The *Official* Coyotes/Bettman/Balsillie Drama Thread

I felt like we needed to carry the discussion over to here....

Here is the latest:

Quote :

There will be more arguments heard in court before Judge Redfield T. Baum decides who controls the beleaguered Phoenix Coyotes.

Baum has called an emergency hearing for Wednesday to give NHL lawyers an opportunity to present arguments against Jerry Moyes' request that the league be forced to mediate "key sale issues" in the complicated case.

It was expected that the next major development in the Coyotes saga would come in the form of a written ruling from Baum after he oversaw an auction for the team on Sept. 11 but he continues to ponder that decision.

Moyes, who placed the team in Chapter 11 bankruptcy back in May, asked for the emergency hearing in court filings last week after the NHL rejected his request for mediation. The judge granted the hearing on Monday.

The NHL team's former majority owner believes that a session with San Francisco-based mediator Antonio Piazza might produce the best possible result for creditors.

"Considering the amount of fees associated with continued disputes in this court regarding the sale process and what could be a protracted appellate process (depending on how the court rules), the debtors believe that a good-faith effort to arrive at a mediated resolution of the key sale issues would be in all parties' interest," the Moyes filing said.

The NHL and Glendale filed objections on Friday to any mediation. Balsillie's camp submitted a document on Monday in support of it.

The league believes there is nothing worth discussing.

"The NHL board of governors voted unanimously to disapprove Mr. Balsillie as an owner," the NHL said. "As a result, his qualification to become an owner is not something that the NHL can compromise, and it is not something the NHL is willing to mediate."

The issues Moyes would like to see resolved in mediation include the potential transfer of ownership to Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie, the timing and feasibility of relocating the franchise to Hamilton and the fee owed to the league for such a move.

Baum has said in court that he would like to see the sides come together but doubted that it was possible after everything he had heard and read.

The judge has been mulling over Balsillie's bid of US$242.5 million and the NHL's offer of $140 million. He also raised the possibility that neither side might get the team.

At the auction hearing, the largest unsecured creditor (SOF investments), city of Glendale and the committee of unsecured creditors all spoke up in favour of the league's bid. Moyes was the lone party to back Balsillie.

Like the NHL, SOF opposes mediation, citing the franchise's continued financial losses as it awaits determination of its fate on the brink of the start of the NHL season.

"SOF is gravely concerned that any imposed mediation will unnecessarily delay the court's determination regarding the outcome of the auction and related issues, to the detriment of SOF and other creditors," the company said.

There remains no timetable for a decision on the matter, although Baum has said he hoped to make a ruling before the start of the regular season. The Coyotes are scheduled to play their first game in Los Angeles on Oct. 3.

Even after the end of the auction, court filings have continued -- including a document from Balsillie's lawyers on Monday intended to strengthen his case.

The Balsillie camp filed a submission that suggests NHL teams hold veto rights over their home territory -- something the league has denied in court -- citing a recent interview with Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk on Toronto radio station The Fan 590.

The veto issue was raised in the Coyotes case because Balsillie's bid for the team is contingent on a move to Hamilton -- a city that falls within the Maple Leafs territory.

During Melnyk's Sept. 17 radio interview, he noted that he's not allowed to schedule an exhibition game for the Senators at his OHL team's arena in Mississauga, Ont., because it falls in Toronto's territory.

Balsillie's lawyers acknowledged the late timing of the filing, but noted that the admission "might affect which bid should prevail."

The league's board of governors voted 26-0 against Balsillie as an owner in July, questioning his character and integrity. The co-CEO of Research in Motion -- the company that makes the Blackberry -- has failed in previous attempts to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins and Nashville Predators.

Even as the team's fate continues to be debated in court, it continues to prepare for the season.

On Monday, the Coyotes hired Dave King as assistant coach and replaced goaltending coach Grant Fuhr with Sean Burke. Fuhr will remain in the organization and work with prospects.

The status of Wayne Gretzky remains unclear.

The team's head coach and managing partner has stayed away from training camp, leaving associate coach Ulf Samuelsson to run things in his absence.

Interesting Frank DeFord column:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113077058

Quote :

Long ago, one evening in 1966, I was in a suite at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto with some folks from the National Hockey League. They were all feeling pretty heady. The league was about to double in size, an incursion into the United States that would take Canada's game as far south as Los Angeles.

