Jim Balsillie has put in an offer on the Phoenix Coyotes.

guaranteeed

guaranteeed

Pretty much a regular
According to a media release, the Blackberry billionaire's offer of $212.5 million (U.S.) for the team is conditional on the franchise relocating to Southern Ontario.

"The current team ownership asked that I table an offer to purchase the Coyotes and significant discussions resulted in an offer that is in the best interests of the franchise, the NHL, and the great hockey fans of Canada and Southern Ontario," Balsillie said in the release.

"I am excited to move closer to bringing an NHL franchise to what I believe is one of the best un-served hockey markets in the world, Southern Ontario. A market with devoted hockey fans, a rich hockey history, a growing and diversified economy and a population of more than 7 million people," he said.

from TSN

Bettman is dumb, no question. But with Balsillie releasing this on his own I think he is trying to force it.

The fact that this guy has been denied an NHL franchise over the last 5 years is stupid.
 
Here come the Hamilton Snow Flurries.

Smart money says Bettman tries to block this for almost all the wrong reasons.

It would be interesting to see the Gretzky saga come full circle, though. With a team he's involved with returning back to Canada.
 
Even the Phoenix owners want this to happen, I dont see how this gets stopped.

And I think the Gretzky factor could be enough to convince Bettman, if he says he would be involved with the new team in Ontario it would happen sooner rather than later
 
The problem is, it almost forces realignment.

You can keep them in the Western Conference, I suppose, but you can't keep them in that division. But what you really want is them playing Toronto and Buffalo a lot. So what do you do?

You could put them in the Central, maybe move Nashville or Columbus to the Northwest and kick Vancouver into the Pacific.

But it's kind of a mess.

You really couldn't move them to the EC because you couldn't put them where you'd want them, in the Northeast. Because you can't really move a team out of there.
 
Ya just looking at the list I dont see any team that could move from the East to the West. So most likely they would have to stay in the West and move to the central where they are close enough to Detroit and Colombus.

Vancouver would never go to the pacific though, not with Edmonton and Calgary in the Northwest, they wouldn't break up those rivalries.

They may just have to re align the divisions, or change the name of the pacific to the southwest and somehow put Nashville there.
 
I say yes. The coyotes are giving free tickets with 40 oz liquor purchases for God sake. Big problem is a move to southern ontario almost will destroy buffalo.
 
Yeah, it's a total mess. There are a few divisions that are kind of untouchable, basically.

The only team you could really touch in the Northwest is Colorado. But they've started to develop a rivalry with Edmonton a little bit. You could bump them to the Pacific, maybe, because Dallas is there and the flights to the West Coast aren't that bad. But Nashville's damn near in the eastern time zone, so to have them flying to Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton all year just doesn't work.

Oddly, they could fit somewhat in the Southeast--a division rife with franchises ready for, if not destined for, failure.

But you can't touch the Northeast (Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Buffalo, Boston), nor can you really touch the Atlantic (Pitt, NJ, NYR, NYI, Philly) even though Pitt is a little on the fringe, but that whole division is rivalries going back 30 years now.
 
Big problem is a move to southern ontario almost will destroy buffalo.

I don't think any sports league truly cares about Buffalo, to be honest. I think they see them as a legacy and a nice-to-have. But I think this is still why Bettman will fight it. I don't think he believes there's enough money in the region to support three teams.

But the reality is, putting Hamilton in there, though it may seem counter-intuitive, may actually 'increase' interest in the Sabres if the league promotes it the right way.

I would immediately have those three teams compete for a cup of some sort. Nothing official, but something maybe like rivalry colleges play for every year that trades hands to the winner every year. No extra games or anything, but just those records broken out between those three in sort of a gentleman's agreement for this prize. It would make it a regional rivalry and pump up interest.
 
CBC just said that the procedure of the selling of the Coyotes will go before a judge next week and could be finalized by june 30th
 
I think the region probably could support 3 teams. And I think that's a good idea you have Joe.
 
