Balsillie's Back

[Brokensticks 0]

As if these owners are an impeccable bunch.

Boots Del Biaggio and Bruce McNall would agree.

[KryptOng 9]

it's all about EGO with these millionaire owners, they see Balsilie as a threat to them. Billionaire wanting to join a Millionaires club.

In their minds it's:

"WHY let a guy in who is a billionaire, can build the nicest arena (which will make mine look like dirt), spend to the cap every year to make his team better (and leave me with lesser known star players) and can eat up my revenue if he gets his way to move a team to Hamilton? (Leafs and Sabres)"

[chippa13 1844]

There are already teams with lesser known star players. Adding Balsillie to the mix won't change that. The other owners just plain do not like the guy. As much as I can't stand Jeremy Jacobs, I don't think he's quaking in his boots over fear of Balsillie.

[Chadd 916]

it's all about EGO with these millionaire owners, they see Balsilie as a threat to them. Billionaire wanting to join a Millionaires club.

In their minds it's:

"WHY let a guy in who is a billionaire, can build the nicest arena (which will make mine look like dirt), spend to the cap every year to make his team better (and leave me with lesser known star players) and can eat up my revenue if he gets his way to move a team to Hamilton? (Leafs and Sabres)"

It's not fear, it's trust. They do not trust Balsilie to follow the rules. He has violated every rule regarding the process of becoming an NHL owner. Anyone that thinks he will suddenly start following the rules after he gets the team is naive, at best.

I'm all for debate, but let's just stick with facts and not make up absurdities.

[DarkStar50 679]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hock...article1237009/

Excellent article. For Balsillie, no friends = no allies = no way.

[hockeyherb 1]

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/200...tes0803-ON.html

It's not like there may be any options left besides Balsillie. Reinsdorf is no idiot - he's basically willing to buy the team if the taxpayers are on the hook to bail his ass out. I wondered why he would even want this franchise. Now it's clear his plan is to move the team eventually as well after taking millions from the city of Glendale.

If Reinsdorf backs out what are they going to do - just fold the team rather than sell it to Balsillie?

I understand people hate Moyes but no matter how this information got out, the people of Glendale need to know what they're getting into if Reinsdorf buys the team. It's not the end of their troubles by a long shot.

[Chadd 916]

Moyes is doing his best to blow everything up, I'm wondering if he gets sued over this.

[hockeyherb 1]

If you were Moyes what would you do? Sell to Balsillie and get millions back in your pocket. Reinsdorf buys the team and you get nothing.

This is a pretty crazy situation. It's just not going to end well. The bankruptcy judge just moved the local auction date to Sept 10th so no way this team is moving this year.

[Chadd 916]

If you were Moyes what would you do? Sell to Balsillie and get millions back in your pocket. Reinsdorf buys the team and you get nothing.

This is a pretty crazy situation. It's just not going to end well. The bankruptcy judge just moved the local auction date to Sept 10th so no way this team is moving this year.

There was never any chance of the team moving this year.

[hockeyherb 1]

This is a must read from the Phoenix News if you have any interest in this drama. It explains how the city has basically sold Moyes up the river and that Reinsdorf has been in the background much longer than anyone has known.

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2009-07-30/...es-connection/1

[Law Goalie 147]

... And now it's all back on again.

Baum will allow all bidders & conditions - TSN.

So we're back to Square One. Balsillie can bid, can win the bankruptcy auction - and then he and the NHL end up in a very peculiar position, in which he is the owner of a team he's legally entitled to move, and if he moves it, the league will disband them.

[DarkStar50 679]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/bett...article1241402/

This is also a good article to read. It was published in this morning's Globe and Mail before Baum's ruling late today in Phoenix. This situation in Phoenix has made for much more interesting summer reading than last summer's "much ado about nothing" when the NHL was so ridiculously worried about the KHL.

The old saying goes "You are only as strong as your weakest link." Well, right now, the NHL has a huge problem in Phoenix no matter how often Bettman tries to say everything is great across the NHL landscape.

[Law Goalie 147]

The really fascinating subtext to Brunt's article - speculation on what Reinsdorf's motives for buying the team might be - has I suspect got something to do with those taxation, subsidy, and escape clauses Reinsdorf has written in.

Reinsdorf has zero interest in hockey. He does, however, have a shrewd sense of how sports franchises can be bought and sold.

If Reinsdorf buys the Coyotes and keeps them in Phoenix, he will have five years of heavily subsidized operation. If at the end of five years he can prove he's losing money, he has a Get Out of Lease Free Card written into the purchase, and he's free to sell the team to anyone, and the team is free to move anywhere.

Might that hypothetical someone just be Jim Balsillie? Might Reinsdorf's offer to buy the Coyotes have been structured specifically to allow the Coyotes to escape from the very things that hinder Balsillie's attempts to purchase and move the team? Hmm...

