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Coyotes Auction Ends With No Decision

Friday's auction hearing in the Coyotes' bankruptcy ended with Judge Baum requesting lawyers for the NHL and Jim Balsillie, the two bidders for the club, to file written versions of their revised bids by Tuesday and he will review them and then render a decision. He promised a decision prior to the start of the NHL season on October 1. Both the NHL and Balsillie submitted revised bids on Friday, with the NHL provided for payment of more money to Jerry Moyes, the Coyotes owner and a major creditor.

Both the City of Glendale and the creditor's committee backed the NHL bid, which still stands about $100 million less than Balsillie. However, it does not raise the legal issues inherent in Balsillie's bid, particularly whether a bankruptcy court may ignore provisions of a league constitution requiring approval by league owners of a franchise relocation and approval of a new owner. The NHL has voted unanimously not to approve Balsillie as an owner and its bid is an attempt to keep the team out of Hamilton, Ont. and in Phoenix. However, the NHL has only committed to Phoenix for one year and said it could relocate the franchise after that although it hasn't specified any possible location to which it might move.

After the hearing, Moyes broke his silence to blast Commissioner Gary Bettman over his handling of the league, expansion into the Sunbelt, and his failure to support Moyes in his attempt to make the club work in Phoenix. While it's nothing that hasn't been said before, it certainly sums up much of the criticism leveled against Bettman or his failed Southern strategy.

?I feel pretty poorly over it, to be honest with you,? Moyes said of the process that began about one year ago when he told the NHL he could no longer pay for the club?s losses. ?I just don?t think I?ve been treated right. I gave it the 100-per-cent try. I feel betrayed by the NHL.?

He went on to say:

?We spent two years trying to sell this team, trying to make it work in Glendale and it just will not work in Glendale.

With or without a $25-million [annual] subsidy from Glendale, which I don?t think [the city] can do, this team just is not going to be here."

Moyes then explained that 16 years after Bettman became commissioner, the promise to change hockey from a regional sport to one spread across North America by spreading teams across the Sun Belt still hasn't worked:

?I put plenty of money in it, I put a lot of time in it, I gave it the best try I could. Hockey will not work in the South. Mr. Bettman?s plan is not working out.

You?ve got Phoenix, you?ve got Dallas, you?ve got Atlanta, you?ve got Tampa Bay all in trouble. These teams have got to go north where everybody loves hockey.?

So now, the hockey fans in the Valley of the Sun and those in Hamilton sit and wait on Judge Baum, hoping that sometime before October, they'll know if they get to see hockey in person this season.

Full post as published by Sports Biz on September 12, 2009 (boomark / email).