Published by Puckhead 6 months, 3 weeks ago
in Phoenix Coyotes.
It looks like Jerry Reinsdorf’s group has pulled out of the bidding for the Phoenix Coyotes. All potential buyers had a deadline of yesterday (Tuesday, 8/25/09) to submit their offer. Reinsdorf’s group gave reasons for withdrawing their offer, such as “an unwilling seller” and “We have faced an organized publicity effort designed to provide negative and misleading information to interested parties,” … “Not only has this stymied negotiations, but it has eroded local market demand for Coyotes tickets, luxury boxes, and sponsorships.”
The only two offers that made it in before the deadline were Jim Balsillie’s $212 million to move the team to Hamilton, and an offer by the NHL. Financial details of the NHL’s offer have not been released at this point.
Judge Redfield T. Baum will now have to decide whether or not Balsillie’s offer is worthy and he is a capable owner, even though the NHL Board of Governors have turned him down with a vote of 26-0. If the Judge decides against Balsillie and favors the NHL and their offer, the NHL says that they will then sell the team to a private investor.
There will be a hearing on September 2nd to work through some documents that Balsillie has filed, including a provision that would allow him to walk away from his offer and the deal if thing are not settled by September 14th. The auction for the sale of the Coyotes is set for September the 10th.
Doesn’t this tell Bettman and the NHL anything?? NO ONE wanted to make an offer to keep the team in Phoenix. Can’t they get a clue??!! An NHL team cannot survive and thrive in Phoenix. Please stop making the other teams in this league financially support your bad decisions, and do what is right for the league, the sport of hockey, and its fans… LET BALSILLIE WIN and LET HIM MOVE THE TEAM TO HAMILTON where Canadian citizen live and breathe hockey.
Tags: auction, balsillie, bettman, bid, bidding, coyotoes, hockey, national hockey league, nhl, phoenix, reinsdorf.
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Published by Puckhead 7 months, 2 weeks ago
in Phoenix Coyotes.
We haven’t had a lot of time over the past few weeks to keep you all up to date. But here’s a quick summary of the latest happenings in the Phoenix Coyotes debacle…
The NHL Board of Governors rejected Jim Balsillie’s bid to purchase the Coyotes (suprise! hah), and gave positive responses to bids put forth by Ice Edge Holdings (a group of U.S. and Canadian investors) and Jerry Reinsdorf. Both bids were to purchase the team and keep them in Phoenix, with the Ice Edge Holdings groups also proposing that the team would play five game in Canada… in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan or Halifax, and Nova Scotia. Ice Edge is offering $150 million and Reinsdorf bid is for $148 million, both much less than Balsillie’s $212 million offer.
However, the most recent news is very good…Judge Baum has decided to let any and all interested parties be involved in the open auction for the team on September 10th, which means that Balsillie will be allowed to take part! The Judge said specifically that the offer from Balsillie would be considered. Balsille also got a little help yesterday… the largest creditor of the Coyotes (which is owned by Michael Dell of Dell Computer) said that they wanted to be paid in full and in cash, and that only Balsillie’s bid would fulfill their request. The Globe and Mail has a great article on all of the latest. Check it out.
Yes, there is still hope for Canada!!
Tags: canada, coyotes, hockey, ice edge holdings, Jim Balsillie, national hockey league, nhl, phoenix.
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Published by Puckhead 9 months ago
in Bettman.
It looks like there might be a local bid put forth by the end of this week to keep the Phoenix Coyotes in Phoenix (or Glendale). This news come a week after bankruptcy court Judge Redfield T. Baum ruled against Jim Balsillie’s attempt (and June 29th deadline) to purchase and move the team to Hamilton, Ontario.
The Coyotes organization lost at least $45 million last season, was last in the league with ticket revenue at $18.4-million, and has lost $316 million since moving to Phoenix in 1996. The organization did not even meet enough of the trigger criterion set by the NHL to receive their full ($15 million) league revenue sharing money, which is the highest in the league. The Coyotes also only averaged about 11,000 fans per game last season at Jobing.com Arena.
In other news…
the Montreal Canadiens were sold to the Molson brothers (mmmm, beeer) by George Gillett for perhaps at much as $555 million.
Over the weekend, our favorite mini-commish Gary Bettman made his first appearance at an NHLPA meeting in Las Vegas. The meeting lasted nearly two hours and the biggest topic of discussion had to do with steroid and performance enhancing drug use in the NHL. Bettman and the players seemed to agree that it wasn’t much of an issue in the league, and nothing was decided on the issue of drug testing in the future. For Bettman… typical talk and PR. Furthermore, the NHL’s TV contract also came up in the meeting… it seems as though players want the league to move to ESPN, but the little man sticks to his original terrible decision to put and keep the games on NBC and Versus.
Tags: balsillie, bankruptcy, drugs, gary bettman, hockey, meeting, millions lost, national hockey league, nhl, nhlpa, phoenix, Phoenix Coyotes, relocation, steroids.
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Published by Puckhead 9 months, 1 week ago
in Blog Entries.
Will Jim Balsillie become a hero of hockey and the savior of the NHL later today? Both Balsillie and the NHL await the decision of Judge Redfield T. Baum on Mr. Balsillie’s $212.5-million US bid to buy the Phoenix Coyotes and relocate the franchise to Hamilton… with the ruling expected to come later today.
The Judge heard from both sides earlier in the week. The major outcome of the proceedings was that the NHL could probably charge Balsillie a relocation fee to move the team from Phoenix to Hamilton. This fee could be at least $100 million, which would create an easy $300+ million price tag for the desert team.
If this is the case and it’s as simple as this (which we highly doubt)… we say WRITE THE CHECK BALSILLIE!!! Just get the deal done and move on!! If he wants this team and wants this for Canada enough, he can and will do it.
In other news… Balsillie and his MakeItSeven movement have chosen June 19th as Make It Seven Day in Canada!
Tags: court, coyotes, gary bettman, hamilton, Jim Balsillie, make it seven, national hockey league, nhl, phoenix.
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Published by Puckhead 10 months ago
in Phoenix Coyotes and Blog Entries.
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…
Tags: balsillie, bankruptcy, bettman, coyotes, hamilton, moyes, nhl, phoenix, winnipeg.
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