Sabres are pretty popular in the niagara falls / st catherines type areas, would be interesting to see the loyatly lines and how tight they are to the Sabres.

Hamilton would need to kick start a new arena and fast, depending on how fast they'd want it to work. That aud is ancient
 
I just hope theres no more experiments and the team goes to Canada. I was listening to Bob hartley talk about his days in Atlanta, he said he had to make his own interviews because the sportswriter covering the thrashers knew nothing of hockey and what questions to ask.
 
I think the region probably could support 3 teams. And I think that's a good idea you have Joe.

Thank you, Cat. I appreciate that.
 
do note the 'southern ontario'

doesnt necessarily mean Hamilton, but that would be the no brainer from that region
 
doesnt necessarily mean Hamilton, but that would be the no brainer from that region

Look at you, you're getting psyched to be a Flurries fan already.

th_Flurries.png
 
If you want to have some semblance of regional integrity, I could see Boston moving to the Atlantic, Hamilton takes their spot in the Northeast, Pittsburgh makes the big jump to the Western Conference into the Central (devloping rivalries with Columbus and Detroit and reigniting their old rivalry with St Louis), Colorado moves to the Pacific, and Chicago takes their spot in the Northwest.
 
Pittsburgh makes the big jump to the Western Conference into the Central

Unacceptable. You can't take away Pens/Flyers. Nor can you remove Boston/Montreal. Boston has zero rivalries in the Atlantic. Can't do it.
 
Boston-Rangers? That has appeal. Boston-Philly is a natural extension of their NBA rivalry. It's a good fit. They'll still get 4 battles with Montreal every year, and with conference seeding they can matchup in the playoffs at any time just like now.

The Pens would be a sell, but I would think they kinda owe the NHL for their support on the new arena, for the new collective bargaining agreement, and even for the Crosby sweepstakes. No team has been helped during Bettman's tenure more than the Pens.

Plus Columbus would become a great natural rival, their only 3 hours away, and Detroit is the same distance as Philly. The Pitt/Philly city rivalry is a little overrated, it's only in play in hockey, baseball killed it years ago and it never existed in the NFL. And as rivalries go, it's been so-so, it's always had one side or the other as dominant.
 
really 3 places...

seems reasonable to Yotes creditors etc.

would need to be 218 mil offer to buy to keep it in PHx
 
Jim Balsillie confirmed Tuesday that he has offered to pay $212.5 million US to purchase the Phoenix Coyotes on condition that the financially troubled NHL team relocates to southern Ontario.
Balsillie, 48, made the offer to Coyotes majority owner Jerry Moyes, saying he'll buy the beleaguered team as long as he can move it to the Kitchener-Waterloo region, where he oversees Research In Motion Ltd., maker of the popular BlackBerry mobile device.
Balsillie also agreed to provide $17 million US in bridge financing to permit the team to remain in operation in advance of the proposed sale.
Coyotes ownership formally filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Tuesday, at which time the Balsillie bid, which was mentioned in the bankruptcy court filing, came to light.
"The current team ownership asked that I table an offer to purchase the Coyotes, and significant discussions resulted in an offer that is in the best interests of the franchise, the NHL and the great hockey fans of Canada and southern Ontario," Balsillie said in a statement.
"I am excited to move closer to bringing an NHL franchise to what I believe is one of the best unserved hockey markets in the world — southern Ontario — a market with devoted hockey fans, a rich hockey history, a growing and diversified economy and a population of more than seven million people."
The NHL reacted swiftly, responding to the petition for sale and relieving Moyes of his duties with the Coyotes.
"We have just become aware of today's bankruptcy court filing purportedly made on behalf of the Phoenix Coyotes," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement.
"We are investigating the circumstances surrounding the petition, including the propriety of its filing. We have removed Jerry Moyes from all positions of authority to act for or on behalf of the club."
A spokesman for the city of Glendale, Ariz., where the team's arena is located, told reporters last week that the NHL had assumed control of the Coyotes and that the team ownership paid $351,000 US in overdue rent on Feb. 25 — reportedly after receiving a unspecified loan from the league.
"Extensive efforts have been undertaken to sell the team or attract additional investors who would keep the team in Glendale," Moyes told the Arizona Republic. Moyes told the newspaper that the court process will attach a new owner and location to the Coyotes by June 30, but the sale of the franchise will still need league approval.
"The league will appear and proceed before the bankruptcy court in the best interests of all the club's constituencies, including its fans in Arizona and the league's 29 other member clubs," Daly said.
 
