Thread: Balsillie makes offer on Coyotes

Where was all this posturing, swagger and John Wayne BS by the NHL when teams like MN, Quebec and Winnipeg wanted to skip town?
Bettman and his cronies are such incompotent hypocrites. Often my love of the Kings is met by an equal loathing of the NHL itself.
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Originally Posted by Birdman

Phoenix is NOT capable of supporting a franchise, and there are likely NOT going to be other buyers that are willing to fork out $20M per season to keep that team afloat for long.

That, and its Bankruptcy court, so the NHL is drifting into murky waters here. It could come down to a judge accepting the best offer on the table and approving the terms of the purchase.

Since bankruptcy court laws are going to make this situation complicated, I'm curious as to how it's going to work because I don't know if a judge can force the NHL owners to approve Balsillie as the owner.

If the NHL is intent on not letting Balsillie own a team, would/could they do something like fold the Coyotes and then set up an expansion franchise for within the next year or two to get back up to 30 teams? Folding the Coyotes and then re-expanding back to 30 would let the NHL put a team in a market like Kansas City or Vegas. They seem intent on not wanting this guy to own a team because they don't like the way he does business and I can't see this move exactly getting him in the good graces of the NHL. That's the one thing I can't figure out about this guy, is how he keeps refusing to play by the NHL's rules and expects them to grant him ownership of a team.

For those that asked, I'm guessing it would mean a move of either Colorado or Vancouver to the Pacific Division, or if they folded them, then down to 4 teams for awhile.

I'm too tired to look, how was the Jobing.com arena funded? Was it publicly or privately financed? I can't imagine the city of Glendale being too happy about this development either.

Originally Posted by ianmonsta

hmm so who would join the pacific division, the canuks?

That's what I was thinking, too, Ian. That's only if the franchise doesn't get moved to Seattle.

Hard on the fans but its been coming for years, like other train wrecks in our economy. Wile you hv my sympathy. One of the great things about this country has been that many can participate in large enterprises--like owning a few shares of stock, or being a sports fan of a big team. Its bad for everyone in the US when one of the giant groups go down. Its not just Phoenix that has problems:

Report: Islanders owner regrets buying team - NHL - Yahoo! Sports

The big money days are over. Most people just do not know it yet. All the NHL--players, owners, etc--need to adjust their expectations down--the sooner the better or most of the league will end like GM is now ending. The ticket prices are not enough to support the league but are already beyond what most fans can afford. (fraud Wang whining that he expected public $ to support his team is weak and is at best a short term fix)

I put a post in before that I wld not be surprised to see AEG\Kings having severe $ problems. (just extrapolations) Anschutz may be a hands off owner. Still, he's been losing money on the Kings for years and paying the bills. The new Tampa ownership has been there for about a year but already is talking like they are cash strapped.

We'll be OK--but its going to be hard adjusting.

Originally Posted by Noble Savage

Where was all this posturing, swagger and John Wayne BS by the NHL when teams like MN, Quebec and Winnipeg wanted to skip town?
Bettman and his cronies are such incompotent hypocrites.

That's before they were able to get $80M per team in Franchise Fees for the BJ's/Wild/Preds/Thrashers, which was up $30M/60% from what the others paid in the early 90's.

So lets say they want another 60% Premium, for expansion of 2 more teams (Hamilton/KC or Vegas). Thats $250M to split 30 ways, straight to the owners pockets.

And yes, I understand that this would dilute the talent pool even further, and that we can't even support the 30 teams we have, but this is how the stupid ****ing lawyers in the NHL front office think.

Originally Posted by sweatypickle

well I still think that Phoenix would be a viable franchise had they not put the arena an hour away from the city...

having said that the league must have a secured interest and will likely take control if they haven't already and keep the creditors paid for the time being... come people I know there has to be a bankruptcy lawyer here... LGK has everything!

I couldn't agree more. Moving Phoenix sports to Glendale PERIOD was a horrible move. It would be like putting the Staples Center in Palm Desert; its a bitch to get there and nobody wants to go there in the first place. What's even more funny is we have a new light rail in place, and yet the two largest stadiums (Jobing.com and UOP Stadium) are nowhere near. Typical.

Move the Yotes out of here. Go back to Winnipeg or Hamilton, and give the hockey faithful a club! Only thing I'd miss is being able to watch the Kings when they come to town. Maybe I need to just move back to LA.

Forgot to mention the taxes Glendale jammed their residents with for building this mess..

Frankly, they should sell the Yotes to Bruckenheimer and let him move that team to KC.

After another year of the Lightning struggling to make it, they sell that team to Balisille and move it to Hamilton once the new Arena is in place.

Originally Posted by KingsFanAZ

Forgot to mention the taxes Glendale jammed their residents with for building this mess..

Yes, the voters in Phoenix have never seen a stadium that they didn't want to build. A lot of my family still lives there and I asked my brother why they vote to build a new stadium every time an owner whines.

He didn't have a good answer, but he quickly reminds me that LA doesn't even have an NFL team. I tell him if it's such a great idea, and a real money maker, let the NFL pay for building the f'ing stadium.