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Reinsdorf Submits Bid for Coyotes

I guess there was a real bidder for the Coyotes besides Jim Balsillie after all. Chicago White Sox and Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf yesterday submitted to the bankruptcy court an outline of his offer to buy the Coyotes at the auction which the bankruptcy judge has scheduled for August 5. The bid will be for $148 million substantially below Balsillie $212.5 million, but Reinsdorf is promising to keep the team in Arizona, which is apparently worth $64.5 million.

Why and how that is, I've yet to figure out, but, hey I'm not the NHL expert who put a team in the middle of the desert in the first place, much less put the team on a cable network nobody can find, so what do I know?

Please note in the article that the August 5 auction is only for bidders who will keep the club in Phoenix, leaving Balsillie out once again. That presumably assures Reinsdorf as the winner and we can expect the Board of Governors to rubber stamp it. One interesting sidelight, Reissdrof's group includes Tony Tavares, an experience executive who is likely to run the team if the group ends up buying it. Tavares is also a part of the group now negotiating to buy the Florida Panthers, so presumably he would drop out of that group if this one is successful. The man must really want to run an failing hockey team.

Full post as published by Sports Biz on June 27, 2009 (boomark / email).