zumpano21 Posted June 28, 2007 Share Posted June 28, 2007 So......... Leopold won't sell his team to Balsillie. Instead, he wants to sell his team to a California businessman, DelBiaggio, for 50 million less than what Balsillie was offering. Geeez.....what's the better deal? This stinks of head office interference and will ensure that the Preds end up in Kansas City and not Hamilton. Too bad that Leopold doesn't have the cojones to tell The Count to F OFF. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyhasbeen Posted June 28, 2007 Share Posted June 28, 2007 Maybe Balsillie and a few of his well off buddys should form there own league in Canada. Sign all the big names and see were Bettman's NHL is at the end of the day. Coast to coast, Halifax, Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton, Winnepeg, Saskatoon, Edmontoon, Calgary, Vancouver, Victoria. 5 East 5 West. Keep tickets low, over pay players, run teams at a loss for tax right offs, Melnyk knows what I mean by that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athlétique.Canadien Posted June 28, 2007 Share Posted June 28, 2007 Maybe we won't have to hear about Jim Balsillie's pursuits any longer. I'm growing tired of this foolishness. Bring on July 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fanpuck33 Posted June 28, 2007 Share Posted June 28, 2007 Leipold doesn't want the team to be moved, that's why he is mulling a lower offer from someone who won't move the team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
House11 Posted June 28, 2007 Share Posted June 28, 2007 From the TSN article TSN " Balsillie and Leipold refused to comment on the report although a spokesperson for Leipold said he was unware of any changes to the current plan to sell the team to the Research-In-Motion co-founder. " How do we really know what's going on, we don't ... how do we know that this isn't a way to push Baslillie to hury up and lay down a concrete offer ? The puck is on Basillie's stick .. what he does with it is up to him. If he wants that team bad enough he'll write a check for it today. If not then somone will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InsaneHABSfan Posted June 28, 2007 Share Posted June 28, 2007 Media reports what they want often enough it becomes the truth? Sort of like political Lies, tell them often and it becomes the truth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted June 28, 2007 Share Posted June 28, 2007 Maybe because Balsille is an asshole? The guy already threatened to cut off talks with Leipold many times when he didn't like the way the Nashville deal was going (in terms of finalizing the deal) down. Leipold most of gotten fed up and tried selling the team to someone who seemed more serious because it was taking forever for Balsille to finalize the deal even though it's for less money. It's pretty well-known Leipold wants to get ride of the franchise ASAP since he didn't want to be help responsible for the upcoming season's payroll (which he is now) and has made it a priority to try to sell the team to a group of local business owners in Nashville. Either way, looks like the team is moving out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeLassister Posted June 28, 2007 Share Posted June 28, 2007 I don't really understand. Leopold comes from Nashville or what? Why the heck a business man would sell a team for 50 millions dollars less than another offer. The guy might love Nashville at a very high degree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted June 28, 2007 Share Posted June 28, 2007 He's losing so much money that he hit desperation point. His team lost Timonen and Hartnell for peanuts, move Vokoun for picks and is on the verge of losing Paul Kariya to UFA. The team he has right now is good but at this point, it's only a matter of time before guys like Arnott (and maybe Zidlicky) start asking to be traded if Nashville doesn't do any good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InsaneHABSfan Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 I don't really understand. Leopold comes from Nashville or what? Why the heck a business man would sell a team for 50 millions dollars less than another offer. The guy might love Nashville at a very high degree. Buttman talked the old boys network to chip in and buy Leopold a warm tropical island to make up the difference. Plus Buttman is holding a charity old boys network Cigar and Whiskey benefit for poor old Mr. Leopold. Man it really breaks me up to see a poor millionaire lose money... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fanpuck33 Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 Just stop it with all this crap. They want the team to stay in Nashville. Balsille was gonna move the team. Hell, he started selling tickets in Hamilton. Ergo, Balsille was dropped from consideration. They want owners who are going to make an effort to further nurture the game in Nashville. P.S. The man's name is Leipold, not Leopold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PMAC Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 Just stop it with all this crap. They want the team to stay in Nashville. Balsille was gonna move the team. Hell, he started selling tickets in Hamilton. Ergo, Balsille was dropped from consideration. They want owners who are going to make an effort to further nurture the game in Nashville. P.S. The man's name is Leipold, not Leopold. You might want to check your facts before calling other people's opinions crap. No one-- least of all Leipold-- cares if the team stays in Nashville. He just wants to sell the team ASAP before he loses anymore money and the way Ballseye (deliberate mis-spelling) was going at things there was no way in hell the NHL was going to approve the sale. Bettman most probably wants the team to stay in the USA as he sees US expansion as his legacy. Check out Bob McKenzie's column at www.tsn.ca if you don't believe me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InsaneHABSfan Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 (edited) Just stop it with all this crap. They want the team to stay in Nashville. Balsille was gonna move