The NHL upped the price on the Phoenix Coyotes and set a relocation price of somewhere between $101 million and $195 million in documents.  At that time, three buyers had placed bids on the team – James Balsillie’s PSE Sports and Entertainment, Ice Edge and the NHL itself.
Ice Edge holdings has dropped out of the race saying that they intended to pay up to $150 million USD to buy and keep the Coyotes in Arizona (as long as they came to some sort of lease agreement with the city of Glendale).
This leaves the NHL and Balsillie as the only …read more

An Arizona court ruled yesterday that Canadian billionaire, Jim Balsillie, could not buy the Phoenix Coyotes and move them to Hamilton, Ontario.  The 21-page judgment determined that “there wasn’t enough time to deal with all the unresolved issues raised by the unprecedented case.”
According the the judge, there were too many problems to resolve before the June 29, 2009 closing date that had been set in an effort to speed things along.  Incredibly, Balsillie’s plan was to have the team in place for the 2009-10 season.
I don’t mean to be rude but I find that slightly arrogant.  First of all, setting …read more

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has given Phoenix Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes $38 million (USD) of the league’s money in an effort to help the team maintain operations.

To be perfectly honest, I don’t completely understand some of the jargon being thrown around but I will say that it’s pretty clear that the league was unhappy when Moyes tried to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. 
The NHL holds an "irrevocable proxy" according to documents filed in an Arizona court and I believe that they will fight any efforts to sell the team.  “As a condition to providing this support, the league required …read more

Canadian billionaire, Jim Balsillie, has thrown his hat in the ring and has made an offer to buy the struggling Phoenix Coyotes for a cool $212.5 million USD.  The co-chief executive officer of the Blackberry maker, Research in Motion, swooped in after the club filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.  In the meantime, he’s given then $17 million to continue operating through the proceeding.  Wow.
There’s just one catch – Balsillie would want to move the team to southern Ontario.  I don’t like the idea but Prime Minister Stephen Harper decided to weigh in on the matter: "I’d love another …read more