Since the NHL was a huge success in all its six franchise cities in Canada and the northern U.S., everybody was certain that great times must lie ahead in the expansion outpost.
Also, optimism was fueled by a bottle of good Canadian whiskey. When the last drop was consumed, someone tossed it onto the floor.

"Dead soldier," he said. An old coach pointed at the empty bottle and laughed. "That'll be the National Basketball Association after we start next year."

And everybody raised their glasses, confidently.

Of course, it didn't work out quite that way.

Within a few years, Jack Kent Cooke, the owner of the Los Angeles franchise, would moan: "They told me there were 300,000 Canadians who'd moved to Southern California. How was I to know that they were the 300,000 Canadians who didn't like hockey?"

What the NHL found out is that it's hard to export a sport to where most residents are unfamiliar with the game. Hockey? The NHL has even tried to move into territory unfamiliar with ice.

But the league has pressed on, forever sprinkling franchises into places like Miami and Nashville and Raleigh in a vain effort to be a fully national American television sport. It doesn't seem to do any good. NHL ratings are traditionally woeful, especially down South.
By contrast, nobody has been dumb enough to try to force grits on the good citizens of Saskatchewan or Nova Scotia.

The Phoenix Coyotes, largely unnoticed by the inhabitants of Arizona, have now gone bankrupt. A wealthy Canadian wants to pay almost a quarter of a billion dollars to buy a franchise that is worthless in the desert, and move it to Hamilton, Ontario, where it would be positively adored.

But the NHL is fighting in bankruptcy court to hold on to the Coyotes.

What a shame. Look, it's no insult for a sport not to be appreciated everywhere. Pride and television are no match for love and cheers, and hockey is too good a game to be held up to ridicule just because its vainglorious patrons' reach exceeds their grasp.

The NHL should render unto Canada what is Canada's and let the Coyotes go where they are wanted.

Can't they just find a way to move the team back to Winnipeg? That way Canada gets its 7th franchise and it goes back to the city that should have never lost them in the first place. I hope the NHL wins the auction and if a buyer doesn't step forward to keep the team in Glendale, that someone from Winnipeg will.

I'm just afraid that adding a 3rd team in that region will eventually doom the Sabres.

Beer wrote:

Can't they just find a way to move the team back to Winnipeg? That way Canada gets its 7th franchise and it goes back to the city that should have never lost them in the first place. I hope the NHL wins the auction and if a buyer doesn't step forward to keep the team in Glendale, that someone from Winnipeg will.

I'm just afraid that adding a 3rd team in that region will eventually doom the Sabres.

I'm positive it would doom the Sabres.

Beer wrote:

Can't they just find a way to move the team back to Winnipeg? That way Canada gets its 7th franchise and it goes back to the city that should have never lost them in the first place. I hope the NHL wins the auction and if a buyer doesn't step forward to keep the team in Glendale, that someone from Winnipeg will.

I'm just afraid that adding a 3rd team in that region will eventually doom the Sabres.

I'd be OK with the Jets going back to Winnipeg....it sure would make for a nice geographical rivalry with the Wild...that's for sure...

MuckandGrind wrote:

Beer wrote:

Can't they just find a way to move the team back to Winnipeg? That way Canada gets its 7th franchise and it goes back to the city that should have never lost them in the first place. I hope the NHL wins the auction and if a buyer doesn't step forward to keep the team in Glendale, that someone from Winnipeg will.

I'm just afraid that adding a 3rd team in that region will eventually doom the Sabres.

I'd be OK with the Jets going back to Winnipeg....it sure would make for a nice geographical rivalry with the Wild...that's for sure...

It would be great to see the franchise go back to where it originated! Would that also be unprecedented? (I mean discounting the Raiders and their move on a whim like a yo-yo from Oakland to LA and back again, and then tried and failed to move back to LA)

I heard some guys on XM today talking about how Wayne made so much money for the NHL that it's a shame to see him go over his own salary. Fine, but they went on to say that they should offer him something upon his departure. I'm thinking he's good.

Yotes back to the Peg would be, well, poetic justice.

cehnehdeh wrote:

Yotes back to the Peg would be, well, poetic justice.

It would, wouldn't it? Moving the Jets back would undo an injustice the League allowed to occur...I only wish the North Stars would've left the name behind so our new club could've used it ala the Cleveland Browns.

