Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 4.34

www.afootinthecrease.com

The bell rang on round three in the Jim Balsillie vs Gary Bettman title bout earlier this week when the Phoenix Coyotes filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy and Mr. Balsillie swooped in with a nice, clean tidy, $212.5 million offer to purchase the team…(hey this looks like a pretty good deal for a team that’s mired in a pit of financial ruin), on the condition that he is allowed to move the Coyotes to the “unserved market of Southern Ontario”…(so close.) In Balsillie’s previous attempts to squeeze himself into the exclusive brethren of NHL owners by purchasing the Pittsburgh Penguins and then the Nashville Predators, it was been Gary Bettman and the NHL who have clearly come away with the knockout punch.

Once again though, despite the seemingly precarious financial situation in which the Coyotes reportedly find themselves, the NHL is not amused with Mr. Balsillie’s actions. According to NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly, “Mr. Balsillie is acting, again, in total disregard of any rules, or any structure. . . . I would be very surprised if the board would look favourably on the way that Mr. Balsillie has conducted himself in this instance." That does not sound like a man who wants to do business.

At this point, I’m starting to believe Mr. Balsillie’s fortune is made up of not real currency but in Canadian Tire money. Why else can the NHL be so deadest against allowing a passionate hockey man with seemingly no limits to his pocketbook become an owner in, let’s be honest, a league that needs to keep a close eye on dollars and cents.

Given the way things have unfolded since the story broke, it looks like Gary Bettman and the NHL will once again land a knockout in round three of their bout with Mr. Balsillie. However I do think one thing is for sure: no matter how many times Mr. Balsillie gets knocked out, I think he will keep coming back for more until he wins. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.