Posted on 05/06/2009 5:10:19 AM PDT by Loyalist
TORONTO — An audacious bid by tech industry billionaire Jim Balsillie to buy the suddenly bankrupt Phoenix Coyotes has ignited a furious confrontation with the NHL, which is moving swiftly to block the sale and girding to fight any move to relocate the team to Southern Ontario.
The Waterloo-based tycoon's third attempt to acquire an NHL franchise — he was rebuffed in previous bids for the Pittsburgh Penguins and Nashville Predators — likely puts him in the strongest position yet to exert a backroom power play on league officials who previously spurned him and recently insisted no franchises will be relocated in the near future.
But late Tuesday night the NHL signalled its intention to fight Balsillie every step of the way and insisted it — not the Coyotes' current owner — will determine the fortunes of the team, which has been bleeding rivers of cash for months, much of it provided by the league.
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"A condition of the offer is that we get permission to move the team to the unserved market of Southern Ontario," said a tuxedo-clad and clearly enthused Balsillie. "I just got told we've been overwhelmingly flooded with thousands and thousands of people registering in the last hour [on the website].
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.theglobeandmail.com ...
Jim Balsillie keeps chasing the reality that southern Ontario can support a second NHL team and turn it into one of the league's cash cows.
Who will catch which first?
Obviously, Phoenix doesn’t give a snot about the NHL and it doesn’t belong there. A team in S. Ontario is going to hurt the Sabres specifically. There are a few places who could support an NHL team but I agree, it’s not in either of these.
Irony would be if it goes back to Winnipeg.
Winnipeg is the only northern city without a team large enough to support one. Quebec City is too small, ditto Hartford. Then there are Portland and Seattle, neither of which are hockey hot spots. Hamilton is an idea that will draw the wrath of Toronto and Buffalo, and rightfully so.
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