Judge rules against Jim Balsillie

[5000Audi]

Judge Redfield T. Baum made his highly anticipated decision public earlier in the evening, saying in a 21-page ruling that there wasn't enough time to deal with all the unresolved issues raised by the unprecedented case.

That prompted Balsillie to offer the NHL an olive branch and propose to work with it in attempt to find "an appropriate" relocation fee to bring the club north through mediation.

But buoyed by the judgment, the league says it plans to help a future owner make the Coyotes viable in Glendale, and its claims that four parties have expressed an interest in operating the team there will now be put to the test.

"We are confident that we will be able to find such a buyer for the Coyotes," deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement, "and that the claims of legitimate creditors will be addressed."

The ruling brings to a close more than a month of intense of often dramatic legal manoeuvring, set off when Balsillie sought to buy the Coyotes out of Chapter 11 protection with a US$212.5 million offer that was conditional on being able to move the team to Hamilton. He had set a June 29 closing date for the sale in an attempt to speed through the process and have the club in place for the 2009-10 season.

But Baum rejected that timeline and several aspects of the arguments made by his lawyers, writing their claims that the league's refusal to allow the team to move does not violate antitrust law and permit "the sale free and clear of the relocation rights of the NHL."

He noted how busy this time of year is for the league, pointing out that commissioner Gary Bettman left last Tuesday's court hearing in Phoenix to attend Game 6 of the Stanley Cup final in Pittsburgh, and that "relocation applications create significant issues that mandate careful consideration by all affected parties. ..."

"This court is unconvinced that it should order that the NHL must decide the relocation application to meet the June 29th deadline."



more at http://sports.sympatico.msn.ca/NHL/ContentPosting?newsitemid=154675928&feedname=CP-AllSports&show=True&number=3&showbyline=True&subtitle=&detect=&abc=abc&date=True




Well i guess no new team to Canada

[Mibz]

Well that ended pretty much as I expected, though I imagined that there would actually be a loophole or other law giving the league the win. Either way, RIM Jim rushed in guns and PR blazing and all he's done is fucked his chances for the future. The league now has time to revise the rules to explicitly protect against incidents like this.

[95teetee]

in other words 'Bettman will go to his grave defying any move to a Canadian city, even if it means that the team would actually be supported there'.

[kaput]

.

[Neil4Speed]

Originally posted by kaput
Why is the NHL so opposed to this? The team is insolvent and in a market with no fans, shouldn't they be begging someone to come up with $200 million and keep the team alive at any cost?

My thoughts exactly, it seems simple on the surface doesn't it?

[Jlude]

Brutal

[D'z Nutz]

No surprise there, really.

As much as I'd love another Canadian team, Rim Jim went about this completely wrong by trying to pull the rug out from underneath the NHL. Assuming the courts ruled in his favour and he did get a team moved to Hamilton, he'd have a lot of enemies in the NHL and the fans would suffer for it.

[mac_82]

Hopefully he can learn from this and properly relocate a franchise in the future. Or get an expansion team. Teams like Atlanta, Columbus, Florida and Buffalo all have negative operating income and all are valued in the 150-170 milllion range.

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/31/nhl08_NHL-Team-Valuations_Value.html

[kertejud2]

Originally posted by kaput
Why is the NHL so opposed to this? The team is insolvent and in a market with no fans, shouldn't they be begging someone to come up with $200 million and keep the team alive at any cost?

Well Bettman is opposed to it because he wants to "grow the game". Putting a team in Canada, where there's loads of rabid fans, doesn't expand the game, it just puts it where its popular. So instead of putting a team where it will be wildly successful both in terms of attendance and economic wise, he'd rather see a team bleed money in front of a half empty arena with loads of Canadian transplants and a 4 digit number of actual Phoenix hockey fans...Brilliant.

And of course MLSE and the Sabres are against it because they'll encraoch on their turf (MLSE cares more about the TV rights most likely, Buffalo cares about the potential loss of fans from the Hamilton/Niagara region).


So in short, because Phoenix has no fans, that means there's a whole bunch of potential new fans, while Southern Ontario, which has a few million fans, doesn't need a team because they like hockey already. Makes perfect sense :banghead:

[alloroc]

You have it wrong in the title.
He didn't make a ruling other than to rule he wasn't making a decision.
He is too afraid to set a precident under the new US bankrupcy act to do anything. In all honesty it almost amounts to a mistrial, but it will force negotiations between the League and JB - for better or worse.

[RC-Cola]

I believe the league is truely interested in getting more traction in the US to increase the true money maker, TV revenue.

If they can keep the NBC deal alive or expand on it they stand to make a lot more money than they every will by having people in the stadium.

[dezmarez]

only 8 million watched game 7 of the stanley cup finals...
and that was the most ever in 30 years....
meanwhile....reruns of seinfeld get more fucking views per episode

[Team_Mclaren]

fuck NBC put that shit back on ESPN. Even ESPN 6 would be better than VS

[95teetee]

Originally posted by RC-Cola
I believe the league is truely interested in getting more traction in the US to increase the true money maker, TV revenue.

wait...they're getting paid to televise games now???


Originally posted by dezmarez
only 8 million watched game 7 of the stanley cup finals...
and that was the most ever in 30 years....
meanwhile....reruns of seinfeld get more fucking views per episode
hey...Spongebob Squarepants wants a piece of that too.

You know, I used to watch HNIC on Saturdays. I used to watch TSN Tuesday (or whatever day they happened to be showing it) Night Hockey. Since the lockout, and subsequent rule fuckups, I watch Flames games. That's it.

Now that Cindy's got a ring, I'm not even planning on watching them anymore.

...although I'm sure I'll get pulled back in.