"Despite having its bid to buy the Blues rejected in April, a group led by club minority owner Tom Stillman is continuing its pursuit of purchasing the team. The Post-Dispatch reported last month that Stillman submitted an offer that was rejected by the NHL and Blues chairman Dave Checketts. Forbes Magazine valued the franchise at $165 million last year, and sources said the offer was slightly more than $100 million. After the bid was turned down, Checketts publicly put the Blues and the lease to Scottrade Center on the market on March 16, and his company, SCP Worldwide, hired Game Plan LLC to oversee the sale process. Game Plan's Robert Caporale told the Post-Dispatch last week that the process was still in the early stages, but he believed that the sale could be made final by the start of the 2011-12 season, which begins in October. To date, the only known offer for the Blues was made by Stillman, who has declined multiple attempts for comment. It's unknown if Stillman's group has made a second offer, or whether it will, but a source with knowledge of the situation said that the group remains intact and interested in owning the team. The group has strong St. Louis ties, beginning with Stillman, 59, who owns Summit Distributing, a local beer distributorship that sells Miller, Coors and Pabst products. The list of other investors in Stillman's group, according to multiple sources, includes former U.S. Sen. John "Jack" Danforth, who is Stillman's father in law; Steve Maritz, CEO of Maritz Inc., a sales and marketing services company based in Fenton; David Webster, president and CEO of Electrical Components International based in St. Louis; and Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals. Stillman became minority owner of the Blues in March 2007 and is already known to the NHL's hierarchy." Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/sports/hockey/professional/article_b23e217b-85e0-530a-9de5-d5efd9c11f1b.html
