So how goes the hockey team?

[SteelTown]

They are good at keeping a secret. It wasn't until say two years ago it was Balsillie that was hunting for an NHL team to Hamilton since 1996. We always heard there was this guy wanting a team in Hamilton just never knew who.

[Berklon]

I see the NHL winning the auction. The Coyotes will remain in Phoenix for only one more year as noone will want to endure losses any longer than that. Off to Kansas City the Coyotes will go to provide their brand spanking new arena with their first tenant.

Hamilton will get screwed over once again.

[Distill3d]

The NHL's bid is only out of necessity, I wouldn't bank on them winning the auction at all. Though knowing that there will be legal recourse if Balsillie wins, I don't think that he's going to win the auction either.

I honestly believe at the moment that Ice Edge is in a really good spot right now. They've sort of stayed out of the limelight, aside from the asinine idea of playing games in Saskatoon this season. I'd look for them to put the best bid together thats going to satisfy both the city of Glendale and the creditors of the team.

[SteelTown]

City won't stray from Balsillie yet
Copps lease deal expires Oct. 31

September 04, 2009
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/628700

Appeal or no appeal, Hamilton's Copps Coliseum lease pact with Jim Balsillie expires on Halloween.

Mayor Fred Eisenberger says the city won't begin to consider overtures from other possible NHL suitors until the Copps-Balsillie deal has run its course.

"We are married to Mr. Balsillie at the very least until the end of October," he said. "We'll have to decide by the end of October what the status is and how we will proceed."

But with the prospect of a lengthy appeal in the bankruptcy battle between the National Hockey League and Balsillie for the Phoenix Coyotes, the city will have to decide what to do with its lease deal.

And with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman saying outside of court Wednesday there is nothing Balsillie can do to join the NHL ever, the key question is whether the city should be looking for other NHL suitors.

Hamilton Councillor Terry Whitehead, chair of the NHL steering committee, said the city's best bet is still Balsillie.

Whitehead said he would support a Copps lease extension should Balsillie's PSE company request it.

"He is the one who brought us to the dance. This issue is not about Jim Balsillie," Whitehead said.

City solicitor Peter Barkwell confirmed the current Copps lease with PSE expires two weeks after a court decision that dismisses him, or at the end of October. Arizona bankruptcy court Judge Redfield T. Baum is promising a decision on the fate of the team by the time the NHL season opens at the start of October.

A decision on Balsillie's fate could come sooner. Balsillie has set a Sept. 14 deadline for his bid.

Now that the NHL is calling the idea of a team in southern Ontario a "league opportunity," ending the partnership with Balsillie would give the city a chance to seek another NHL suitor.

Eisenberger believes the four-month court battle and the resulting exposure Hamilton has received as a bona fide hockey market bodes well for an NHL team at Copps somewhere down the road.

"I think it has been excellent groundwork to support the notion that another team in southern Ontario is very viable and I don't think anyone has disputed that," Eisenberger said.

"I think it bodes well. I think this has heightened the interest in hockey in Hamilton and southern Ontario. People are supportive and want to see a franchise come and I think the whole exercise has highlighted the fact that a team in this market is viable and would be successful."

As a result, Eisenberger expects the city will receive overtures from other NHL suitors should Copps Coliseum become available.

An Arizona bankruptcy court is set to auction off the Coyotes to one of three possible bidders next Friday. Baum will oversee the auction and is expected to announce the winning bidder by mid-September.

NHL solicitor Shepard Goldfein confirmed Wednesday that the league would appeal any court ruling that hands over ownership of the bankrupt Coyotes to Balsillie as part of his plan to relocate the club to Hamilton.

Balsillie, who is making his third bid for a NHL franchise, isn't tipping his hand on a possible appeal if the NHL wins the court case.

Balsillie spokesperson Bill Walker said yesterday his client would not speculate on a possible appeal.

[Distill3d]

Having the arena deal in place to expire at the end of October is a good thing, but what if he has to keep the team in Phoenix for another year?

[realcity]

o why not extend the lease agreement? Are we holding up a line of investors?

The lease could stay in place for another 20 years or until we convert Copps to affordable housing.

[SteelTown]

Originally Posted by Distill3d

Having the arena deal in place to expire at the end of October is a good thing, but what if he has to keep the team in Phoenix for another year?

They'll be a verdict by the end of October. If Balsillie wins obviously the City and PSE will sign an official doucment and lock in the agreement for I believe 35 years lease. If Balsillie lose at court the deal will expire. The City can always re-new the agreement in the future if Balsillie ever buys another team or hunts for an expansion team.