No team has been helped during Bettman's tenure more than the Pens.

I have problems with this only because I have a very good memory of when the Pens were in bankruptcy and Bettman was about to sell the team off for parts. He may have helped with the arena, but I think they helped themselves in many ways just as much.

Let's not forget, it was the run up to the lockout that forced the Pens to decimate their own roster. Yeah, they got some great draft picks, but they gave up All Stars to get 'em.

Truthfully, and this isn't directed toward you, but I'm still of the mindset that the NHL can go f**k themselves for all the f**king help those c*cksuckers were to the Pens when that team was almost run out of the 'Burgh. And, frankly, if how they weren't there forced them to overcompensate and step in to help with the arena deal or whatever, to me, that's like a makeup call for the one they blew earlier.

Honestly, just talking about it reminds me how much I despise Bettman.

The good news is that I can't possibly see them, even as stupid as Bettman is, thinking that removing the rivalry of Pens/Flyers would be a good thing for anyone. Ditto Boston/Montreal.

What I think gets lost a lot of times in marketing the NHL is that, unlike almost evey other sport save maybe baseball, it hasn't really yet transcended the intimate regional rivalries and the history.

The NBA has sold its soul to the hot team and the superstar--and will try to build any rivialry they can from it. If it calls back to great NBA history (i.e., Celtics/Lakers) so be it, but like baseball, if they could have NY vs. LA every year in the Finals they'd trake it because TV and ancilary revenue are more important.

Hockey's not that way because the money's not there. So when Philly comes to Pittsburgh the game sells out, when the Rangers come it sells out. But when you bring in even a really good team from another Conference it's just not the same.
 
from Bob McKenzie at TSN

Do you know why I went to journalism school?

Because I was too dumb to become a lawyer or an accountant, yet here I am having to make sense of legal and financial issues that are way beyond my pay grade.

So let's see if we can navigate our way through this maze that is the Phoenix Coyotes, Chapter 11 bankruptcy and Jim Balsillie's $212.5 million (USD) offer to purchase (conditional on the franchise being relocated to southern Ontario).

The first thing you need to know is that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman was in Phoenix today, ostensibly to put the finishing touches on an intent to purchase agreement from Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, whose intention was to apparently keep the financially-troubled Coyotes in their current home of Glendale, which is also home to Reinsdorf's spring-training baseball facility (a mile away from the Coyotes' Jobing.com Arena). That offer was expected to materialize within the next few days.

We don't know a lot about the Reinsdorf deal but suffice to say it likely wasn't in the $212.5 million range.

In any case, today's events clearly caught everyone, from the Coyotes' staff to the NHL head office, completely off guard.

Coyotes' owner Jerry Moyes, who is in deep debt as a result of his ownership of the franchise, circumvented whatever offer to purchase might have been coming from Reinsdorf by filing for Chapter 11 (reorganization) bankruptcy with an Arizona court. This was obviously done because Moyes was aware that Balsillie was prepared to make an immediate offer to purchase the moment the bankruptcy was filed.

It would seem obvious that Moyes knew that Balsillie's offer of $212.5 million was far more than anything that was coming from Reinsdorf or anyone else who might be interested in keeping the team in Phoenix. As the team's largest unsecured creditor to the tune of more than $100 million - unsecured creditors only get proceeds from the sale after secured creditors are looked after – Moyes knew his best chance of getting remuneration was with a bankruptcy-induced sale proposal from Balsillie.

