REVIVED: Friends of the Grizzlys have $500,000 in bank

The Olds Grizzlys are certainly not on life support anymore, as representatives of the new ownership group made a presentation to the Olds Sportsmen's Recreational Association (OSRA) at last night's annual general meeting, and announced that they have raised a half million dollars through private investors.

Both Jason Jaffray, interim president of the Friends of the Grizzlys Society, and Grizz alum Mike van Tetering made a pitch to the OSRA membership, finally revealing details about the new owners, and the current status of the franchise.

After some heated debate, which included concerns over players leaving, and lack of communication with the board and coaches, the OSRA voted in favour of accepting the change in ownership effective June 30, pending approval by the AJHL.

A group of some dozen private investors – including alumni, businesses, organizations and individuals – have come up with $500,000; well beyond the final debt figure of $321,579. And they aren't done yet.

"We're happy with where we are, but we still want to get more," said van Tetering, noting that more operating capital in the bank meant a safeguard for the future.

"Instead of having to go back and do a cash call for the investors, we have that money already in a contingency plan," he said. "That's just good business right?"

To date the new ownership group has signed the purchase agreement, assumed the liabilities of the franchise, and submitted their application to incorporate as a non-profit organization.

In addition, to meet a condition set by the AJHL, the group put $105,000 into trust with the league on June 15.

Right now, two sticking points are preventing things from moving forward more quickly: the 75 days it takes for the province to process the non-profit application, and AJHL approval of the ownership change.

The group cannot officially form a board or hire staff until they've incorporated, making it difficult for them to take any organizational control at the moment.

The AJHL deadline is June 30, but there is nothing keeping the new owners from seeking approval earlier, now that they have cash in hand. The group is currently in the process of submitting ownership documents for review, and Jaffray says they are pushing to get AJHL approval sooner rather than later.

The Friends of the Grizzlys has been noticeably quiet over the past three weeks.

"We felt that we weren't in a position to say anything at that point," said van Tetering. "The transaction wasn't completed – we didn't feel like there was any point in saying 'We're here, we're here, we're here!' in case everything fell apart."

In part, he says, they were trying to avoid unrealistic expectations from the community regarding how much money they'd be able to raise, as well they wanted to respect the privacy of potential investors. Van Tetering asked that the list of owners not be published until final approval by the AJHL.

"If it did fall apart, we didn't want them chastized in the community," he said.

In addition, Jaffray said there are limitations on what the group is allowed to do, given that they aren't legal owners of the franchise yet. This includes publicizing their intentions for running the organization, updating the website, selling sponsorship or appointing the coaching staff.

"We don't want to do anything that may jeopardize some rules with the AJHL, because we don't own anything yet," added van Tetering.

At this point, neither of them expect any obstacles.

"There should be no reason why this should fall apart now," said Jaffray. "There's a lot of people that have put in a lot of work and time and effort into this in the last 28 days and we're not going to let it fall apart now."