This current deal I believe has been re-newed over three times now with Balsillie.

[BCTed]

Stick with Jim, councillors.

[SteelTown]

Up to $195M to move Coyotes: NHL

September 05, 2009
KEN PETERS
THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR
http://www.thespec.com/News/BreakingNews/article/629610

Prospective Hamilton franchise owner Jim Balsillie should pay as much as a $195 million relocation fee for the right to move the bankrupt Phoenix Coyotes to Steeltown.

In its latest court file the NHL said two sports consultants set a “reasonable’ relocation fee at between $101 million to $195 million.

Balsillie believes a relocation fee of $11.2 million to $12.9 million is more appropriate. The league calls those figures “patently absurd.”

The league suggests a Hamilton franchise would be worth as much as $315 million. If the Coyotes were to remain in Glendale the franchise value would be as low as $120 million.

While the league has set a proposed relocation fee the NHL remains opposed to the relocation of the Coyotes to Hamilton and vows to appeal any move by a bankruptcy court to award the club to Balsillie.

The league argues there is no “precedent” for a sports franchise to be awarded to an owner over the objections of the league.

The league position on relocation and the suggested fees are expected to prove the fodder for the next bankruptcy court hearing set for Thursday in Phoenix.

[Actonite]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

Up to $195M to move Coyotes: NHL

September 05, 2009
KEN PETERS
THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR
http://www.thespec.com/News/BreakingNews/article/629610

Prospective Hamilton franchise owner Jim Balsillie should pay as much as a $195 million relocation fee for the right to move the bankrupt Phoenix Coyotes to Steeltown.

In its latest court file the NHL said two sports consultants set a “reasonable’ relocation fee at between $101 million to $195 million.

Balsillie believes a relocation fee of $11.2 million to $12.9 million is more appropriate. The league calls those figures “patently absurd.”

The league suggests a Hamilton franchise would be worth as much as $315 million. If the Coyotes were to remain in Glendale the franchise value would be as low as $120 million.

While the league has set a proposed relocation fee the NHL remains opposed to the relocation of the Coyotes to Hamilton and vows to appeal any move by a bankruptcy court to award the club to Balsillie.

The league argues there is no “precedent” for a sports franchise to be awarded to an owner over the objections of the league.

The league position on relocation and the suggested fees are expected to prove the fodder for the next bankruptcy court hearing set for Thursday in Phoenix.

I'm guessing the judge looks for the easy way out and asks Balsillie if he's willing to pay this amount. If the answer is "no" then it's game over Balsillie. If the answer is yes then the fight continues.
I not sure that 101-195 million can really be determined to be unreasonable to move a team into southern Ontario. The most lucrative and under served hockey market on the entire planet.
I really expected the NHL to go much higher with their relocation fee.

[SteelTown]

For me I found it more interesting that the NHL admit a Hamilton franchise would be worth $315 million, wouldn't that put Hamilton top 3 or top 5?

I say Balsillie should be prepared to pay $150 million-ish over a period of years.

[FairHamilton]

Any thoughts on what has happened to Make it Seven? I have not received any emails from Make it Seven in at least 2+ months?

[Berklon]

Looks like JB has upped his bid:

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Balsillie+Coyotes/1970037/story.html

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs...city-of-glendale-out-of-arena-lease.aspx

[highwater]

I think I'm in love.

[SteelTown]

*fingers crossed* Good luck Balsillie!

[Actonite]

Jim's certainly making it hard for the judge to out right turn him down in this case. His bid is now worth all most 100,000,000(that's a lot of zeros)more than the next highest bid.

[Distill3d]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

The City of Glendale contends the Coyotes can not move unless they pay a $794-million penalty to get out of their current lease.

I was reading through all this again and found this point interesting. Especially considering that the Jobing.com Arena only cost $180 million to build. Essentially the City of Glendale is asking for 5 times what the arena was built for. No wonder the Coyotes were losing money.

[SteelTown]

They are assuming each home game is a sell out crowd and spread out 35 years, hence $794 million figure.