Balsillie's bid of $212.5 million is what is known as a ''stalking horse bid.'' All that effectively means is that Balsillie's bid officially kicks off an official auction process. If anyone chooses to outbid Balsillie, they must do so by at least $5 million. The bankruptcy court is obliged to accept the highest offer that provides the best financial relief to the secured creditors, which ironically includes the NHL as the second largest ($35 million). It is unfathomable to think anyone would make the $217.5 million offer to keep the team in Phoenix.

But where this starts to get confusing is the conditional aspect of the offer. Balsillie is only prepared to pay $212.5 million as long as the franchise is moved to southern Ontario.

And that is not something, it would appear, that Moyes or Balsillie can arbitrarily achieve on their own.

The question then becomes, can a bankruptcy court in Arizona mandate the NHL to relocate or transfer a franchise in order to satisfy the needs of the Coyotes' secured creditors?

It's an interesting legal question and without putting words in anyone's mouth – no one is commenting anyway – the safe bet is that Balsillie's group believes that's a possibility while the NHL doesn't believe a bankruptcy court can tell it how to conduct its affairs.

In fact, based on the press release issued by the NHL in the wake of the bankruptcy filing, it's clear the league questions even more than that.

The wording of the NHL press release suggests the league believes Moyes was perhaps not within his rights to file the bankruptcy claim and that he, by virtue of the NHL monies forwarded to the team since October, may not have been in control of the franchise. In any case, the league said it has now ''removed'' Moyes as an official of the club.

Clearly, the league is at odds with Moyes and vice versa.

We don't need to provide a history of Balsillie's relationship with the NHL, but twice he has attempted to purchase, and relocate, NHL franchises and twice he has failed to accomplish that. Balsillie has demonstrated he's committed to putting a second team in southern Ontario.

For now, the next big development would appear to be coming out of the bankruptcy court, which convenes on Thursday. Although it's quite possible the NHL will mount a legal challenge even before then to challenge Moyes' authority to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

But let's assume the case does get to bankruptcy court. If the bankruptcy court deems that it cannot enforce the ''relocation'' aspect of the Balsillie offer, then it would be obliged to take the best ''unconditional'' offer. In other words, if someone else – Reinsdorf? – came in and made a lesser financial offer than Balsillie but attached no conditions on location or financing, that offer would ultimately have to be accepted.

But if the bankruptcy court deems it can enforce the ''relocation'' or ''transfer'' of the franchise from Phoenix to southern Ontario, then the sale to Balsillie can be accepted, although you would have to believe the NHL would legally challenge the validity of a court claim of that nature.

Whether the Coyotes' reportedly ''iron-clad'' lease with the city of Glendale is a factor is another issue entirely.

The potential for this to be a legal quagmire appears to be extremely high.

In the meantime, Balsillie will mount a massive and no doubt highly successful public relations campaign to add a seventh Canadian franchise. In fact, as soon as the story broke, Balsillie already had a website – www.makeitseven.ca – up and running. Balsillie will drape himself in the flag and with rampant backing from the majority of Canadian hockey fans, and probably the unofficial support of the NHL Players' Association, beat the drum for the NHL to endorse the move of a financially-troubled sunbelt franchise to a more revenue-friendly venue in the home of hockey.

Where precisely in southern Ontario Balsillie would put the Coyotes remains to be seen. In the past, it has always been Hamilton, but Balsillie's bid this time carefully omitted a specific location and only identified ''southern Ontario'' and an ''unserved'' market. How all that plays out in terms of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Buffalo Sabres remains to be seen.

The NHL, meanwhile, is likely to battle Balsillie on the issue of ''control.'' While the league will get destroyed in the court of public opinion in Canada, it is quite likely to exert what it perceives to be its legal rights on how it does business. That is, the league believes it ultimately controls who owns NHL franchises and where they are located.

To do that, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman will ultimately require the backing of the board of governors, but he has had it in the past. It remains to be seen whether he has it this time, but this has all the makings of a battle royale.

