Jim Balsillie has increased his bid for the Phoenix Coyotes AP Photo/Matt Ryan
While a Federal Bankruptcy Judge wants two more days to consider all the issues surrounding the bids for control of the Phoenix Coyotes Canadian Businessman Jim Balsillie has upped his ante in his pursuit of the team. Balsillie has added a 50 million dollar payment to the City of Glendale, Arizona to help soften the loss of their hockey team should his bid ultimately work out.
The new structure of his bid, would take 20 million from the original bid and add it to another 30 million dollars in payments to the city itself. That brings Balsillie’s bid to a grand total of 242.5 million dollars, or about 100 million more than what the NHL bid for control of the team.
It now appears that Balsillie is willing to do almost anything, or pay any price to wrestle control of this team from the NHL. The bad part of this is the NHL seems willing to do whatever they can to prevent Balsillie from owning one of their franchises.
This is the decision that this Judge is now wrestling with. Does he have the authority to override the wishes of the NHL, and its Board of Governors and award Balsillie the winning bid. Let us not forget that the NHL Board of Governors voted 26-0 to deny Balsillie the privilege of owning a NHL team.
If this was just about what was best for the creditors of the Phoenix Coyotes than the decision would be simple. Balsillie’s bid offers the best chance for the creditors to get some of the money they are owed. However, this Judge seems to like the parties before them to figure out these kinds of issues themselves. That is why no decision has been forth coming from the court. Really this fight has gotten too ugly to assume reasonably that Balsillie and the NHL could figure this out for themselves.
It seems likely that in the end the Court will have to respect the rules and wishes of the NHL and disallow the Balsillie bid. This is not an owner suing to move his team to a different city, ala Al Davis and the Oakland/Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders. This is a man trying to override a NHL Board of Governors decision to not allow him to purchase a franchise.
The Board felt justified for doing this since Balsillie, when he was trying to buy the Nashville Predators, started taking deposits on season tickets for a tem he did not own yet, and a team that had a lease to play in a different city. The Board thinks that Balsillie has enough character and ethical issues that should preclude him from NHL ownership.
In the end this Judge will have to decide all this, and both sides will have to live with it, or appeal it to the next level. It seems likely that this will end up in the Supreme Court sooner rather then later.
Comments