Big Lead Sports Bar



Jim Balsillie, best known in these parts for uttering "Holy s***" during a live Penguins broadcast in 2006, is back in the news. No, he's not trying to buy the Penguins again. That ship has sailed. This time around, instead of going after Mario Lemieux's team, he's set his eyes on Wayne Gretzky's. The Phoenix Coyotes franchise, which filed for Chapter 11 reorganization this week, is the new target of the man desperately trying to bring NHL hockey to Hamilton, Ontatio, Canada.

Balsillie is 0-for-2 in his NHL team-buying at-bats, first pulling his Pens bid in December of '06. And in 2007, his attempt to buy and move the Nashville Predators also failed, despite his already selling tickets on Ticketmaster for the Hamilton Predators.

It's been written that the scenario of Balsillie being the lone option for Phoenix is Gary Bettman's worst nightmare, based on past failed Balsillie deals as well as the fact that Bettman desperately wants the sport to grow in the United States. So the Commish probably won't like the news that Balsillie already started a website, "Make it Seven", to put pressure on Bettman for a seventh team in Canada. Is it me, or does this dynamic sound like Mark Cuban-David Stern 2.0 in the making if it happens?

Coyotes file for Chapter 11; Balsillie bids to move them to Ontario [Puck Daddy]

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1 comment:

nuthinhere said...

Why don't the Coyotes just move back to Winnipeg (Jets). They should never have left in the first place.