The battle lines are clearly drawn. While Bettman and the NHL will take a beating in that court of public opinion in Canada, one suspects this situation will ultimately be decided in a legal court.
 
and Bettman doesn't think the NHL owners will approve, if thats true they must not like free money.

NEW YORK - NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is skeptical of Jim Balsillie's offer to buy the Phoenix Coyotes, saying he isn't sure the BlackBerry boss could gain approval of league owners.

The co-CEO of Research In Motion announced a US$212.5-million offer to buy the financially ailing Coyotes on Tuesday night. The deal is conditional on moving the club to southern Ontario.

"I don't know whether or not he could get approved," Bettman said Wednesday during a discussion of commissioners from the four major U.S. pro sports leagues, sponsored by The Wall Street Journal. "That's, as I said, something I don't get a vote on. If in fact it becomes an issue for board consideration, the board of governors of the league will make that decision."

The NHL has stripped current Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes of the authority to run the club after Moyes announced the team had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The filing included the proposed sale of the franchise to PSE Sports & Entertainment, LP.

Bettman said the filing occurred "not because creditors were lurking and seeking redress for not being paid, but because there was an offer apparently from Mr. Balsillie to buy the franchise and move it."

"This is not about whether or not we want a franchise in southern Ontario. This is not about whether or not Mr. Balsillie would make a suitable owner that the owners would approve. This is about the league's rules and the enforceability of our rules," Bettman said.

"Whether or not Mr. Moyes even had the authority to file the bankruptcy petition is something we're going to get into. This is more about the tactic and I think a challenge to league rules than it is about economic condition of the club, which we believe can with new ownership and with the accommodations the city of Glendale is prepared to make, we think can succeed."

Bettman sounded as if the league wouldn't approve a move of the Coyotes right now.

"We generally try to avoid relocating franchises unless you absolutely have to," he said. "We think when a franchise is in trouble, you try and fix the problems. That's what we did in Pittsburgh and Ottawa and Buffalo prior to our work stoppage. That's what we did when the perception was that five out of the six Canadian franchises around the turn of the century were in trouble. We fixed the problems. We don't run out on cities."

NHL Players' Association head Paul Kelly said the Coyotes situation must be resolved quickly for the sake of the league, the 2009-10 schedule and players who need to organize their lives.

"You can't let the thing linger I would say much past the end of the month of June," Kelly told The Canadian Press at the IIHF World Hockey Championship in Switzerland. "I'm hopeful the sides can either come together or the court will make the time to resolve these issues."

Kelly, who in the past has said the NHL needs to consider putting another NHL team in southern Ontario, said the union would support a stable and profitable situation in Phoenix.

"If that can't happen, I've said it many times that I think the league should seriously look at putting another team in southern Ontario -- either in Toronto or in the Hamilton/Kitchener area," he said.

"I think there's incredible enthusiasm for hockey in southern Ontario, certainly they could support a second team. At this point, it's out of our hands but we will be watching it with real closeness and we'll be keeping our players advised throughout the process."

Kelly expressed little surprise that Balisille's bid wasn't being welcomed by Bettman with open arms.

"This is his third attempt at buying a franchise and moving them," said Kelly. "I haven't been involved in any of his prior efforts but I'm certainly well aware that (the NHL) doesn't like to be strong-armed. And the league believes that it has a number of legal and technical manoeuvres that it can take to block anybody that tries to forcibly enter the ownership group.

"We want what's best for hockey, we want what's best for the players and the game. If that turns out to be Phoenix, then great, we'll support it. If it turns out that bringing in a new owner and moving that franchise to southern Ontario, where it will be extremely well-received, if that's what ultimately evolves than that would be great for our players."
 
Gandolf said:
If you want to have some semblance of regional integrity, I could see Boston moving to the Atlantic, Hamilton takes their spot in the Northeast, Pittsburgh makes the big jump to the Western Conference into the Central (devloping rivalries with Columbus and Detroit and reigniting their old rivalry with St Louis), Colorado moves to the Pacific, and Chicago takes their spot in the Northwest.
Click to expand...