[Actonite]

This was a smart move by the Balsillie camp. It doesn't matter what the lease agreement says the judge in a bankruptcy case can over rule a lease and do so often. Balsillie's most recently revised bid would pay the city of Glendale 50 million dollars.
The main thing that killed Reinsdorf's bid was public out cry from tax payers who would have had to foot the 23 million a year bill to subsidize the Coyotes remaining in Phoenix. City concil there held an emergency meeting and decided they could not back Reinsdorf's plan. The next morning he was history and the NHL was preparing a bid of there own.
It may be very hard for the city to turn down a cheque for 50 mil. Especially if accepting that cheque only means losing a sports team that the majority of residents could care less about. The judge may make that decision him self. Remember his job is to recover the most money he can for the creditors and with both the NHL and Balsillie talking about relocation it has to be getting harder for him to keep Jim out.

[SteelTown]

Macaluso open letter to Balsillie Team

Posted on September 05 2009
http://www.bayobserver.ca/index.php?post_id=346

Dear Mr. Walker,

As the former CEO of Copps (HECFI) 1989-2005, I have been following Mr Balsillie's bid with the outmost of interest and wish him nothing but success. I know first hand, having been involved with several past attempts to land a relocation/expansion team for Hamilton, that Toronto always reared its ugly head with threats of a veto. Here are some examples:

1) Met with Cliff Fletcher, who was with the Calgary Flames, at the Omni Hotel in Detroit. Present with me was Jerry Patterson. Cliff told us straight out that it was going to be a huge uphill battle for Hamilton to obtain an expansion franchise as the Toronto Maple Leafs had a "Veto" vote.

2) Met with Barry Shenkarow, owner of Winnipeg Jets, at his office in Winnipeg. Present with me were the Mayor and Harrah's Casino's potential buyer of the Jets. Mr Shenkarow was forthright in his statement to us. He said that he would be wasting his time dealing with selling the team to Hamilton's prospective owner because the Leafs had made it very clear to him that they would use their veto against any attempt to sell the team to a potential Hamilton owner. Although our prospective owner had a check in amount of $75,000,000 on his person and in fact showed it to Mr Shenkarow. Mr Shenkarow reacted angrily and stated that the dollar amount was not the issue, Toronto's NHL constitutional right of a veto, was.

3) Met with Marcel Aubut, who was the owner of the Quebec Nordiques in Quebec City at the Colisee. Present with me was Jerry Patterson and Frank DeNardis. Mr Aubut made it clear to us that he could not accept the offer of $75,000,000 from Harrah's Casino, for the purchase of the Nordiques(although he stated he wanted to badly) because the NHL had their hands tied due to Toronto's insistence that they would exercise their veto vote.

4) Met with Peter Pocklington in Hamilton and Edmonton and was informed and also given a copy of the NHL constitution and pointed out the article dealing with the veto power a team had with regards to a team locating within their 50 mile territory. Mr Pocklington was adamant that he could challenge the Leafs and the NHL via a complaint to the Competition Bureau and win. I met with his lawyers (Cassels Brock) who were preparing the paper work for the Competition Bureau. Mr Montemurro,a former lawyer with the Competition Bureau, was handling Mr Pocklington's case. Pocklington was prepared to emulate the Al Davis LA Rams move. Unfortunately the City of Edmonton decided to sweeten the lease agreement with the Oilers and subsequently remained there. As a result of this situation, I was informed by Peter on a visit to Edmonton as a guest of his at a Pavarotti concert, that the NHL removed the clause dealing with a veto and substituted it with a majority vote clause. He showed the amended article to me.

5) Invited to meet with Seymour Knox(senior 2nd) in his office at the old Buffalo Auditorium three weeks after Ron Joyce's bid was rejected. Present with me was the Mayor.He was quite irate and angry with us regarding trying to get a team in Hamilton. He said he had a lot of money invested in the Sabers and was not about to let anyone in his 50 mile protected territory. I advised him that Hamilton was over the 50 mile radius to Buffalo and that there was no veto provisions for him in the NHL constitution. He said I was wrong and that his measurement was related to "how the crow flies) and not by land. He said that having a team in Hamilton would hurt both Buffalo & Toronto and that both had the veto power to exclude us at any time. He suggested that a team would never come and swore "over his dead body". He told us to be happy with an AHL team and stop whining as we were not a primary market but a secondary one. He also stated that we should have never built Copps Coliseum....it was a stupid government decision.

I stand behind the aforementioned 100% and am prepared to sign an affidavit if it will help Mr Balsillie. Please note that the Mayor involved with me at some of the above mentioned meetings was Bob Morrow. He is now a Citizenship Judge in our Region. Imagine getting an affidavit from a Judge and submitting it to Judge Baum.

All the best

Gabe Macaluso