Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but a potential lender in the proposed sale of the Lightning has fallen through. A report in Sports Business Journal today cited unnamed sources that CIT had pulled out of a financing deal to bankroll Oren Koules and his partnership group in a $200 million deal to buy the team from Palace Sports and Entertainment.

The story also quoted Palace Sports CEO Tom Wilson is stating that PS&E is willing to help with some of the financing of deal, but didn’t specify as to the amount of purchase they are willing to front. The magazine gave this example as to what might take place, and remember, this is only an example:

“What PS&E may do is accept say, by way of example, $50 million less than the purchase price and require interest-only payments over the course of a few years on that amount, with the rest of the price paid at the end of that period. The expectation would be the finance markets will settle down in that time frame and the buyer, in this case Koules, could then obtain traditional financing’’

After doing some digging today on the subject, I can tell you that Sports Business report is a bit misleading as it paints yet another doom and gloom scenario in the on-again, off-again sale of the team that has been on and off so many times since August, it’s hard to keep track of the truth. But as Wilson also said in the SBJ report, the sale “is still on.’’

I’ll pass along more information as I get it.

UPDATE

Gang, the sale if nearly complete. Palace Sports and Entertainment will ultimately end up being the primary lender for the time being to get the sale finalized. Because of the landscape in the financial world, getting somebody to loan out $100 million is a rocky road to travel right now. And in some ways, having Palace Sports act as the primary lender is a plus from the league perspective because that way in case Koules defaults on anything and can’t handle the financial strain of ownership, Palace Sports holds the mortgage. That avoids the potential headache of a bank foreclosing on a loan and a new owner having to be found. Of course, should the climate clear up in the marketplace in the near future, Koules would be able to seek a traditional loan allowing Palace Sports to make themselves free and clear of a franchise they are despartely looking to shed themselves of as quick as they can.

Here’s a strong quote from Lightning president Ron Campbell from late today: “Once all the financial documents are agreed upon, which should happen this week, the last remaining hurdle is NHL approval.’’

Yes, believe it or not, this thing may finally be coming to a conclusion. And what a long, strange journey it’s been!!!!