I think the problem with that is that they do not like to break up Original Six rivalries.

That was why they moved Toronto back to the Eastern conference so they could be in a division with Montreal and Boston, along with Ottawa.

I don't think they want to break up Pittsburgh and Philadelphia either.

I still think the only option they would have is to move them to the central and then a team like Nashville to the Pacific, even though that doesn't make any geographical sense. Because St.Louis, Chicago and Detroit probably won't be broken up, and Columbus made a big deal when coming in to the league of being in the same division as Detroit for the Ohio/Michigan rivalry.

I don't think its a huge deal to get the southern Ontario Coyotes in to the Eastern Conference at this point because with the new schedule they would still have a home and home with the Leafs.
 
"We generally try to avoid relocating franchises unless you absolutely have to," he said. "We think when a franchise is in trouble, you try and fix the problems. That's what we did in Pittsburgh and Ottawa and Buffalo prior to our work stoppage. That's what we did when the perception was that five out of the six Canadian franchises around the turn of the century were in trouble. We fixed the problems. We don't run out on cities
Click to expand...


fuck you Gary... how about that?
 
"We generally try to avoid relocating franchises unless you absolutely have to," he said. "We think when a franchise is in trouble, you try and fix the problems. That's what we did in Pittsburgh and Ottawa and Buffalo prior to our work stoppage. That's what we did when the perception was that five out of the six Canadian franchises around the turn of the century were in trouble. We fixed the problems.

How many cities do you think take issue with that statement, six, seven?
Santa's reaction is the right one. That guy deserves the finger at every turn.
 
How many cities do you think take issue with that statement, six, seven?
Santa's reaction is the right one. That guy deserves the finger at every turn.
Click to expand...

sounds about right... unreal the nerve of Bettman... even his chocie of words...'the perception'.... the perception is that hockey doesnt fly in just about every freaking city you've chosen to expand to, but relocate teams out of WInnipeg, Quebec, Minnesota... come on, the only team that I didnt think would fly in that city is Dallas...

Guess what numnuts... I just looked at ticketmaster, not stub hub or anything and can get 4 seats side by side in the lower bowl for 140 bucks... first search. Think you could do that in any Canadian city, you'd have to sell your left nut and people would do that to see a playoff game.

Lets put teams in PHX, 2 in Florida, Carolina, Tennessee... anywhere but a hockey city... that outta do wonders for the league and economics
 
Joe supports that rant.

He would also buy the 13 minute extended remix of it off iTunes, he just supports it that much.
 
If Bettman could check his massive ego at the door and realize any offer is in the best interest of the league and hockey revenues its a no brainer. The league hates to lose battles, but the reason Ballsilie had to go this route is because the league has fucked him over time and again.

What sense does it make to help a team who cant even help itself?

I think Bettman just to spite Ballsilie would rather see a team in Mexico than in Souther Ontario...

I was designing stuff for the Snow Flurries logo contest too
 
Thats the thing that doesn't make sense. I was looking on ticketmaster in round 1 for prices of tickets in other cities.

You could get quality lower bowl seats in Anaheim for 60$, when I went to game 2 of the Canucks series the price on the ticket was 268. And I know for this round they are 448.

And you don't want more teams in Canada Bettman?
 
This guy at ESPN.com has always been a horrible writer, but this is just terrible. You almost wonder if Bettman asked him to do this.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/story?columnist=burnside_scott&id=4146131

In the end, you have to ask yourself this question about BlackBerry lord Jim Balsillie and his quixotic quest for an NHL franchise: Does he really want a team, or is he more interested in kicking sand in commissioner Gary Bettman's corn flakes?

It's a fair question following Balsillie's latest bid to join the NHL owners club, an offer of a whopping $212.5 million for the troubled Phoenix Coyotes provided he can move them to Southern Ontario.

Like his earlier bids to acquire and then move the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Nashville Predators, this gambit looks like it has almost no hope of succeeding in large part because Balsillie continues to try the old end-around as opposed to a more conciliatory approach.


