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Coyotes Auction Tomorrow, Maybe...

The US Bankruptcy Court judge overseeing the bankruptcy case of the Phoenix Coyotes today held the first of what was expected to be two days of hearing in the auction of the club. Right now, there are only two bidders for the Coyotes: Blackberry co-founder Jim Balsillie who has made his offer contingent on moving the team to Hamilton, Ontario, and the NHL, which has said it will play in Phoenix next season while it searches for a new owner. The NHL will make no commitment to Phoenix beyond one year.

The auction has taken many twists and turns before today with two other bidding groups appearing and then dropping out leaving the league as the only alternative NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman could find to Balsillie. Today, in court, the City of Glendale, which owns the Jobing.com Arena (great name don't you think), came out strongly in favor of the league bid despite Balsillie's offer of a $50 million payment to terminate the club's lease and the NHL's promise of only one year in Phoenix.

The Judge today threw out a new possibility, that is that neither bidder would satisfy him and therefore he would not award the team to either one. The judge indicated some difficulties with the league bid as he said it favored some creditors over others. He has a problem with Balsillie in that the NHL Board of Governors voted unanimously not to approve him as an owner. In addition, the league and Balsillie are arguing over the value of any relocation payment needed to move into the Hamilton market.

Full post as published by Sports Biz on September 11, 2009 (boomark / email).