the team. Hell, he started selling tickets in Hamilton. Ergo, Balsille was dropped from consideration. They want owners who are going to make an effort to further nurture the game in Nashville. P.S. The man's name is Leipold, not Leopold. Fanpuck33, are you a closet Kansas City fan Kansas City promised NHL team, sources say Edited June 29, 2007 by InsaneAVSfan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zowpeb Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 The NHL does NOT care if this team moves from Nashville...they just want to move it to an "emerging" market like KC or some other backwater, trailer trash, hole in the ground. They know they will not gain any market share if they move the team into Southwestern Ontario. The potential sales opportunity is seen as one where they will simply cannibalize revenue from existing franchises. Instead of earning TV revenue, ticket revenue or merchandise revenue on the Leafs and Sabres they will simply SHIFT some of their money to a new franchise in the SW Ontario market...the TV ratings will only increase marginally. The ONLY gain, and it's a big one, is the increase in franchise value that they can gain from a $240m sale...you have to think that has all the owners happy over the increase in their "property value". However, the NHL corporate folks know that if they can get another franchise into a market that has very limited hockey fans they can potentially grow the business long term, gain market share, more t.v. and merchandise revenue, etc...simply because those revenues are already there in SW Ontario and being spent on the Leafs and Sabres. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quebecois Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 Leipold doesn't want the team to be moved, that's why he is mulling a lower offer from someone who won't move the team. So he is mulling an offer from a guy who has exclusive rights to the arena in Kansas City? Sure he wants that team in Nashville? Bettman is such a joke. He'll do anything to keep a team out of Canada, its almost becoming sickening. I read somewhere that Canada supplies 33% of the revenue for the league, yet we still cant get more than 1/5 of the league in this country (soon to be lower with expansion to hockey hotbeds of KC (the first team lasted 2 years, their ticket drive that was aimed for 8,000 season tickets ended at 2,000) and Vegas. Since Bettman became commish, i can count on 1 hand the good things he had done, but id need a calculator for the bad things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mont Royale Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 The NHL does NOT care if this team moves from Nashville...they just want to move it to an "emerging" market like KC or some other backwater, trailer trash, hole in the ground. They know they will not gain any market share if they move the team into Southwestern Ontario. The potential sales opportunity is seen as one where they will simply cannibalize revenue from existing franchises. Instead of earning TV revenue, ticket revenue or merchandise revenue on the Leafs and Sabres they will simply SHIFT some of their money to a new franchise in the SW Ontario market...the TV ratings will only increase marginally. The ONLY gain, and it's a big one, is the increase in franchise value that they can gain from a $240m sale...you have to think that has all the owners happy over the increase in their "property value". However, the NHL corporate folks know that if they can get another franchise into a market that has very limited hockey fans they can potentially grow the business long term, gain market share, more t.v. and merchandise revenue, etc...simply because those revenues are already there in SW Ontario and being spent on the Leafs and Sabres. Right on - good post. In spite of all this, I think Balsillie could've gotten what he wanted if he played the game with more patience. Pledging to try to make a go of it in Nashville until (at least) approval for the sale was given would have helped things along. Instead, he engaged in this ticket sale stunt in Hamilton before he even got a binding agreement to buy the team, much less approval from the Board. That rubbed everybody the wrong way - the league, the other owners, Leipold, and the fans in Nashville (who started a big campaign to sell more tickets). It makes no sense to do this, because he could end up staying in Nashville (if the campaign results in more ticket sales so he can't get out of the lease) where the fans will hate him, the owner! But then, this is a guy whose aggressive/confrontational approach turned a potential $50 million settlement with a patent holder into a $612 million bill at RIM... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fanpuck33 Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 Fanpuck33, are you a closet Kansas City fan That doesn't even make sense. The NHL does NOT care if this team moves from Nashville Leipold does, it's why he wouldn't sell to Balsille. Leipold wanted him to sign papers promising not to move the team, something he obviously wouldn't sign. It wasn't just a contract to not move to Hamilton, it was to not move period. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quebecois Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 That doesn't even make sense. Leipold does, it's why he wouldn't sell to Balsille. Leipold wanted him to sign papers promising not to move the team, something he obviously wouldn't sign. It wasn't just a contract to not move to Hamilton, it was to not move period. Do you have any proof that Leipold cares about hockey in Nashville? He's losing so much money on them that it would be hard to think that he believes it is a viable market. Not to mention that this guy from California has exclusive rights to the arena in KC... If he wanted to keep it in Nashville, he'd never have even been in talks with Balsillie and wouldnt even think about selling to Delbaggio. I don't see how Balsillie is considered a bad guy for making his intentions clear. If he presented a scenario where he swooped in and grabbed the Predators, pledging to keep the team in Nashville and then got