Blues Finally Sold

The St. Louis Blues have scheduled a news conference for this afternoon to announce the sale of the team and its home, the Savvis Center, to a group headed by Dave Checketts, the owner of Real Salt Lake in Major League Soccer and the former president of the New York Knicks. Chceketts must be approved by the NHL owners but has put up a $10 million non-refundable deposit, a fairly good sign that he and the Lauries, the current owners, have done their homework about his chances for approval.

This is the second time around for Checketts and the Lauries as on September 29, he entered a 30 day exclusive negotiating period that terminated without a deal. After that deal fell apart, the Lauries tried to sell the club and the arena another group without success. In the meantime, the club was hemmorhaging money and they began selliing off higher priced players. Attendance plummeted and the Blues went from the sixth highest attendance in the league to near the bottom. Of course, being near theh bottom of the standings didn't help either. So, one day after being mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, the Blues get new life with new ownership. It couldn't happen to a better franchise.