What on earth does Bettman and the rest of the NHL have against RIM-guy and his billions owning a team in the league? Surely even the Leafs recognize that there are enough fans in the golden horseshoe to support two franchises.....

What on earth does Bettman and the rest of the NHL have against RIM-guy and his billions owning a team in the league? Surely even the Leafs recognize that there are enough fans in the golden horseshoe to support two franchises.....
What they probably have against Basillie is that he doesn't play by their rules. This will be his third try to get in by a back door. Would you want someone like that to be involved as your business partner?

$212M is peanuts to buy a franchise to put in southern Ontario. Balsillie should be paying upwards of $400M.

Have to wait for the final numbers I guess before a decision is made, he has come this far.

"In for a penny, in for a pound!"

Surely even the Leafs recognize that there are enough fans in the golden horseshoe to support two franchises.....

From a business perspective, the NHL is a franchise driven operation and should have some of the same rules. For example, If you own a successful Subway sandwich store and suddenly a new Subway franchise opens across the street, you would be pretty upset. A second NHL franchise in southern Ontario would substantially reduce profits for the Leafs and could be the proverbial straw that takes down the Sabres.

Actually I think the Leafs would create more profits due to a local rival.

I can't see how they would lose money.

If your Subway store was always at full capacity and couldn't handle more customers then you're not losing out but your area would be more popular since it now has a second franchise to draw in customers.

$212M is peanuts to buy a franchise to put in southern Ontario. Balsillie should be paying upwards of $400M.
if he wants to buy the team, he will have to pay (2.12 million, bid) + (100 million, relocation fee) + (fees to the Leafs and Sabres) + (renovation fees to Copps Colisieum) so when its all set and done Balsillie will be paying aroud 400 million and up.

Most of the reno money will be coming from Toronto and Ottawa.

You can (and he will) argue that the Leafs are not entitled to any money.

Actually I think the Leafs would create more profits due to a local rival.

LOL, if the team is good then the leafs will be loosing profits big time. And it doesn't take much these days to have a team better than the leafs. :D

If your Subway store was always at full capacity and couldn't handle more customers then you're not losing out but your area would be more popular since it now has a second franchise to draw in customers.
Exactly, just ask Tim Hortons.

I hope that he still wants the team, can you imagine a division consisting of the 3 Ontario teams, Montreal and Buffalo. There would be so many good rivalries in that division. Usually I hate to see any franchises move, but I'd be so happy to see Phoenix move to Hamilton.

A message from Balsillie:

I want to thank you for getting behind the Make It Seven campaign and personally provide you with an update. Yesterday Judge Redfield Baum asked all sides in a Phoenix bankruptcy court to provide him with information around a possible relocation fee the NHL may charge for the Coyotes franchise to be moved to Hamilton as I have proposed to do.

However it works out, the issue of a relocation fee, while a new development, does move us one step closer to bringing the Coyotes to Hamilton. I am fighting for Canadian hockey fans because I know you've been out there fighting for my bid. I appreciate your support. And I want to reassure you we're still moving toward our goal. We're looking forward to instructions from Judge Baum, but you should know as a makeitseven.ca supporter that I am committed to continuing and winning this fight to bring a seventh NHL team to Canada.

Our movement continues to build across the country. We've even got our own song now that we found on YouTube. Check it out at http://www.makeitseven.ca/index.php?id=watch&vid=1202552. Today, three new corporate partners are throwing their support behind the campaign. Prime Restaurants, DeWalt Tools, and FirstOntario Credit Union have joined anchor partners Labatt and Home Hardware on the Make It Seven campaign.

These new partners and the people signing up daily on the website are adding some tremendous new bench strength to the Make It Seven team. It's incredible to think that over 155,000 fans have joined the campaign by signing up to the website at www.makeitseven.ca.

We want to keep the momentum going and give Canadians an opportunity to demonstrate their desire for a seventh team, so I am excited to announce that we have chosen June 19th as Make It Seven Day in Canada. This will be a day for Canadians to show their support in a variety of ways. Our corporate partners will be celebrating Make It Seven Day with us and you will be hearing more about that in the days to come.

Please tell more of your friends to sign up www.makeitseven.ca, watch for our partners' Make It Seven Day promotions, start to plan your own Make It Seven Day activities and stay tuned for updates on our progress.

Thanks. Let's Make it Seven!

Jim

I sympathise with the sentiment of wanting another Canadian franchise, and am not a big Bettman fan, but Balsillie knows exactly what he is trying to pull.

As CEO of RIM, Balsillie lives and breaths intellectual property rights issues. His lawyers would shut down someone trying to profit from RIM's IP so quickly their head would swim. Yet here he is trying to hijack similar rights of the NHL. He can't play dumb about the value of territorial rights here.

All of the current happenings aside, don't they STILL need permission from the Maple Leafs (MLSE) to start a franchise in this region which is part of the Leafs' territory? Surely they wouldn't allow this...

Yes MLSE could make a big fuss but they won't. They know that to do so they would generate a lot of ill will towards themselves. For political and business reasons this wouldn't be a good idea. One way they might raise an objection would be to try to prevent the new team from appearing on Hockey Night in Canada at least until the next contract is negotiated (2012?). This is one area where they stand to lose big if they have to share Sat. night rights with another Southern Ontario team. Both the Leafs and Montreal did this to Ottawa who were not allowed to appear on HNIC on Sat. night for their first five years.

'relocation fee' might be what the Leafs and Sabres get a chunk of perhaps.

Yes MLSE could make a big fuss but they won't. They know that to do so they would generate a lot of ill will towards themselves.
They vetoed Hamilton in the past. The Ottawa team should have went Hamilton.

I doubt their position has changed much.

James, yes you are right they did veto Hamilton once before. However times have changed and I think today that if the territorial rights fees issue is settled to their liking they will acquiese this time. There will be too much bad fallout and potential for political problems if they don't. As I said if they are going to make any fuss it will most likely be over sharing TV rights, primarily involving Hockey Night in Canada's Sat. night broadcasts. They'll leave squawking about the reloaction itself to Buffalo. Buffalo can do so because they are in a foreign country (USA) and can't come under the scrutiny/investigation of Canadian politicians. MLSE could but certainly doesn't want this.

No one has ever tested the concept of the relocation fee in the courts. You can expect Balsillie to challenge it once the writing is on the wall to actually bring a team to Hamilton.

Breaking News, not many details :The judge has denied Jim Balsillie ownership of the Coyotes.

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=281971

I just don't get it, Balsillie should get a team he has the money and is willing to do it but once again he has failed ... Three strikes and Yer Out??

This is what I don't get:

Arizona bankruptcy Judge Redfield T. Baum rejected the Canadian billionaire's bold bid for the insolvent team Monday, saying in a 21-page ruling that there wasn't enough time to deal with all the unresolved issues raised by the unprecedented case.

so what, now there are 4 teams vying to buy the Coyotes and it will probably end up in court and someone will win, why didn't the judge just rule in favor of Jim and end this whole story and put a team in Canada?

Once again tho Gary Bettman gets his wish and Canada is denied another NHL team "Clap, Clap, Clap" Well done NHL!!