MuckandGrind wrote:

cehnehdeh wrote:

Yotes back to the Peg would be, well, poetic justice.

It would, wouldn't it? Moving the Jets back would undo an injustice the League allowed to occur...I only wish the North Stars would've left the name behind so our new club could've used it ala the Cleveland Browns.

The precedent wasn't set yet. Cleveland had the heads up to sue the Browns organization when they decided to move, to gain the rights to the name. That was in '96. First time any such suit had happened. The North Stars were long gone.

TaLoN wrote:

MuckandGrind wrote:

cehnehdeh wrote:

Yotes back to the Peg would be, well, poetic justice.

It would, wouldn't it? Moving the Jets back would undo an injustice the League allowed to occur...I only wish the North Stars would've left the name behind so our new club could've used it ala the Cleveland Browns.

The precedent wasn't set yet. Cleveland had the heads up to sue the Browns organization when they decided to move, to gain the rights to the name. That was in '96. First time any such suit had happened. The North Stars were long gone.

Yeah, I'm aware that the original Browns left Cleveland after the North Stars left for Dallas...but I remember talking with buddies wishing that they left the North Stars name behind in the event we get another team.

MuckandGrind wrote:

TaLoN wrote:

MuckandGrind wrote:

cehnehdeh wrote:

Yotes back to the Peg would be, well, poetic justice.

It would, wouldn't it? Moving the Jets back would undo an injustice the League allowed to occur...I only wish the North Stars would've left the name behind so our new club could've used it ala the Cleveland Browns.

The precedent wasn't set yet. Cleveland had the heads up to sue the Browns organization when they decided to move, to gain the rights to the name. That was in '96. First time any such suit had happened. The North Stars were long gone.

Yeah, I'm aware that the original Browns left Cleveland after the North Stars left for Dallas...but I remember talking with buddies wishing that they left the North Stars name behind in the event we get another team.

Someone with the State needed to think about it if anything was going to get done. Why didn't you phone your state Rep about it?

Would they have even listened to him?

Velmeran wrote:

Would they have even listened to him?

You don't know unless you try...

So.... when are the Isles going to go up for sale? Can Balsillie put in offer in for them?

TaLoN wrote:

MuckandGrind wrote:

TaLoN wrote:

MuckandGrind wrote:

cehnehdeh wrote:

Yotes back to the Peg would be, well, poetic justice.

It would, wouldn't it? Moving the Jets back would undo an injustice the League allowed to occur...I only wish the North Stars would've left the name behind so our new club could've used it ala the Cleveland Browns.

The precedent wasn't set yet. Cleveland had the heads up to sue the Browns organization when they decided to move, to gain the rights to the name. That was in '96. First time any such suit had happened. The North Stars were long gone.

Yeah, I'm aware that the original Browns left Cleveland after the North Stars left for Dallas...but I remember talking with buddies wishing that they left the North Stars name behind in the event we get another team.

Someone with the State needed to think about it if anything was going to get done. Why didn't you phone your state Rep about it?

Probably because I was 23 and didn't know any better...I think it was a bar conversation and it never went any further than that...

Some of the worlds best ideas get written down on bar napkins!

Quote :

Balsillie offers to keep Coyotes in PHX this year
September 23, 2009
Text Size: S M L Print RSS
Jim Balsillie.THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PHOENIX -- Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie has pledged to keep the Phoenix Coyotes in Glendale this season if he wins an auction for the financially troubled club.

His lawyers say the club would play in Glendale this season, which opens Oct. 3, but Balsillie still intends to move the team to Hamilton as part of his US$242.5 million bid.

The revised offer came during an emergency hearing Wednesday before bankruptcy Judge Redfield T. Baum, who called Balsillie's proposal "a fairly significant change."

The judge called the hearing on owner Jerry Moyes' request to force the NHL into mediation over contentious issues surrounding the club's sale.

Baum was expected to rule on the mediation issue later in the day.

It seems Balls has played his trump card and he's truly all in. It's going to be tough for the bankruptcy judge not to award the team to him.

Here's the full TSN article:

BALSILLIE WOULD KEEP COYOTES IN GLENDALE FOR THIS SEASON

Quote :

PHOENIX -- Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie has pledged to keep the Phoenix Coyotes in Glendale this season if he wins an auction for the financially troubled club.

The revised offer came during an emergency hearing Wednesday before bankruptcy Judge Redfield T. Baum, who called Balsillie's proposal "a fairly significant change."

