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5/19/09 Update: Bankruptcy judge Redfield T. Baum today ordered the NHL and Phoenix owner Jerry Moyes into mediation until the 27th of this May, pretty much making fun of the fact that the NHL could not handle this outside of his courtroom.
This is a good sign for Balsillie, for the fact that the judge didn’t simply (as many expected) side with the NHL. It could be bad news for Balsillie, however, as this delays the possible transfer of the team, especially with prior concerns by the NHL about it interfering with next year’s schedule.
It sounds to us like the judge just hasn’t researched and learned enough about this case to yet make a decision… but we definitely do like his sense of humor:
“To save the suspense, I’m not going to rule from the bench today,” he said.
Hopefully his decision ends up coming from a bench favored by Hamilton.
Gary Bettman might not want a new NHL team in Hamilton, but he might be willing to let a team move back to Winnipeg. Bettman says that Copps Coliseum (where the Hamilton team would play) is over 30 years old and too old, and that only an expansion team would be allowed in Hamilton (which we all know will never happen). Another reason Bettman has given for not allowing the sale/move of Phoenix to Hamilton this year is because it would interfere with the 2009-2010 NHL schedule… which we don’t believe has been released yet. Either way, Jim Balsillie stated over the weekend that he is willing to delay the move of Phoenix to Hamilton until the 2010-2011 season, if scheduling was such a problem.
While all of this goes on and Bettman and the NHL said they have also been in talks with Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, about buying the team for $130 million and keeping it in Phoenix… the bankruptcy court showdown between Moyes and the NHL should end tomorrow - Tuesday, May 19th - with a ruling expected.
We do like the fact that Bettman has brought up Winnipeg’s name in the move of the Coyotes to a new place… but doubt that he is serious about it at all, and it is more of a PR stunt. Furthermore, why is he trying to prevent a thriving NHL franchise from existing in Hamilton, when one in Winnipeg already failed??! Once again, little Napoleon won’t let his ego out of the way and do what’s best for this league and sport…
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Bettman’s NHL Strikes (out) Again!!
Published by 1 month, 4 weeks ago in Phoenix Coyotes, Bettman, Blog Entries and Playoffs. 7 Comments5/8/09 Update: The Phoenix Bankruptcy Court judge overseeing this case delayed it until May 15th… hoping that the NHL and Coyotes’ owner Jerry Moyes can figure out who owns and has control of the team. Buttman and the NHL will appear in court on the 15th to state their case, and Moyes will state his case on the 17th… with the decision to come on the 19th. You can read all about it here.
Where are all these rules and regulations about how a team is operated and sold that Bettman talks about?? Where are the rules about not letting a crook like Boots Del Biaggio invest in a team??? We think Bettman and his compadres don’t want Balsillie to have ownership of any of these teams, because Balsillie will not relocate the team to Kansas City or Las Vegas, where the little weasel hopes to put the next NHL team. You know… a place in the south where no one cares about or knows anything about hockey… instead of in Canada, where people live and breathe hockey. Makes sense, doesn’t it? hah. Mr. Bettman, wake up and get over yourself and how you are ruining the game… and do what’s best for the game, the NHL and its fans!!!
Yes, we’re still alive here at FireBettman.com … once again, sorry for our long absence.
The playoffs are finally here again (like us), and Bettman’s NHL is at its worst…
The Phoenix Coyotes have filed for bankruptcy… anyone with a brain (not Bettman) could have told you this one was coming. Since Bettman couldn’t see it coming, he and his NHL morons are challenging the bankruptcy filing in court this afternoon. Now why would they challenge this? Because the Canadian millionaire Jim Balsillie is once again interested in owning an NHL team, and has offered Phoenix majority owner Jerry Moyes $212.5 US million with the clause of moving the team to southern Ontario (ie, Hamilton).
Bettman says he doesn’t believe Balsillie would be a good owner, rather than admitting that he does not want a successful team in Canada! He thinks giving Phoenix another chance and trying to *make* them succeed in Phoenix will work out in the long run. Our guess is that Bettman is convincing another one of his crooked buddies (remember Boots Del Biaggio and the Predators??) to be an idiot and offer more money than Balsillie to keep the team in Phoenix. Didn’t he learn from the first time? Oh yeah, we forgot… he ain’t that smart and cares more about his ego than about NHL quality and success.
Apparently, Phoenix fans are smarter than Bettman… the main fan site has already been put up for sale. We recommend not buying it. Furthermore, Balsillie has gotten support from around 100,000 NHL fans (and we suspect there are more of you on this site), and from Prime Minister Stephen Harper! Yeah Canada!
