Anaheim Will Present ‘Final’ Offer to Grizzlies

The Vancouver Grizzlies will receive today what Anaheim City Manager James Ruth calls the “last, best and final offer” for the NBA team to move to the Arrowhead Pond.

Grizzly owner Michael Heisley agreed Tuesday to entertain a revised bid from Anaheim, to be presented today in New York, one day before Heisley is scheduled to meet there with NBA Commissioner David Stern to discuss where to move his financially troubled franchise.

Heisley faces a Monday deadline to apply for NBA permission to move, with New Orleans, Louisville, Ky., and Memphis, Tenn., joining Anaheim as finalists.

“I think we’ll make a decision this weekend,” Heisley told the Vancouver Sun on Tuesday.

Heisley publicly reiterated Tuesday what he told Ruth and Pond General Manager Tim Ryan on a conference call Monday. He would love to move the Grizzlies to the Pond, he said, but he isn’t sure he can make enough money while sharing the arena--and revenue from NBA games--with Disney’s Mighty Ducks.

In addition to sweetening revenue projections, Ogden Corp., operators of the Pond, could attract Heisley by offering to pay most or all of the $16 million that could be needed to buy out the Grizzlies’ arena lease in Vancouver and by turning some of those revenue projections into revenue guarantees.

In Louisville, the parent company of Kentucky Fried Chicken has offered $100 million over 20 years for naming rights to a new arena (the KFC Bucket), naming rights to the team (the Kentucky Colonels) and advertising inside the arena and on media outlets. The $5 million a year, in one deal, would come close to matching all of what the Grizzlies could make annually in Anaheim from naming rights and arena advertising.

FedEx has offered corporate support, including naming rights, for a proposed arena in Memphis.