougars Hamhuis and Brewer, both of whom are prominent defencemen on their NHL teams, is key to the future success of the Cougars. He got to know Hamhuis, a member of the Vancouver Canucks, during the summer while he and his wife Sarah were in Prince George awaiting the birth of their daughter. In their discussions about buying the Cougars, Hamhuis suggested the offer also be extended to Brewer, who plays for the Tampa Bay Lightning.
"Dan was excited to jump on board and he and I and a couple other guys discussed potential NHL guys to be involved and Dan was very clear that he felt that Eric was the right guy," said Pocock.
"We didn't just need NHL guys, we needed NHL guys who were former Cougars from the north who understand how things are done up here and the potential for this market. We limited it to those two guys because they bring a lot to the table.
"They have the connections and they are doing so much for us behind the scenes right now as far as our preparation and doing background on potential people we're looking to hire.
"They're not doing it because it's a way to get rich, they're not doing this for any other reason than they believe in the city and believe in the team and they want to preserve their legacies. The biggest thing is kids coming to Prince George know they have the ear of NHL-level people and opportunities will come from that, and I think that's pretty exciting if you're an up and coming junior star."
The Cougars have ranked last in attendance at CN Centre over the past three seasons and there's been a steady decline - from an average of 2,047 in 2011-12 to 1,840 in 2012-13 to an all-time Cougars' low 1,693 this past season.
"There's no question it's not viable under the current circumstances," said Robison.
"It needs to be revived and brought back to levels that will be acceptable. We've always said we believe Prince George is a good market, very strong and more than capable of supporting a WHL franchise and we're hopeful that will happen in the future. It was one of the best at one time."
