Sale of Oilers Is Stymied by Edmonton Deal

The proposed sale of the National Hockey League’s Edmonton Oilers is off, blocked by owner Peter Pocklington’s three-year-old promise to keep the team in the city until at least 2004.

Pocklington said the agreement he reached to sell the team to Les Alexander, owner of the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association, would have allowed Alexander to move the team after the 1999-2000 season.

Instead, the city of Edmonton, Northlands Park and Economic Development Edmonton wouldn’t allow a change to an agreement they reached with Pocklington in 1994 that keeps the team in the city until at least 2004. In return, Pocklington got control of the Northlands Coliseum for $2 million a year.

Pocklington, who has said the Oilers lost about $6 million last season, put the team up for sale four months ago. He said he and Alexander agreed on a sale price on Oct. 27. Pocklington was seeking $85 million for the team.

“The deal is the best and maybe the only way NHL hockey will survive in the long run in Edmonton,” Pocklington said. “Mr. Alexander came to Edmonton with the best of intentions to be the good guy.”

Alexander, who unsuccessfully sought an expansion team for Houston earlier this year, planned to keep the Oilers in Edmonton until 2000, get an expansion team for Houston, then sell the Oilers to a local group, Pocklington said.

“Based on the reception he received and how the officials rebuffed him by not even considering changes to the location agreement, he has decided to return to Houston and consider his options,” Pocklington said.

Alexander said he hopes an agreement can still be reached.

“Deals of this magnitude take many twists and turns,” Alexander said in a statement released by the Rockets, “and if in the future something can be worked out amicably so that Edmonton could have an opportunity to keep the team in the city and Houston could get an expansion team, we would still be willing to work that out.”

In the meantime, Pocklington said he will accept offers from local groups.

“I’ve said all along I will consider local offers,” he said. “Right now, there have been no local buyers, no firm offers. All I’ve had are people saying ‘here’s $10 million now and catch the rest later.”’

The Oilers have struggled since winning five Stanley Cups in a seven-year stretch ending in 1990, with Wayne Gretzky leading the way for the first four.

The Oilers are in fourth place in the Pacific Division with a 5-7-2 record heading into today’s game against the New York Islanders. The team has averaged 16,149 fans in the 17,099-seat Coliseum for eight home games this season.

The team made the playoffs last season after missing them for four years. The Oilers finished 36-37-9, and upset the Dallas Stars in the first round of the playoffs before losing to the Colorado Avalanche.

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