Balsillie/Phoenix part V
- Thread starter mouser
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Um, because they are both extremely wealthy?
A bit jarring to all who think that the PHO market is a without-question miserable market (not you per se, Egil).
mouser
Business of Hockey
Various items from the NHL Objection to the APA sale filing:
- The NHL has advanced the position that the Debtors (Moyes) had already defaulted on the NHL Constitution, Bylaws and Consent Agreement prior to declaring bankruptcy by executing the APA among other things. Claim that bankruptcy precedent requires that all defaults must be cured prior to the assignment of any executory contracts (i.e. the team franchise).
- As GSC noted, the NHL estimates on the value of a Hamilton franchise are redacted, however they claim the creditors (including unsecured) would receive "no meaningful recovery" from the PSE bid if the court allocates the NHL relocation and indemnity fees from their bid.
- Quote from NHL: "As noted above, the APA by its express terms makes clear that the Debtors and Mr. Balsillie have no intention of performing the contractual obligations of the Debtors under the NHL contracts (assuming arguendo that the Debtors intended to assume and assign such contracts) because the agreement calls for the rejection of the NHL Constitution and By-Laws and the 2006 Consent Agreement and the avoidance of NHL consent to the sale and relocation of the franchise, as well as any relocation or indemnity fees. The Debtors and Mr. Balsillie thus have provided the NHL with adequate assurance that they will not perform under such contracts. By contrast, the NHL is attempting to protect itself from the inevitable detriment to the League if it is not able to choose its owners or the locations of its Clubs' home territories; the Debtors and Mr. Balsillie apparently could not care less."
- On the anti-trust element, the NHL cited a case I don't think I've seen mentioned in the thread before: "VKK Corp v. NFL", former owner of the New England Patriots Victor Kiam tried to sell the team to a buyer to be relocated out of New England, the NFL opposed and eventually Kiam was forced to sell to a local buyer. He later sued the NFL for "lowering the value of the franchise" by not allowing it be moved and lost.
- The NHL has advanced the position that the Debtors (Moyes) had already defaulted on the NHL Constitution, Bylaws and Consent Agreement prior to declaring bankruptcy by executing the APA among other things. Claim that bankruptcy precedent requires that all defaults must be cured prior to the assignment of any executory contracts (i.e. the team franchise).
- As GSC noted, the NHL estimates on the value of a Hamilton franchise are redacted, however they claim the creditors (including unsecured) would receive "no meaningful recovery" from the PSE bid if the court allocates the NHL relocation and indemnity fees from their bid.
- Quote from NHL: "As noted above, the APA by its express terms makes clear that the Debtors and Mr. Balsillie have no intention of performing the contractual obligations of the Debtors under the NHL contracts (assuming arguendo that the Debtors intended to assume and assign such contracts) because the agreement calls for the rejection of the NHL Constitution and By-Laws and the 2006 Consent Agreement and the avoidance of NHL consent to the sale and relocation of the franchise, as well as any relocation or indemnity fees. The Debtors and Mr. Balsillie thus have provided the NHL with adequate assurance that they will not perform under such contracts. By contrast, the NHL is attempting to protect itself from the inevitable detriment to the League if it is not able to choose its owners or the locations of its Clubs' home territories; the Debtors and Mr. Balsillie apparently could not care less."
- On the anti-trust element, the NHL cited a case I don't think I've seen mentioned in the thread before: "VKK Corp v. NFL", former owner of the New England Patriots Victor Kiam tried to sell the team to a buyer to be relocated out of New England, the NFL opposed and eventually Kiam was forced to sell to a local buyer. He later sued the NFL for "lowering the value of the franchise" by not allowing it be moved and lost.
GC72
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- May 24, 2009
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these guys are small time - one is a middling condo developer and the other owned a bleach company (doubt they are real buyers)...the NHL is just trying to find anyone with a pulse and is presenting them as a buyer...very few of these are real buyers - we'll find out for sure next week who is real......been thinking about buying the Ticats for a while..could prob get a few people from my office together and do it...doesn't mean we could afford an NHL franchise but it would certainly raise our profile to get involved in any way
Fourier
Registered User
GSC2k2,
I find it somewhat interesting that you have on a number of occasions questioned Balsillie's finances, or at least his access to cash, yet am I to beleive that you are now taking it on face value that these guys are extremely wealthy? What constitutes wealthy in this context?
k1llua
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- Feb 9, 2008
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I'm not sure if this is a joke or not, but it really doesn't work that way.
The NHL is "owned" by all 30 owners. So, for Balsille to "buy" the NHL he would have to buy every single franchise, which is not only against the NHL constitution, but would also cost him several times his net worth, provided every single owner was willing to sell.
This is similar to the offer Bain Capital presented to the NHL BOG during the lockout. They wanted to buy all 30 teams, and thus the league would have been owned by a single entity. If all 30 agreed to sell, the new owner could write his/their own constitution.
Bain's offer was $3.3 billion, and yes, even Balsillie isn't that rich.
http://www.boston.com/sports/hockey...04/bain_group_offers_33b_for_the_30_team_nhl/
GC72
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- May 24, 2009
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roughly 20% of the league is for sale right now....as this recession/lack of recovery continues, the probability is high that several more teams could be put up for sale...could conceivably see 30-40% of the league for sale...would be interesting to see the balance sheets of all teams and, owners....imo NHL ownership is the most levered of all major sports in NA (no real evidence, just looking at the teams that are in trouble and the amt of debt they carry and making a projection to the rest of the league) and with historically the weakest owners of all major sports..Boots, McNall, Spano, etc etc could conceivably see franchise value fall dramatically as supply increases....this recession is different if you haven't already noticed.
