Phoenix on the move?

[Commish]

Jim Balsillie has put in an offer on the Phoenix Coyotes.

According to a media release, the Blackberry billionaire's offer of $212.5 million (US) for the team is conditional on the franchise relocating to Southern Ontario.

"The current team ownership asked that I table an offer to purchase the Coyotes and significant discussions resulted in an offer that is in the best interests of the franchise, the NHL, and the great hockey fans of Canada and Southern Ontario," Balsillie said in the release.

"I am excited to move closer to bringing an NHL franchise to what I believe is one of the best un-served hockey markets in the world, Southern Ontario. A market with devoted hockey fans, a rich hockey history, a growing and diversified economy and a population of more than 7 million people," he said.

The release also says, Balsillie agreed to post debtor-in-possession financing of $17 million (US) at the request of the Coyotes franchise. The money will keep the franchise going before the sale is completed.

This is far from the first time that Balsillie has attempted to move an existing franchise to the Golden Horseshoe.

In 2007, Balsillie attempted to purchase the Nashville Predators in an effort to re-locate the team to Hamilton, and even gave fans the opportunity to put a down payment on season tickets. The deal fell through, leading to speculation that the league was not interested in Balsillie attempting to move a team before he actually owned them.

These new details come on the heels of a series of confusing reports last week that the NHL was in charge of the Coyotes, a report Coyotes president Doug Moss refuted. The league did not release a comment.

In addition there seems to be a growing sentiment of bringing a second team to the Southern, Ontario region, recently deputy commissioner Bill Daly met with a group who are attempting to bring a second team to the Greater Toronto area. According to a release by the NHL following that meeting, that is not on the league's agenda.

"There is no consideration of bringing a second franchise to Toronto. We have no intention to expand in the foreseeable future, and there is no desire to relocate any of our existing franchises."

If Balsillie is successful in bringing the Coyotes to Canada it would mean that the franchise has come nearly full circle after the team was forced to relocate to the desert from Winnipeg in 1996.

Tsn.ca

[Vampyre]

This is an interesting development.

I certainly wouldn't hold my breath that this works out in favour of a move but I am very curious as to how it will all play out.

And the ironic thing will be that, despite the bankruptcy and relocation issues, the Coyotes are secondary players in all of this. The supreme issue at hand seems to be that Bettman and the NHL BoG have this long-standing feud with Balsillie, regardless of the fact that he seems like he'd be a passionate owner with deep pockets. When it comes down to the bottom line, the NHL is a business and Balsillie would make a lot of money with a profitable franchise in Ontario; one less team feeding at the revenue-sharing pot and instead paying into revenues. Therefore, preventing Balsillie from becoming an owner seems to be spiteful and counter-intuitive towards the ends of the business (all involved should stick their over-inflated egos with a pin).

[Commish]

I'm not sure how much leverage the NHL and Gary Bettman will actually have now that the team has filed for Chapter 11. A judge will now be responsible to the ultimate future of this club. As all of the debt holders and team representative go to court, it will be the responsibility of a judge to get the biggest return for the debt holders as possible. I don't see anyone even coming close to offering the kind of money that Balsillie is willing to put up.

Interesting enough though is the fact that the NHL (the 29 other clubs) is also a debt holder having sunk millions into the franchise over the last few months in order to keep it running. They will also want to have as much of their money returned to them as possible, be it .40 cents on the dollar or whatever.

The only real sticking point from the NHL's and this Bankruptcy procedure is the clause that Balsillie has put into his offer which would allow him to move the franchise if his offer is accepted.

It does seem from all appearances that the NHL has fought tooth and nail to prevent another team in Southern Ontario...........I guess it's just a wait and see game now.

[Vampyre]

The NHL is one of the secured creditors though and will receive the full value of their investment.

The issue will revolve around whether Moyes had the right to declare bankruptcy or whether the NHL effectively controlled the team, thereby negating the bankruptcy filing.

There is also the problem of making nice with the other owners in orer to get their approval to move the club.

Regardless, the summer just got more interesting.

[Norsemen]

I'm very interested to see how this will turn out. As the NHL has committed millions to this franchise in the last little while, they have become one of their debt holders along with who knows how many other institutions. The NHL will be entitled to their share of any money that would come about from the sale of the team to Balsille. They would however need to stand in line just like everyone else for their share of the pot.

This has become a crazy story for sure. Did Phoenix ownership has the legal right to file for Chapter 11, if they were not running the team? Is the NHL board of governors willing to lose millions simply to keep the team in Phoenix? Would Balsille still not need to follow league rules in order to relocate the team? Is this the best offer out their for the Phoenix franchise? If the team does indeed make the move to Southern Ontario, would they be in the Eastern or Western Conference? If they became part of the Eastern Conference, which team would then make the move to the Western Conference?

Many, many questions to be answered in the coming weeks.

[RockhoundsGM]

May 6, 2009 18:37:05 GMT -5 Norsemen said:

If they became part of the Eastern Conference, which team would then make the move to the Western Conference?

Move Toronto back into the west...that way they can play more games against Detroit...and we can finally have that Montreal - Toronto Stanley Cup Final.

Hmm, i guess the meds i just took are starting to kick in...i'm becoming delusional