So it’s official. Er, sort of. The Phoenix Coyotes will be sold to Jerry Reinsdorf, owner of the Chicago White Sox, while Jerry Moyes, the guy who has lost more than $300 million on this dog of a franchise, has to sit back and watch as a man, handpicked by the commissioner, a guy who bid $64 million less than Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie, gets to take over the team.
Wow! It would appear that for the first time in the history of the business of sports, a franchise for sale was purchased for 64 MILLION freakin’ dollars less than the highest bid. WTF! Meanwhile, the poor guy who tried to make ice hockey work in the desert appears to have no say in the sale of HIS team. Get the feeling that anyone who would EVER do business with the National Hockey League is little more than a sucker that Bernie Madoff missed.
On Wednesday, the NHL’s board of governors unanimously rejected Balsillie’s $212.5 million application to become owner of the Desert Dogs while “unanimously(?)” approving Reinsdorf’s $148 million bid.
According to Canadian Press, “NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said the process was necessary to comply with the league’s constitution and bylaws and an order by U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Redfield T. Baum.”
“We will so advise the bankruptcy court and we will move this process forward,” Bettman told the New York Post.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for Balsillie told the CP that Wednesday’s decision would not stop the RIM CEO from his pursuit of the Coyotes. An auction for bidders who would commit to keeping the team in Glendale, Ariz., will be held this coming Wednesday, provided the judge finds “the bids satisfactorily meet the demands of the team’s creditors.”
That means, of course, that Balsillie’s bid is not dead. One can’t imagine the creditors would be happy with a bid that is $64 million less, a bid that would probably cost most of the creditors hundreds of thousands of dollars.
And so not surprsingly, Moyes filed a suit claiming that Reinsdorf’s offer “cannot be approved as a matter of law” and that “there are no qualified bidders” based on terms set by the court.
Get the sense this mess is a long way from over?
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