GC72
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- May 24, 2009
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Balsillie (RIMM holdings only) is close to U$3B at the moment (he may have some debt, so net worth would be lower) - maybe he and Reinsdorf could get together and buy the league
This is a bit of a head-scratcher.
First thought is that MLSE is giving these boys some incentive, but didn't the same MLSE screw the Argos royally when they made BMO Field a Soccer only Venue?
Unless their long term plan is to move the team to Southern Ontario anyway, and get their revenge...conspiracies...
May I ask a most basic question:
How would any of you suggest or recommend that Balsillie should go about getting an NHL franchise in Hamilton? What do you think would be his best avenue to take, assuming he would be willing to spend a significant amount but within the upper end of reason?
And would he be able to succeed?
How would any of you suggest or recommend that Balsillie should go about getting an NHL franchise in Hamilton? What do you think would be his best avenue to take, assuming he would be willing to spend a significant amount but within the upper end of reason?
And would he be able to succeed?
Upon further reflection, I think the Argo owners are doing it solely for the press, and to get their pics in the paper, seeing as how the CFL season is right around the corner.
GSC2k2,
I find it somewhat interesting that you have on a number of occasions questioned Balsillie's finances, or at least his access to cash, yet am I to beleive that you are now taking it on face value that these guys are extremely wealthy? What constitutes wealthy in this context?
I find it very interesting.
I do not believe that I have ever seen either of the Argo owners in the Canadian Business Rich 100 --- one generally needs an estimated net worth of $500 million to be included. Assuming that each is worth less than $500 million, which seems to me to be a pretty safe assumption, the two combined have a fraction of Jim Balsillie's net worth, even if his fortune is mostly tied up in RIM stock.
John Breslow does not appear to be wealthy enough to pull off a purchase without the help of the group he is trying to put together.
Jerry Reinsdorf's level of interest has been called into question in the media and it does seem to me unclear how committed he is to this thing.
The anonymous businessman may or may not be a person of significant enough means to buy the Phoenix Coyotes.
1. Is there any indication as to how large these relocation fees were?
2. So is Jerry Reinsdorf's effective bid then $130MM-$25MM=$105MM or is it $130MM or is it something else? To what can we compare the $165MM?
LadyStanley
Registered User
http://twitter.com/brahmresnik/statuses/2055163416
Judge asked documents to be delivered to men's clothing store.
http://twitter.com/brahmresnik/statuses/2055194209
Moyes raking up legal bills. "$180K for Salerno team, $500K for Scudder"
Resnik is also reporting a "noon AZ" (aka PDT) time conference call
Judge asked documents to be delivered to men's clothing store.
http://twitter.com/brahmresnik/statuses/2055194209
Moyes raking up legal bills. "$180K for Salerno team, $500K for Scudder"
Resnik is also reporting a "noon AZ" (aka PDT) time conference call
http://twitter.com/brahmresnik/statuses/2055163416
Judge asked documents to be delivered to men's clothing store.
Hey, he's the judge! It's the weekend and maybe he needed to get some new duds. Also, puts those fancy pants in line. Tee hee.
NHL Constitution revealed
http://www.thestar.com/sports/article/646798
Included to the right are the pdf's of the constitution and the bylaws of the constitution. Hopefully someone wants to go through that and turn it into english for us laymen.
http://www.thestar.com/sports/article/646798
Included to the right are the pdf's of the constitution and the bylaws of the constitution. Hopefully someone wants to go through that and turn it into english for us laymen.
LadyStanley
Registered User
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/06/05/20090605gl-coyotescongress0606-ON.html
Arizona politicians quiet on Coyotes move
http://twitter.com/phoenixcoyotes/statuses/2056893881
Pang claims that NHLPA head Kelley emailed every Coyotes player saying his comments about pulling the plug on Phoenix were taken out of context.
Arizona politicians quiet on Coyotes move
http://twitter.com/phoenixcoyotes/statuses/2056893881
Pang claims that NHLPA head Kelley emailed every Coyotes player saying his comments about pulling the plug on Phoenix were taken out of context.
GC72
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- May 24, 2009
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RIMM is a very liquid stock - it trades over 20M shares/day just in the US (ignoring TSX volume here) - JB could raise the req'd $'s easily in a few days without impacting the stock whatsoever....none of the leagues proposed buyers is remotely close to JB in terms of net worth or quality of bid - they would require substantial leverage or a consortium.. Reinsdorf is a fairly small player....maybe the mystery buyer is Bill Gates or Warren Buffett....it's clear the league is basically going to give the team away to keep it in Phoenix if the judge rules against JB, so you get these small time players sniffing around b/c they smell a distressed sale...
Rob
Registered User
mouser
Business of Hockey
The Star only has half or less of the By-Laws there btw. Looking around for a publicly posted copy of the full By-Laws (they were fully included in yesterday's court filings).
I think this back door plan of his is the only way he will succeed at getting a team in Hamilton. He has to win in court. All other avenues will be blocked.
mouser
Business of Hockey
Very interesting article, good read. There was an article (linked previously in the forum) a couple weeks ago that struck me as odd, claiming some NHL insiders believed Rodier had a negative image and Balsillie would have a better chance to join the membership circle if he dropped him. That article didn't give much supporting information for why Rodier would be viewed that way, but the above article could go a long way towards explaining so if accurate.
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