AP Photo/Dave Chidley
After failing to land past bids with Pittsburgh and Nashville, Jim Balsillie is trying again with the Phoenix Coyotes.
Diplomacy definitely is not in Balsillie's vocabulary, and he appears more like a man who believes that simply because he is richer than rich, Canadian and owns a pair of skates and a stick, it is his birthright to own an NHL franchise.

Guess what? Balsillie is not the only rich guy in the room, although his actions regularly suggest he thinks he is. And trying to put the NHL in a headlock and make it say, "Uncle! You can be an owner" is never going to play. Not with Bettman as commissioner. That's why this latest scheme smacks of trying not just to land a team, but to create a pressure point where the NHL owners have to decide between Bettman and Balsillie.

That strategy, if indeed it's part of the dynamic here, seems fatally flawed.

We recall talking to an NHL owner a couple of years ago when Balsillie had been denied in his attempts to secure the Predators, a bid marked by his soliciting down payments on season tickets for a team in Hamilton, Ontario. What was wrong with Balsillie, we asked? After all, he is a passionate hockey guy and is certainly rich and smart, something that hasn't necessarily been the case with all NHL owners past and present.

The owner explained that, with the salary cap in place, owning an NHL team is an attractive bauble for rich people who like to have their toys, whether they're big yachts or race horses or sports teams. This owner figured there would always be demand for teams, which is why potential owners have to act nice. They can't run around like secret squirrels trying to sneak into the club. Which is exactly what Balsillie has consistently done; it is what he has done with this latest bid.

Balsillie and Jerry Moyes, the trucking magnate who continues to lose around $40 million annually on the Coyotes, cooked up this deal on the sly. How's that for loyalty, by the way? Moyes has been getting handouts and advances from the NHL for months to help his cash-strapped team stay afloat, and then he slithers around behind the league's back, quietly declaring his team bankrupt to pave the way, in theory, for Balsillie to buy the Coyotes and move them out of town.

Honorable? Hardly.

You know how this is going to play in Canada, of course.

Balsillie has already set up a Web site to attract support for the repatriation of one of Canada's NHL franchises, the Coyotes having left Winnipeg in 1996.

No one seems to remember the team moved because the prairie city couldn't afford to have an NHL team. It still can't, but that doesn't stop Canadians pining for more NHL franchises in the Great White North. So, Balsillie is seen in many Canadians as a great champion of their grand game.

Some in the Canadian media like to portray Balsillie as the white knight to Bettman's evil scientist, intent on performing unspeakable experiments on the game they hold so near and dear.

The Phoenix experiment, of course, has been a disaster, both on the ice and in the board room. A series of woeful business decisions made by Moyes and his former partners have conspired to make the future bleak in the desert. But the future looked bleak in other NHL cities in the past. Remember when it looked like Calgary would lose its team? Or Ottawa? Or Buffalo? Or Pittsburgh? The league stayed the course and those are all healthy markets now.

Could Phoenix be another example? Maybe. Maybe not.

At the very moment Moyes was filing Chapter 11 papers Tuesday, TSN of Canada reported Bettman was in Phoenix to discuss with Moyes a potential offer from Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf. Once Bettman found out about the bankruptcy/Balsillie scenario, those discussions didn't take place. Shortly thereafter, Moyes was stripped of his duties by the NHL, setting the stage for what will be an ugly court case over the bankruptcy and the ownership bid.

No doubt Reinsdorf wouldn't be interesting in paying what Balsillie is offering, but that always has been Balsillie's strategy: overpay because he can.

Would the Coyotes be better off somewhere in Southern Ontario? Everyone assumes another franchise in or near Toronto, the country's biggest city, would be an instant money-maker. And given recent meetings held with local businessmen and deputy commissioner Bill Daly in Toronto, Balsillie isn't the only one who thinks so.

