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| | Wednesday, November 17 | |||||
| DENVER -- Donald Sturm sought to revive his flagging deal to
buy the Denver Nuggets, the Colorado Avalanche and the Pepsi
Center, withdrawing a stipulation that would have lowered the price
of the assets and making a fresh compromise offer to the city.
Lawyer Paul Jacobs said Sturm's negotiators made the offer late
Tuesday afternoon, a day after the billionaire missed a deadline to
iron out disputes with the city that have blocked his $461 million
deal to buy the sports assets of Ascent Entertainment Group Inc.
"We have sent a letter to the city, telling the city that we are prepared to close the transaction on the terms agreed upon with Ascent if the city is prepared to accept a proposal we have made to them regarding all of the open issues between us," Jacobs said. Sturm asked Denver officials to answer by 10 a.m. Thursday. Jacobs would not discuss the specifics of the offer to the city, but he said it was a "reasonable resolution" under which each side would have to give up some ground. "I think this is a good-faith effort by Mr. Sturm to close this transaction on terms that are acceptable to him and that we believe should be acceptable to the city," he said.Sturm's inability to resolve the dispute with Denver has severely jeopardized his purchase of Denver's NBA and NHL teams and the newly built Pepsi Center, originally agreed upon last summer. Sturm and Denver reached an impasse after the city insisted on
guarantees that the Nuggets and Avalanche would remain in Denver
for 25 years even if Sturm, 67, were to die or sell a portion of
the assets. | ALSO SEE Denver, Sturm await word on dying sports deal
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