Let us look into the future

[RobRock]

Not the usual pre-camp playoff predictions, conference winners, playoff seeds. Nothing that easy. I'm referring to the on-going saga of the Coyotes and Jim Balsillie's odyssey to buy them.

Right now, he's got a 1-in-3 shot at buying the franchise out of bankruptcy. If that comes to pass, what would happen next? What possible scenarios do you see?

This is what I see happening. Balsillie is the winning bid in bankruptcy court. Seeing that the league has rejected the guy unanimously already, that poses a bit of a quandary for the BoG. Do they re-vote on his ownership, possibly with the threat of an anti-trust suit hanging over them? If they do re-vote and reject him again, can Balsillie ever become an equal partner in the league, knowing that no one wanted him there? If he's rejected a second time, does he, or can he, withdraw his bid?

I don't see Balsillie winning a second vote from the Board, even if he agrees to leave the team in Phoenix for a season or three, or gets a new lease deal from Phoenix. He is single-minded in his quest. The problem is that when it comes to the owners, so are they. They're sick of Balsillie's name and they want to get rid of him as soon as possible. So that leaves only two options and one result; Balsillie sells the team immediately to Jerry Reinsdorf, or the league buys him out and sells it to Reinsdorf. Unless that third group comes up with some more scratch, Reinsdorf will eventually become the next Coyotes owner.

On the other hand, knowing how hard he's fought to get this team, Balsillie might actually do the unthinkable; he'll sue to make the league take him as an owner, using either anti-trust laws or trying to argue that bankruptcy laws supercede the constitution of a private corporation, which opens a whole other can of worms that would affect not only pro sports but the whole structure of corporate franchising. In most instances, the franchisor retains the right to revoke a franchise under ceratin criteria, such as poor performance, to protect the brand, or other perfectly logical and legal reasons. These are all normally set out in the franchise agreement when the franchise is awarded. Assuming this is true in the NHL, would the BoG and Gary Bettman play their last card and revoke the franchise, buy back the assets (player contracts, trademarks, any other financial obligations) and fold it? Would they have the balls to say to Jim, "Here's $100 million, keep the sticks and pucks, but find another league." They would then have room for an expansion team, and that franchise fee would more than cover whatever they pay to Balsilllie, with money left over for the owners. In comes Jerry Reinsdorf, Jerry Bruckheimer, in comes Kansas City, Las Vegas, Seattle, Houston, whomever, wherever, and the boys have 30 teams again, 24 south of the 49th, and Balsillie's out of their hair forever.

Regardless of how this turns out, there's one question that still remains unanswered. Why is Balsillie doing this? What is he trying to accomplish, and at what cost? Groucho Marx said that he didn't want to belong to any club that would accept him as a member. Conversely, why does Balsillie desperately want to join a group that obviously wants nothing to do with him. Bettman's long been accused of having a huge ego, but this just proves that Balsillie has one, possibly bigger. A smart man, after the deal for Pittsburgh fell through, would have said, "When there's a team available that I can move, give me a call." Not JIm Balsillie. This is his fourth attempt at buying a team, and now the governors have locked the door without evening checking the peephole. I would not be shocked if he tried to buy Tampa, Atlanta, Florida should they become available, at which point the league would have security throw him out of the lobby and file for a restraining order keeping him 500 miles away from the offices.