In other NHL news… did you see the disallowed goal in the Detroit vs. Anaheim game on Tuesday night? If not, here is some of the worst officiating you will ever see from Bettman’s boys:
Simply ridiculous and inexcusable. We’re not saying Detroit should have won… but this is a great example of how terrible the officiating has gotten in the NHL due to rule changes, terrible new officials, and the ambiguity of what constitutes a penalty in the “New NHL”. This play should be reviewable!! Especially since it could have made a difference in the outcome of the game.
It’s good to be back and updating you on the latest news in the NHL and the terrible path that our mental midget commish continues to lead the league down… so stay tuned and keep checking back!
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We’re back!!!!!!
Published by 10 months, 3 weeks ago in Nashville Predators and Bettman. 28 CommentsWe sincerely apologize for our lack of posts this summer… it has been a very busy summer filled with higher priorities. We know we have missed out on covering some major and controversial stories surrounding our favorite little man… but we are hoping to get things back into full swing for the upcoming NHL season, and plan on increasing our coverage and making sure we do everything we can to get rid of the man we all love to hate… Gary Bettman.
In the meantime, here is an email that Paul Lefebvre from Delaware, OH sent us, which sums up the summer’s top Bettman stories and our opinions on them quite well:
“Not bad enough that Mr. Bettman threatens to strip ownership of the team in NY (Rangers), and decides to suspend the Anaheim Ducks owner indefinitely for off ice legal issues, now comes word that maybe he himself may have been caught with his own hand in the cookie jar. The Nashville Predators sale has stunk from the beginning. How does an owner (Craig Leipold), a businessman, turn down cash money from Jim Balsillie in excess of $220M for a financed deal of less than $200M tt which he himself contributed $10M? Here’s maybe how.
Mr. Bettman promises Leipold clear and very quick sailing to ownership in Minnesota. After the commish sees the investor group trying to buy the Nashville franchise having trouble getting financing together, he either A, closes his eyes and says go ahead boys, I don’t want to know, or B, gets on the phone to his two closest confidants in LA Kings owner and Nashville owner (Leipold) and says make this happen, Balsillie cannot have a team. Either A or B is cause for termination.
Gary Bettman claims he had no clue that two of his closest NHL confidants - L.A.’s Philip Anschutz and Minnesota’s Craig Leipold – had lent San Jose banker Boots Del Biaggio a combined $17 million (U.S.) to help him pay for a $25 million stake in the Nashville Predators. C’mon Gary.
Nashville investor, ‘Boots’ Del Biaggio filed bankruptcy. Turns out that the ownership group of the LA Kings, AEG Facilities lent Boots $7M. Also turns out that the Nashville owner (Craig Leipold aka Seller) lent him $10M. AEG Facilities also owns the venue for hockey in KC. Del Biaggio has long been searching for a franchise to move to KC. The reasoning for the seller of the team lending money to a buyer leaves the door open for many explanations and we’ll have to see what floats to the surface. How is this tolerated? Maybe these two owners are able to say to Mr. Bettman, “if we go down Gary, you are coming with us”. This seems to me to be the only way they can escape Bettman’s well documented wrath.
How in the world is Bettman getting a free pass on this!? He is quite the politician, and seems to always have an answer for everything, but I have seen or heard nothing of anyone press him since the series, before the wheels came off Del Biaggio.”
Thanks very much Paul!!!
We will try our hardest to help make sure that the little man doesn’t get a free pass on all of this… so get ready and look forward to more posts from the FB stuff. Once again, sorry for our lack of posts over the past few months… it is GREAT to be back and covering the worst commissioner ever!!!
cheers,
Puckhead & JB
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Bettman and NHL counterfile against and threaten the Rangers… plus other Bettman news
Published by 1 year ago in New York Rangers and Bettman. 29 CommentsJust when you think Gary Bettman couldn’t get more full of himself and ‘his NHL’… today he and the NHL filed a counterclaim against Madison Square Garden LP (owners of the New York Rangers), threatening disciplinary action for “materially breaching their contractual commitments to the league and the other 29 member clubs - as well as for compensatory damages stemming from those breaches.”
At the beginning of the 2007-2008 season, MSG LP sued the NHL for violating anti-trust regulations, and monopolizing teams’ promotions. The suit came after the NHL made every team turn over the private operations of team web sites and promotional activities to the NHL offices in New York. The lawsuit was taken to court three times, and the NHL won every time. The Rangers owners have challenged the decisions based on anti-trust regulations, and now the NHL will have nothing to do with it… so they have filed this counterclaim with an intent to stop MSG’s continuous actions against the NHL… with a threat of fining, suspending or making MSG lose ownership of the Rangers.
