Jim Balsillie’s in it to win it
Reasearch in Motion co-CEO Jim Balsillie is pulling out all of the stops to buy an NHL franchise and move the team to southern Ontario. When I commented on the initial offer to purchase the Nashville Predators I assumed his advances were probably welcomed by the league.
Balsillie, you may recall, was the guy who was the front-runner to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins but eventually pulled his offer, probably due to pressure from the league to keep the team in Pittsburgh. Balsillie was expected to move the franchise to Ontario.
So the thing to pay attention to is whether the league courts Balsillie or tries to find a potential owner who would keep the team in Nashville. I suspect this is a deal that has already received the league’s blessing -otherwise why would Balsillie even make the offer so soon after being rebuffed by the league?
It appears I gave NHL commissioner Gary Bettman far too much credit. But to Balsillie’s credit he learned very quickly what it is going to take for him to purchase a franchise. His offer to pay a premium for Nashville’s team [a quarter of a billion dollars is a staggering amount of money] is almost guaranteed to be approved by the league’s board of govenors.
He also completely blew away the canard of moving the franchise to Kansas City by offering people in Hamilton the opportunity to put a deposit on season tickets for the relocated franchise if when they move to southern Ontario.
Nashville has 9,000 season ticket holders. In one day the Hamilton trial balloon generated over 10,000 season ticket holders. Couple that with the fact he has an arena agreement in place to have the team play at Copps Coliseum - which was the only leg Kansas City had to stand on - and the NHL really has no reason to either deny his bid to buy the franchise or his claim that the franchise would be wildly successful if it was relocated to Ontario.
In my previous comments on this situation I speculated that Ontario could easily support another NHL franchise.
Moving the franchise to Ontario makes perfect sense. For those who aren’t familiar with the geographic makeup of the province it is likely the biggest hotbed of hockey in North America. Within the province you have Toronto and Ottawa. But just beyond its borders you also have Detroit, Buffalo and - perhaps a stretch - Minneapolis.
Not to get too xenophobic but the biggest hotbed of hockey in North America might be the biggest hotbed of hockey in the world. I feel bad for the true Predator fans but this is a move that absolutley must be made. Balsillie is obviously a very astute business man and realized there is an unmet need in Ontario for NHL hockey, and that if a franchise was relocated to the area the populace would ravenously support the franchise.
He also is a very quick learner based on his previous experience in trying to purchase the Penguins. He has completely waylaid any and all opposition to his plans. The only thing standing in his way is a formal vote by the board of governors to approve the sale of the Predators to him. If for some reason they do block the sale it will tell you all you really need to know as to why the league is careening onto a path towards irrelevance.
Copps Coliseum Hamilton Jim Balsillie Nashville Predators NHL Ontario Red WingsNo Comments
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