1 for the Money, 3 for the Show

By now, everyone knows of the $212.5M bid Jim Balsillie has on the Phoenix Coyotes pending a relocation to Canada, and every knows Chicago Bulls and White Sox owner, Jerry Reinsdorf, is also interested, but his bid is believed to be roughly $100M less than the proposed off by Balsillie. What people do not know is that there is a third group of bidders on the franchise, as well as an interesting clause in Reinsdorf’s offer.

There were reports that Gretzky was supporting Reinsdorf’s bid, but that must be called into question now that it is publicly known that the offer is conditioned on the fact that Gretzky be fired. Reinsdorf believes the paycheck Gretzky has been cashing as head coach of the Coyotes is above and beyond fair. Gretzky is set to earn $14.5M over the next two seasons behind the bench and if the franchise is in fact sold to the Bulls/White Sox owner, Gretzky will no longer be a part of the franchise.

What is also interesting is Gretzky mentioning he will not be keeping his share in the Coyotes franchise if it moves to Canada. It was something I found a bit suspect considering the amount of money he has invested in the club and a relocation to Canada is nothing short of a gold mine. Unless he feels the process Balsillie is taking to gain ownership of the franchise is improper, what business man in their right mind would not want to cash in on relocation?

Now, it has come to the attention of the courts and the media that a third bid has been placed on the Coyotes. John Breslow, avid hockey fan and 2% owner of the franchise, is believed to have a group of investors ready to purchase the club and keep it in Phoenix. The proposal has already been delivered to the courts to consider along with the current battle of ownership. On June 22nd there will be a decision and if necessary, a court-regulated auction of the franchise.

There’s no doubt the league has no interest in allowing the franchise to be moved by command of the judicial system, but the conspiracy theorist in me believes the league could be contacting anyone and everyone to get their nickels and cents together to outbid Balsillie and maintain control of the Coyotes franchise.

It’s a different approach to a similar situation with the league as it was with the Nashville Predators and the Pittsburgh Penguins. The league formed a contract for Balsillie that included the guidelines of maintaining the Penguins franchise in Pittsburgh regardless of a new arena and if the club begins the lose money, Balsillie is still unable to move the franchise and the league would take control. Then came the Predators and the refused sale to Balsillie at roughly $240M and was sold for just under $50M less, but that’s alright because Craig Leipold, then owner of the Predators, was immediately sold majority ownership of the Minnesota Wild franchise. Seems like it’s good to be on Bettman’s happy list and not in the black book like Balsillie.

The most frustrating part of watching the circumstances unfold is being a Canadian. There’s no doubt every Canadian viewer overlooking the procedures are crossing their fingers for a new franchise, wondering if it’s right for the courts to determine where a franchise should and should not be, and also recognizing just how much the league doesn’t give a shit about Canada. The fact is, when the league was ready to expand by 4 teams in 1998 and onward, there should have been a Canadian team on that list.

My only question: When is the league finally going to give back to their largest, and ever growing, hockey market? It’s about time.

Micheal A. Aldred
michealaldred@hotmail.com