Nichols, a prominent businessman in his own right, immediately began putting together an ownership group. At the time, the Albertan economy—driven by the oilpatch—was still recovering from price crashes in the 1980s and 1990s. Most Albertan investors preferred to commit their money to the re-emerging oilpatch, not a "small-market" hockey team. With no single Albertan magnate willing to commit C$100 million to purchase the team, Nichols instead decided to secure smaller investments from a larger number of investors to make up the aggregate total. Lenders were willing to finance 40% of the purchase price, meaning Nichols needed to come up with about C$60 million. Nichols had about C$35 million in investments when an offer of US$85 million (C$120 million) came from a buyer who wanted to move the team to Houston.