 |
 |
| | Tuesday, November 16 | |||||
| DENVER -- The proposed sale of the Denver Nuggets, the Colorado Avalanche and the Pepsi Center collapsed Monday night when city officials could not agree to terms with billionaire Donald Sturm.
Ascent Entertainment Group, which had agreed to sell the teams
and arena to Sturm for $461 million, said it would not extend its
Monday deadline for a deal.
"I would say there's not much optimism," Ascent CEO Jim Cronin said. However, he stopped short of calling the sale dead, saying, "Neither party has terminated the agreement." Sturm, 67, agreed to buy the sports assets in August, but the deal hit a roadblock when Mayor Wellington Webb insisted on guarantees that the Nuggets and Avalanche remain in Denver for the next 25 years even if Sturm died or sold a portion of the assets. "While the latest development is disappointing, it does not
lessen my commitment to protect the taxpayers of Denver and the
sports fans of the Rocky Mountain region," Webb said late Monday. |  | |||||