Globe and Mail reports that NHL may be loaning money to Phoenix Coyotes

http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081223.wsptcoyotes23/GSStory/GlobeSportsHockey/home

Does this force the league to relocate the Coyotes?

 

"Mr. Jim Balsillie to the white courtesy phone......"

 

Think Lord High Gary would deign to have Jim Balsillie and his money in the NHL?

 

Back to Winnipeg?

 

Is it possible for this team to ever move to the US Airways Center? People are willing to drive to Glendale from the East Valley on eight Sundays year for a Cardinals game. They aren't willing to drive there on random Tuesday nights, esp. when the teams with high profile players like the Penguins and Capitals visit once a year at most. I can't say for sure if the Phoenix area could strongly support a NHL team, but I sure as hell know if it can, it will be with the team playing in downtown Phoenix or the East Valley, and not out in bumfuck Glendale.

 

NHL is going to want the Coyotes to move into a region that already has a rink that NHL ready--or can quickly build a NHL ready rink (complete with the luxury boxes and other revenue generators).

I would think Hamilton, Vegas and Kansas City would be the front runners.

 

Does Hartford have a chance?

 

Sure. The same chance a snowball in hell has.

 

It's gonna be harder and harder for him to say no, considering Balsillie actually has money - as opposed, it seems, to a growing number of current or recent NHL owners.

The longer the NHL keeps Balsillie out, the worse it looks for the league. Yeah, it's a private club and the owners can admit whoever they want, and keep out whoever they want. But, given the people they've admitted in the past who turned out to be complete financial embarrassments, for what logical reason would you keep turning Balsillie away??

 

The problem with the whole "NHL-in-the-Sun Belt" delusion is that while areas may support a team briefly if it gets good for a while or steals a Stanley Cup (Ducks, Hurricanes, Lightning), when the team falls back to .500 or below, attendance crashes.

In order for your business model to work (in any sport), you have to be able to make money when the team goes .500.

 

I've long thought that the Board of Governors and Lord High Gary do not have a logical reason to keep Balsillie out; that the NHL's Powers-That-Be have a visceral emotional reaction to his name. They want to break him and his ideas before allowing him into the boys club.

 

It's not just the Sun Belt region, Starman. The New York Islanders haven't drawn in the new millennium. The Islanders have been in the league since 1972, have a storied past and a fanbase that, given a competitive product, will show up.