As of right now, Balsillie's offer is $64 million over Reinsdorf's. If Reinsdorf manages to operate the Coyotes at the league's salary floor, with massive subsidies from Glendale and maybe even the NHL, for five years and still loses, say, $10 million a year, he still makes $14 million selling the team to Balsillie. Not bad for five years of totally disinterested work.

That is, of course, assuming that Balsillie isn't induced to raise his offer, since a brutal Coyotes' team would be stockpiling high draft picks, and Reinsdorf has already singlehandedly paved the way for Balsillie to buy and move them. That team will be worth a great deal more to Balsillie after five years of operations under Reinsdorf.

And if by some miracle Phoneix develops a fan base and starts to make money, Reinsdorf looks like a genius and pockets some profit. He can't lose.

[Chadd 916]

Might that hypothetical someone just be Jim Balsillie?

The NHL wouldn't approve the sale to Balsillie, just like the didn't approve his bid this time around.

[RadioGaGa 162]

This guy is like Rasputin. Holy hell!

[Chadd 916]

Balsillie has two major problems against his bid, plus at least one or two more significant issues.

1. He wants the judge to let him end the lease with the Glendale arena

2. The NHL will not approve him as an owner

Both of those things will likely work against him in the court room.

[DarkStar50 679]

Al Davis may be a renegade but he knows where to take his fight: the court of law. Balsillie knows this as well. The BoG can say and vote anyway they want on Balsillie. However, Judge Baum is the key power player in this game of legal chicken. Also, SOF Investments, the largest creditor owed money to, has the obligation of the judge to get restitution from the auction. This is another sticky point where the Reinsdorf and Ice Holdings bids fall short. Those two bids offer zero cash paid to SOF.

This entire situation is taking place in a court room. The only person with power is the guy with the gavel. Everyone else in the court room gets to shut up and listen.

[Law Goalie 147]

By no means am I saying that Balsillie has a lock on this. He may very well end up being the owner of a team with no players and no league to play in. To what extent the NHL's Board can control this remains unclear, but they certainly do have mechanisms in place for disbanding teams.

I do find it very interesting that Reinsdorf - a man with no interest in the game - has made a bid that contains clauses which appear to circumvent much of what restricts the sale to Balsillie. Chiefly:

1) Reinsdorf gets out of the Glendale lease scot-free after 5 years if he loses a penny;

2) Reinsdorf can sell the team to anyone, anywhere with no league restrictions.

He has also made a bid sufficiently low that he can lose significant money over those 5 years and still make millions on the sale to Balsillie.

Oh, right, and I forgot the part when Glendale has to pay Reinsdorf $15M for EACH year of losses at the end of 5 years - and still allow him to sell and move the team without penalty.

[DarkStar50 679]

LG,

I'm with you. Show me the good parts of Reinsdorf's bid that the NHL, excuse me, Bettman, thinks is such a benefit to the Phoenix Coyotes, Glendale, and the NHL. If I read it right, Reinsdorf is the fox in sheep's clothing here. He is ready to rape Glendale, the NHL, and the creditors that Moyes owes big bucks to. "Oh, but Jim Basillie is not a man to be trusted. He has no integrity." What a joke! Jeez, at least Balsillie has got the money to put up or shut up. Reinsdorf has got squat on the table in his bid. I'm glad Moyes broke the confidentiality agreement and let the info out about Reinsdorf's bid with all it's perks and clauses that benefit no one but Reinsdorf! Contempt of court? Maybe, but this is only a small fraction of what is happening that we don't know.

[eric42434224 1]

.....................

[ktang 34]

Bettman and the Glendale arena would benefit from having the Coyotes stay.

Bettman would be able to keep the team in Phoenix for 5 more years, so he wouldn't be seen as making a bad decision moving the Jets there. If Phoenix fails, other franchises may not be far behind in this economy, confirming that Bettman's sunbelt expansion plan takes profits away from the successful franchises. Bettman would get fired over this. In 5 years things may turn around.

The Glendale arena would have 5 more years with a tenant. But then, they might have to make a $75 million payout (of taxpayers' money) in 5 years, but the Glendale management would have 5 years of salary, perqs, bonuses, etc.

So, it makes sense that they might allegedly conspire to give the team to anybody who would keep the team in PHoenix (Reinsdorf). Taking money away from Moyes et al is just collateral damage.

The judge's job is to ensure that Moyes et al are fairly protected.

[Chadd 916]

I see Balsillie winning the auction, the NHL declaring a dispersal draft, and the league playing with 29 teams.

Balsillie ends up with a team that can't play in the NHL and Moyes gets his money. :)

That would be interesting.

[Law Goalie 147]

That would be funny on so many levels.

[Fletch 219]

That would be, yet another embarrassment for the league. That being said, it will probably happen ;)

[ktang 34]

A lot of people have been going for contraction, and with this economy it could happen. I think the NHLPA would have to fight it, though.