The Erie Otters ownership situation has been resolved and the team will remain in Pennsylvania, according to GoErie.com, as the team will be sold at a July 10 auction for $7.225 million.
Toronto-area company JAW Hockey Enterprises LP is the lone bidder and owner James A. Waters was informed by the Otters legal team he will be awarded the team.
“I’m really excited,” Waters told GoErie.com Wednesday. “It’s a special day. The only thing I ever wanted to do besides broadcasting is own a sports franchise, most especially hockey. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get this opportunity.”
A $7.225-million price tag is big money for a junior team, but it’s understandably not much at all if you were to compare it to the big leagues.
For example, there are 29 NHL players scheduled to have a salary cap hit higher than $7.225 million for the 2015-16 season. That amount would pay for about half of Shea Weber’s 2015-16 salary, or it could almost get you a full season of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s triplet line of Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov.