out of there the first chance he had wouldnt it have been worse? At least he was honest about what he wanted to do. Its not like he had other options, such as being granted an expansion team, because Bettman has pretty much already made up his mind that the mid-western united states are going to carry the future for the NHL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InsaneHABSfan Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 That doesn't even make sense. Leipold does, it's why he wouldn't sell to Balsille. Leipold wanted him to sign papers promising not to move the team, something he obviously wouldn't sign. It wasn't just a contract to not move to Hamilton, it was to not move period. Time to get some facts straight if it is even possible. Leiopold (correct spelling) was waiting for Balsille to finalize the sale. The California purchaser is moving the team to Kansas City so what's the difference. (Except that Balsille acted like a total A-censored-) At least from what I read from the US newspapers and from radio station 550 in Buffalo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zowpeb Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 That doesn't even make sense. Leipold does, it's why he wouldn't sell to Balsille. Leipold wanted him to sign papers promising not to move the team, something he obviously wouldn't sign. It wasn't just a contract to not move to Hamilton, it was to not move period. Fanpuck...you're wrong. The only people kicking the tires of the Preds organization want to move the team to KC or Hamilton/Cambridge/Mississauga(Mississauga is the rumour I've heard via some people close to Ballsille - a hush/hush revenue sharing deal already worked out with MLSE...not sure if that's actually been reported anywhere). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prime Minister Koivu Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 How much of this has to do with Leiopold? I am thinking Bettman once again had his pointy nose directly up everyone's ass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zowpeb Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 I still think this is Ballsille's game to lose...You have to think that Leiopold has pulled in some other "potential buyer" who will force Ballsille to fork over even more money AND try to force him to finalize the deal faster. Did anyone else see how much RIM's stock jumped recently...they're even talking about splitting their stock 3 ways in the next month or two. So...with the recent jump in RIM's stock price Ballsille's net worth is now that much higher. Leiopold is not stupid and he probably know's this and he's trying to force Ballsille's hand. Just the way I see the strategy playing out...why in the world would ANYONE accept an offer that is not only $50,000,000 less but also about 21% less money overall??????? He bought the team because he thought it would make money...he's selling it to cover his losses and to MAKE money...so clearly he's going to try to sell it to the highest bidder. Even if he losses $20,000,000 for this entire season(and it'll be sold before then...) he still stands to make more money with Ballsille. It's all posturing and strategy...it just happens to be getting played in the media. Frankly, it wouldn't surprise me if Leiopold is trying to play Ballsille for more money, Ballsille is trying to play the NHL to give him what he wants to buy into the league at such a huge number, AND Leiopold and Ballsille are also probably working in concert in other areas to try and force the NHL to accept a deal that isn't fully finalized yet. And Betteman is just an idiot who apparently dislikes anything to do with Canada. Someone probably pee'd in his snow cone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fanpuck33 Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 Time to get some facts straight if it is even possible. When Leipold announced he was cutting off negotiations with Balsillie, it was because Balsillie would not sign a binding agreement to keep the team in Nashville. Leiopold (correct spelling) No it's not, look it up. http://predators.nhl.com/team/app/?service...d=tea_stafflist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mont Royale Posted June 30, 2007 Share Posted June 30, 2007 I don't see how Balsillie is considered a bad guy for making his intentions clear. If he presented a scenario where he swooped in and grabbed the Predators, pledging to keep the team in Nashville and then got out of there the first chance he had wouldnt it have been worse? At least he was honest about what he wanted to do. Its not like he had other options, such as being granted an expansion team, because Bettman has pretty much already made up his mind that the mid-western united states are going to carry the future for the NHL. I don't think Balsillie is a 'bad guy', but he hasn't necessarily been a smart businessman in how he's gone about it (if I might be so audacious as to question the decisions of a self-made multi-billionaire!). He never had to pledge to keep the team in Nashville - just to say he would respect the lease (in which the team can't move unless they fall below 14,000 fans) - which he has to do anyway, and say he would like the team to stay there. Give it the ol' college try - that sort of thing. Later, if the fan targets aren't met, he can say he tried his best, but can't make it work in Nashville. I'm sure there would still be some screaming that he had it planned that way all along, but the fact remains that (with a bare minimum of fan support) he can't move the team, so Nashville fans couldn't blame anyone other than their fellow Nashvillagers (Nashvillage people? Nashvillains?). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetsniper Posted June 30, 2007 Share Posted June 30, 2007 Unrelated to the current argument at hand but I just found out tonight that my dad's boss is part of a group trying to buy the Preds. Whether it's with Boots fellow, I'm not sure but I still think thats pretty cool. He's already a minority owner of the Flames. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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