Let Jim Balsillie buy the Phoenix Coyotes
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Much like an annoying Lady Gaga ringtone that you can’t get out of your head, it appears NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is going to have to deal with Mr. BlackBerry for at least a few more days.
That’s because Ice Edge Holdings, a group of high-risk-takers who actually wanted to take on the formidable task of turning the bankrupt Phoenix Coyotes into a profitable franchise, pulled out of the bidding for the team on Wednesday. So it looks as if the only ones who’ll be holding bidding paddles at the team auction on Thursday and Friday will be the NHL and that supposedly evil Canadian propagandist Jim Balsillie.
Unfortunately for Balsillie, his mission to convince Canadians (and maybe even some folks in Phoenix) that struggling hockey teams should relocate to the Great White North has helped make him public enemy No. 1 at the NHL.
But why does the league hate this guy so much? Balsillie is willing to pay top dollar for a bankrupt NHL franchise at a time when the league needs more revenue. He also seems like he’d be an enthusiastic owner who’s dedicated to building a successful franchise as long as it’s north of the 49th parallel.
His only crime is that he threatens the NHL’s goal of trying to make hockey work in the Sun Belt. Expansion in the southern part of the United States has been successful overall, but it’s not as if the league will fall apart if hockey doesn’t survive in Phoenix or South Florida. Colonizing hockey rinks in warm locales isn’t alone going to make the game grow.
Other Balsillie-haters point to how another team in Ontario, Canada, will hurt the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings. That’s absurd.
Hockey fans in Ontario practically are like stars in the sky. And the hurting American auto industry is the main reason why there might be fewer octopi on the ice at Joe Louis.
It’s a shame the NHL won’t let Balsillie help them when it could use somebody who has a lot of money and a passion for the game. I understand challenging your potential bosses in court is one of the seven deadly corporate sins, but what else has this guy done to deserve the photo-on-the-dartboard treatment?
Besides, Balsillie is probably going to continue to be a pain for the league if he doesn’t get the Coyotes. There are other NHL teams that are not on the most sound financial footing, and it could be just a matter of time before Balsillie tells his lawyers to go play fetch once again.
-- Austin Knoblauch