Balsillie does, however, still plan to move the team to Hamilton as part of his US$242.5-million bid.

Balsillie's revised bid appeared to be a last-ditch effort to win over the city of Glendale, which sides with the NHL in the long-running courtroom battle. The only other bid has come from the NHL, which has offered $140 million. The league would try to resell the team to a local buyer but, failing that, would explore relocation.

Baum gave no indication when he might rule on whether to award the team to the NHL or to Balsillie.

"Sooner or later," said Baum, who also could reject both bids.

The judge called the hearing on owner Jerry Moyes' request to force the NHL into mediation over contentious issues surrounding the club's sale. Baum was expected to rule on the mediation issue later in the day.

Balsillie originally offered Glendale $50 million. In an amended bid filed Wednesday, Balsillie's PSE Sports & Entertainment offered to give Glendale $25 million up front and the rest of the money when the team leaves.

In the filing, PSE said the new offer "is to meet the concerns expressed by creditors that they will be harmed if PSE prevails because of the NHL's threat of lengthy appellate litigation."

In Wednesday's hearing, PSE lawyer Jeffrey Kessler described the revised offer as "a cost-free $50 million insurance policy for Glendale."

Glendale lawyer William Baldiga said he hadn't reviewed the new offer, but he told the judge he did not consider it an increase to the bid.

Baum, though, seemed intrigued.

"To an old bankruptcy judge, $25 million cash, no matter what happens today -- that's a lot of money," he said.

Balsillie's promise to play this season in Glendale also might have been a tactic to sell tickets as the NHL season approaches. Fewer than 2,000 fans showed up for a split-squad game against Los Angeles last week.

"It's been impossible to sell tickets because nobody knows if it's going to be here," Moyes said outside the courthouse. "So I think this will be the opening of the floodgates, and if the fans are convinced that the team needs to be here, and sponsors, this will be an opportunity for them to prove that the team should be here.

"That's what I've said all along -- my first choice has always been to leave the team here and find support to leave it here," Moyes said.

While court was in session, the Coyotes sent out a press release announcing a "Welcome Back Whiteout" for the home opener against Columbus on Oct. 10, with drastically reduced prices for upper- and lower-bowl seats.

"They're having trouble selling tickets right now," NHL lawyer Alan Meda told the judge.

The team started the "whiteout" -- with fans decked out in white shirts -- during playoff games at U.S. Airways Center in downtown Phoenix. The Coyotes haven't reached the post-season since moving to Glendale in the 2003-04 season.

Arguing against mediation, Meda hinted the Coyotes might not survive more delays in the sale.

"This team will not live," Meda said in court. "It cannot afford to delay a decision."

Wonder if Balsillie called up Bettman to say "Check" and then hung up the phone.

'Cause if I was in his shoes that's what I would have done.

Velmeran wrote:

Wonder if Balsillie called up Bettman to say "Check" and then hung up the phone.

'Cause if I was in his shoes that's what I would have done.

Count me as one of the few who think that JB may win the first round of this fight.

I agree on round one, but with the NHL trying to impose ridiculous relocation fee's...

I'd say unless the judge favors JB in the sale with his offer saying he IS moving the team next year he ultimately won't be the owner.

A bankruptcy judge shouldn't be able to have any say on matters concerning reloaction. Isn't his job to simply to minimize creditor losses?

cehnehdeh wrote:

A bankruptcy judge shouldn't be able to have any say on matters concerning reloaction. Isn't his job to simply to minimize creditor losses?

Exactly, fix the credit loss, the NHL still controls whether or where relocation can happen.

TaLoN wrote:

cehnehdeh wrote:

A bankruptcy judge shouldn't be able to have any say on matters concerning reloaction. Isn't his job to simply to minimize creditor losses?

Exactly, fix the credit loss, the NHL still controls whether or where relocation can happen.

Are you saying that the NHL Board of Governors are above the law? Wouldn't the Judge already made that ruling if that was the case? Wouldn't he IMMEDIALTELY say that he can't rule on the relocation issue and that is something that would be out of the scope for his consideration? I'm no expert on bankruptcy law, and I don't think anyone else here either....but from what I'm seeing and reading is that the judge does indeed feel he has the authority to rule on that...In fact, I believe that judges have a wide latitude to rule on just about anything....remember the NHL can always appeal.