What?? The Rangers or no team can challenge the “rules”??? Everything the NHL does is completely correct and no one can say otherwise??? This is typical Bettman style… never admitting he’s wrong, sticking to his rules even though LOTS of people who know much more about business and hockey disagree, and doing anything he can to counter-attack and shed the blame when there is constructive criticism about the way he is operating the NHL (”NHL Hour” anyone??). Why would any team want to turn over their web site or promotions operations directly to the NHL? The only thing the NHL cares about is posting Sidney Cry-baby’s face all over their ads, putting teams in markets that will never survive, putting NHL games (even almost all of the playoff games!) on a TV network (Vs.) that no one really knows about or receives, turning the game into the NBA or other over-dramatic productions/sports, and making the owners money no matter how much it costs/hurts the fans and game.
In other news, apparently the NHL Players Association isn’t too happy with Mr. Bettman either. Before the infamous lockout of 2004-2005, one of the main reasons Bettman and his cronies insisted on a salary cap was to reduce ticket prices for fans. Just the opposite has happened… ticket prices have gone up… and there are still teams, such as Phoenix and Florida, who are losing money. Point being, no one but certain team owners are reaping the benefits of the salary cap and the new collective bargaining agreement. The players, fans, and many teams are worse off than they were before 2004-2005. It’s apparent the NHLPA is getting more frustrated with Bettman and his antics and tactics… as the article states “The union also agreed to form a committee to decide whether to opt out of its labour agreement next summer”.
Also, tomorrow night (June 20th) is the beginning of the official 2008 NHL Draft in Ottawa!! The thing we’re most excited about is to see how loud the “boos” are at Scotiabank Place when lil’ shit-fer-brains steps up to the microphone.
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Vincent Lecavalier will be today’s guest on NHL Hour with Gary Bettman
Published by 1 year, 1 month ago in Tampa Bay Lightning, Bettman, xm radio and "nhl hour". 0 Comments
Update: To listen to yesterday’s NHL Hour please click here.
Today’s (05/29/08) guest on “NHL Hour” with Gary Bettman will be Vincent Lecavalier — the high scoring, powerful forward for the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The show airs at 4p.m. EST on XM Radio channel 204, or you can listen through the NHL’s live stream. You can call your questions/comments in at 1-877-645-6696 or e-mail NHLHOUR@NHL.com. If you miss the show today, we will post a link to the NHL’s podcast of the show tomorrow.
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Human life or more hockey?
Published by 1 year, 4 months ago in Buffalo Sabres, Florida Panthers, Bettman and Videos. 9 CommentsIn last night’s game between the Buffalo Sabres and Florida Panthers, Richard Zednik was accidentally cut across the neck by teammate’s Oli Jokinen’s skate… cutting his carotid artery and causing a significant amount of bleeding. Zednik barely made it off the ice to the bench, and then was rushed by ambulance to a local hospital, where he received life-saving surgery. Here is a video clip of what happened:
After the injury took place, Colin Campbell (who was at the game watching his son play) talked with Gary Bettman and they decided to let the game continue. What were they thinking? A teammate just had a hockey player’s worst nightmare occur, sustaining a life-threatening injury, and all Bettman and Campbell could think about doing was making the two teams finish the hockey game? Even Oli Jokinen said “We shouldn’t have finished the game”. We at FB didn’t get to see the game, but from what we’ve read, the remainder of the game was very “solemn” and no one really seemed to care about winning. The game could have easily been called off and re-scheduled for a later time when all players, coaches and FANS knew the status of Zednik and were not all in a state of shock. We think this was terrible judgment on the part of Gary Bettman, and really aren’t surprised by it… just add it to the long, long list of terrible decisions that Bettman has made. However, we are very happy to report that Richard Zednik is currently in stable condition and it appears as though he will be okay.
On a much lighter note, we’d like to apologize for the lack of updates to the site lately. Travel and other commitments have been dominating our time… but we promise to get back on the ball and have all the latest, breaking hockey and Bettman news coverage for you. Thanks for your patience, and as always, for your support!
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Ask Bettman about his ‘Wild’ decisions…
Published by 1 year, 5 months ago in Nashville Predators, Minnesota Wild, Bettman, xm radio and radio. 7 CommentsUpdate: You can listen to the NHL Hour from this past Thursday (01/17/08) by clicking here (MP3 file). The RSS feed for these podcasts is http://www.nhl.com/podcasts/nhl_hour.xml
Gary Bettman is really putting himself out there these days… his NHL Hour XM Radio show will be on again today (1/17/08) at 4p.m.. You can listen to the live stream at that time, or tune into XM Radio channel 204. Your questions and comments can be sent to NHLHOUR@NHL.com or called in at 1-877-645-6696. Willie O’Ree, the first black (African-Canadian) player in the NHL and current NHL Director of Youth Development, will be Bettman’s guest today.