It behooves the NHL and its partner, the NHL Players' Association, which tacitly supports the addition of another Canadian team because of the potential revenue boost it would represent, to do a detailed study on whether another Ontario team is valid. And it behooves them to make those findings public. The study should include what the impact would be on the Buffalo Sabres, who draw heavily from the Niagara region, and the mighty Maple Leafs.

Let's not guess or assume it would work, let's find out.

It would make more sense than trying to ram yourself down the league's throat, as Balsillie seems intent on doing ... again.
 
I was designing stuff for the Snow Flurries logo contest too

You're goddamn right you were. Even if you're a Leafs fan you know how much you can get for those season tickets on eBay.

ESPN's hockey writers are awful. Ratto used to suck, this guy's not helping.

You know, it's easy to say Bettman's an idiot--and he is--but here's just one of the things that backs that up.

His idol is David Stern. Who I don't really like either, but one thing I'll say for Stern and the NBA is that they're smart about some things. Like Canada. They tried in Vancouver, it was a disaster so they got the f**k out of there. They're trying in New Orleans--a town I still think 'should' support basketball, but probably can't given the exodus post-Katrina--and when that doesn't work they're going to get out of there, too.

As it is the Raptors seem like they're on life support. But what the NBA gets is that basketball may be a world game to play and watch, but it's an American league. And only with rare exceptions, that's how it thrives.

The NHL, by contrast, is a Canadian league. It just is, and no amount of teams placed south of Windsor, Ontario is going to change that.

The NHL wants American money, great, but the dynamic has changed. Now with the cap, Canada may seem like a smaller pond, but they're willing to devote more money from that pond into hockey than the US will even though the US' pool of money might be larger.

And Bettman refuses to realize this.

It's like the NFL with Los Angeles. Los Angeles doesn't want an NFL team, but the league sees so much money there it feels it has to try to get it. Yet the miss the larger picture. The league, without L.A., is healthier. Because you actually get a larger TV audience without a team there than you would with one and that drives revenue.

Same thing would happen in the NHL. Take some of these teams out of the southern US states, bring a couple back to Canada, contract a couple others, and the league would be suddenly extremely healthy.

But that's not what Bettman wants to see or hear.
 
First of all, the "Snow Flurries" is hilarious.

Bettman is an idiot. Like I have always said he is David Stern influenced. He worked in the NBA offices prior and has tried to be a Stern clone in many facets. The biggest obviously being the expansion to some retarded places. You cannot force certain things on people. My favorite one is Atlanta. Nevermind the sellouts in playoffs for Hawks at home. It is still one of the more apathetic sports cities in the country. Two teams in Florida was pure gold as well.
 
His idol is David Stern. Who I don't really like either, but one thing I'll say for Stern and the NBA is that they're smart about some things.
Click to expand...

Well, we were typing it at same time.
 
Balsillie isn't the only one trying to get a team to Hamilton.

From TSN
Hamilton is suddenly an NHL property hotbed.

As Research In Motion CEO Jim Balsillie battles Gary Bettman for control of the Phoenix Coyotes, there is reportedly a group interested in relocating the Atlanta Thrashers to Steeltown.

According to The Hamilton Spectator, city mayor Fred Eisenberger will meet with a Vancouver-based group on Monday to discuss a proposed lease for Copps Coliseum.

Eisenberger would not disclose any details of the second group, but a source confirmed to The Spectator that Vancouver developer Tom Gaglardi is leading the charge.

''By next Tuesday we will have a clearer picture of where we are'' Eisenberger told The Spectator. ''We're in the middle of discussions with Mr. Balsillie and his group and I will be meeting with the second group. We need to understand their intentions. It's fair to say I will be talking to that second group," Eisenberger said.

Gaglardi's group is Hamilton's second NHL suitor. City staff is currently working on a proposed lease with Balsillie, who hopes to buy and relocate the Coyotes to Hamilton for the 2009 season.

Gaglardi is reportedly interested in having the Thrashers in Hamilton in time for the 2010 season.

With files from The Hamilton Spectator

I could see Bettman allowing this just to spite Balsillie.
 
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