Balsillie attacks NHL's credibility in court filing

[rwilli1]

Balsillie attacks NHL's credibility in court filing



Mon Sep 21, 3:49 PM

SASKATCHEWAN (CBC) - Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie claimed Monday in a court filing that NHL teams hold veto rights over their home territory, something the league denied in the U.S. bankruptcy court where he is bidding to buy the financially troubled Phoenix Coyotes.


Balsillie's lawyers acknowledged the late timing of the filing aimed at undermining the NHL's credibility but noted the admission "might affect which bid should prevail."

Balsillie, the co-CEO of Research in Motion Ltd., maker of the BlackBerry smartphone, is offering $242.5 million US to purchase the Coyotes contingent on the franchise moving to Hamilton a city within the Toronto Maple Leafs' territorial sphere of influence.

The NHL prefers to keep the team in Phoenix for the time being, so submitted a bid of $140 million US in a court-supervised auction held Sept. 11.

Balsillie's lawyers claimed the NHL is opposed to relocating the Coyotes in Hamilton because it fears a lawsuit from the Maple Leafs over territorial rights.

That said, Monday's filing details an interview conducted last Thursday in which Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk told The Fan 590, a Toronto sports radio station, that NHL teams have the right to block teams from operating in their territory.

"I believe we do," Melnyk said. "Yes, we have territorial rights. Yes, absolutely."

Melnyk, who also owns the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors of the OHL, said in the interview that he isn't allowed to schedule an exhibition game between the Senators and Majors at the Hershey Centre because the rink is located within Toronto's territory.

Judge Redfield T. Baum, who has presided over the case from the start, has scheduled an emergency hearing Wednesday at 2 p.m. MT in Phoenix, Ariz., regarding last week's motion filed by outgoing Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes to force the NHL into mediation.

"The debtors believe that a good-faith effort to arrive at a mediated resolution of the key sale issues would be in all parties' interest," stated the filing on behalf of Moyes, the lead debtor.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said Monday that the emergency hearing was scheduled "to compel a mediation on several of the issues involved in the case," but not the merits of the Melnyk interview.

The hearing is expected to run 30 minutes and focus on the league's vehement objection to Balsillie.

"The NHL board of governors voted unanimously to disapprove Mr. Balsillie as an owner," the league said in a court filing. "As a result, his qualification to become an owner is not something that the NHL can compromise and it is not something the NHL is willing to mediate."

The NHL is demanding Balsillie not be permitted to participate in the auction because the league's board of governors has rejected his ownership application.

The board voted 26-0, with abstentions from the Buffalo Sabres, Pittsburgh Penguins and Toronto Maple Leafs, to reject Balsillie because it considered him an untrustworthy businessman.

Balsillie's lawyers contended in Monday's filing that they have "offered several times to mediate with the NHL, but the NHL has never been willing to mediate or even negotiate with the NHL."