Apparently, Bettman doesn’t feel like he’s heard enough criticism, or feels like he hasn’t addressed all of the criticism thoroughly… because he will also be taking your questions following the NHL’s YoungStars competitions on January 26th on the CBC’s ‘Hockey Night in Canada’. You will be able to send in your questions and comments via email to askgary@cbc.ca.
So start getting those questions and comments together and let the commish know that you are truly concerned about what he has done to our favorite sport and league, and that we think the NHL can do much better!.
You might want to ask Bettman about the purchase of the Minnesota Wild by former Nashville Predators owner Craig Leipold. As you may recall, it was just over a month ago that Mr. Leipold officially ended up taking about $40 million less for the Predators from a ‘local investment group’ (which includes outsider William “Boots” Del Biaggio who will most likely move the team to Kansas City), than what he could have gotten from Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie. It was rumored and highly speculated that Balsillie would have moved the team to Hamilton, ON. However, Gary Bettman had a very strong hand in keeping Balsillie out of the picture, and the Predators in Nashville, even though accomplished businessman and owner Leipold could have made off with over $40 million more if he had sold to Balsillie.
The fact that Leipold is now majority owner of one of the most successful teams in the NHL, less than a month later, makes this whole deal seem a bit fishy to us, and to others. Did Bettman promise Leipold the team of his choice or a successful NHL team if he agreed not to sell to Balsillie? It is reported that Leipold put up around $250 million for the Wild… so did the NHL somehow cover that extra $50 million or so for Leipold (after the $193 million he sold the Predators for)? Is this how the NHL revenue sharing system works? We’ll pat your back with everyone else’s money if you keep doing things the way we want you to? It seems like the first places to check would be on the NHL’s, Leipold’s and former Wild owner Bob Naegele’s bank account statements. You would think the commissioner of a professional sports league would be smarter than this… but remember, this is Gary Bettman we’re talking about. Sometimes power, money and ego can cloud one’s thought and rationale.
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Ted Lindsay places blame on Bettman…
Published by 1 year, 7 months ago in Detroit Red Wings and Bettman. 20 CommentsWhile in Montreal for the Red Wings vs. Canadiens original six matchup last night (12/4/07) in Montreal, Ted Lindsay pointed the finger at our favorite commissioner Gary Bettman, blaming him for ruining rivalries between teams in the league, and partly for the poor attendance in Detroit this year. According to Mr. Lindsay, Bettman is using the successful teams and taking advantage of them to benefit the weaker teams… and in turn, that hurts the strong and successful teams, as we are currently seeing. Don’t worry Ted, we and a million other fans are right with you on this one. This is what happens when you have someone who has no respect for and history within the game of hockey running the league. Last night was Detroit’s first visit to Montreal since 2003, and is the only game between these two original six teams this year.
Also, last night during the game, the Vs. commentator brought up the idea of having an “Original Six Day”, where there would be three games on a Saturday played by the original six teams… Montreal, Toronto, Boston, Detroit, Chicago and the New York Rangers. Sort of like a Hockey Day in Canada (which will not happen this year thanks to the idiocy of Bettman). We here at FB think this is a GREAT idea. I can’t think of anything that would be better for the NHL, or a better way to show respect for the game, fans, and players by making something like this happen. But, this probably makes too much sense for it to ever happen…
what do you think Gary Bettman?
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Every team will play Nashville next year…
Published by 1 year, 7 months ago in Nashville Predators and Bettman. 20 CommentsThe NHL’s Board of Governors have been meeting in the hockey mecca of Pebble Beach, CA this week. Yesterday, they approved the sale of the Nashville Predators from Craig Leipold to the Freeman investment group. This isn’t the last step in the process… the deal still needs to be approved by the Nashville Metro Sports Authority, and then by the City Council… but from what we’ve read, it sounds like they will both approve it.
The other big news to come out of the meetings is that the league will return to its old schedule format for the 2008-2009 season. The current eight games played versus each team in a division will be reduced to six, and every team in the league will play one another at least once. Under this schedule, each team will see the other on their home ice every two years, rather than the current schedule which brings the other team to home ice every three years. This means that fans of each team will be exposed to more players throughout the league and there will be more original rivalries back in place. It also means that teams in the Eastern Conference will have to travel west more, which should help equalize the impact of travel on both conferences.
According to Gary Bettman, “This was an attempt to be responsive to the fans.” Thanks for finally listening, Gary.
Now the owners need to make another attempt to be responsive to the fans and FIRE GARY BETTMAN!!!
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