Edmonton Investors Group Limited Partnership
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The Edmonton Investors Group Limited Partnership is the limited partnership which currently owns the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League, as well as the Edmonton Oil Kings of the Western Hockey League. With more than thirty individual shareholders, EIGLP is the largest ownership group in the NHL. Among the four North American major sports leagues, only the Green Bay Packers have a larger ownership group.
[edit] History
In the mid-1990s, Edmonton Oilers owner Peter Pocklington was in a precarious financial situation. Pocklington's main creditor, the Alberta Treasury Branches, were demanding repayment of millions of dollars worth of loans that ATB had made to Pocklington in the 1980s and early 1990s. The once-popular Pocklington had a strained relationship with Edmontonians due in part to his decision to trade Wayne Gretzky as well as a variety of other reasons. As a result, attendance at the Northlands Coliseum had declined - partly due to the team's declining on-ice fortunes but also due to personal animosity towards the owner.
This animosity hindered a 1996 season ticket drive that was needed to keep the team in Edmonton. It was largely due to the perseverance of future EIG partner Cal Nichols, that the Friends of the Oilers ticket drive ultimately expanded the season ticket base from a dismal 6,200 to over 13,400, enough to secure the team's future for the short term. However, it was increasingly obvious that Pocklington would not be around for the long term. In early 1997, Pocklington announced his intention to sell up to 45% of the team on the stock market. Pressure from ATB forced him to abandon this plan and put the team up for sale.
When the Oilers were put up for sale, many doubted whether a local ownership could be found and believed the proud franchise would be re-located to an American city as had happened with the teams in Quebec City in 1995 and Winnipeg in 1996. In 1997 the population of the Edmonton metropolitan area was still under one million, a figure viewed by many fans to be the minimum base a major sports team needs to be financially viable. With the only other former World Hockey Association team in Hartford re-locating in 1997, many analysts predicted that the "domino effect" would be completed in 1998 with the Oilers' move.
However, the terms of Pocklington's lease at what was then known as the Edmonton Coliseum prevented him from unilaterally moving the team or selling it to someone who intended to move it. The lease stipulated that an ownership group willing to keep the team in Edmonton would have six weeks from the time any such intention was declared to purchase the team for US$70 million. In addition, the ATB is a crown corporation owned by the Albertan government, though they treated the matter as non-political. While Albertan Premier Ralph Klein wanted to keep the Oilers in the capital, he was wary of a series of scandals involving favouritism at the ATB that had plagued his predecessor, Don Getty, in the 1980s. Klein was unwilling to make any move that might have been perceived by voters as government subsidization of a hockey club that paid multi-million dollar salaries.
Nichols, a prominent businessman in his own right, immediately began putting together an ownership group. At the time, the Albertan economy -- driven by the oilpatch -- was still recovering from price crashes in the 1980s and 1990s. Most Albertan investors preferred to commit their money to the re-emerging oilpatch, not a "small-market" hockey team. With no single Albertan magnate willing to commit $100 million to purchase the team, Nichols was forced to secure smaller investments from a larger number of investors. Lenders were willing to finance 40% of the purchase price, meaning Nichols needed to come up with about $60 million. Nichols had about $35 million in investments when an offer of US$85 million came from a buyer who wanted to move the team to Houston.
The Oilers' sale attracted interest in from several American cities, and as Nichols was securing local investors, an offer of US$85 million came from Les Alexander, a Houston-based businessman and an owner of the National Basketball Association's Houston Rockets. Houston, which had recently had an application for an expansion team rejected by the league, was (and still is) the largest U.S. city without an NHL franchise. Alexander's original offer was to keep the team in Edmonton on the condition that the lease be terminated, attendance remained at acceptable levels, a local ownership group was eventually found and an expansion team be granted to Alexander in Houston. The Edmonton City Council rejected these terms, believing they gave Alexander too much discretion to move the Oilers to Texas. The city believed the lease they negotiated with Pocklington was still the best chance they had of keeping the team in Edmonton in the long term. Alexander then offered the ATB (which had the team in receivership by then) US$85 million to purchase the team and move it to Houston, and submitted a US$5 million deposit. Nichols was given until March 13, 1998 to match the deposit and commit to purchasing the team for US$70 million, or the lease would be automatically terminated and the team would move.
Nichols was eventually able to assemble a group of 38 local investors. As the deadline neared, the Edmonton Investors Group (EIG) decided to commit to the purchase by matching Alexander's deposit with a down payment of US$5 million. The remainder of the US$70 million was paid to ATB 40 days later, and the NHL then approved the sale. Although major sporting leagues generally frown upon large ownership groups controlling franchises, the NHL decided to forego putting a team in Houston and allow the Oilers' sale to EIG to proceed as they did not want to lose any more Canadian teams - this would have put their lucrative Canadian television contracts in jeopardy.
The Edmonton Investors Group Ltd. is mainly a local ownership group, but includes a few business people from outside the city as well. The Oilers sale even drew interest from Calgary-born comic book creator Todd McFarlane, creator of the famous Spawn character. McFarlane and artist Brent Ashe later designed the Oilers’ third jersey.
The Oilers' new owners have maintained good relations with fans. As a result, fans in Edmonton backed the league-imposed lockout of 2004-05 even though it wiped out an entire season, and came back after the lockout was settled. In the 2005-06 NHL season, the Oilers sold out every home game except one, where a computer glitch prevented the release of several hundred tickets.
Following a successful 2005-06 season which saw the Oilers fall one win short of winning the Stanley Cup and an unprecedented boom in the Albertan economy, fan support reached unprecedented levels. A waiting list for season ticket buyers, unheard of during the days of Pocklington's ownership, has been put in place after the owners were compelled to cap the number of season tickets sold. The team has also announced that a lottery will be held for the right to purchase multi-game packages at Rexall Place.
[edit] Shareholders
As of July 2001, the ownership of the EIG was as follows:
| Shareholder | Type | No. held | % of vote | Citizenship |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Larry M. Makelki | Class A | 500 | 8.33% | Canadian |
| Lockhold Consultants Ltd. | Class A | 500 | 8.33% | |
| Gary Gregg | Class A | 500 | 8.33% | |
| 774791 Alberta Ltd. | Class A | 500 | 8.33% | |
| Edwin E. Bean | Class A | 500 | 8.33% | |
| Jacob Ambrosius | Class A | 400 | 6.66% | Non-Can. |
| W. Gordon Buchanan | Class A | 200 | 3.33% | Canadian |
| Skyreach Equipment Ltd. | Class A | 300 | 5.00% | |
| Art Mihalcheon | Class A | 300 | 5.00% | |
| 887877 Alberta Ltd. | Class A | 200 | 3.33% | |
| 750322 Alberta Ltd. | Class A | 300 | 5.00% | |
| The Edmonton Journal | Class A | 100 | 1.66% | |
| McFarlane Toys Canada, Inc. | Class A | 100 | 1.66% |
There are 12 other shareholders with 100 shares each and eight with less than 100 (2 of whom are non-Canadian). The non-Canadian shareholders represent 10 per cent of the voting interest of EIG.
