

BlackBerry Billionaire Has the N.H.L. Buzzing - omnivore
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/10/sports/hockey/10coyotes.html?_r=1&ref=sports

======
martythemaniak
Balsillie is quite the hokey nut. When I was at RIM, the co-op committee would
organize these talks where senior people would talk about what they do, how
they got there etc. They were all pretty interesting, except Balsillie's talk,
which involved hokey.

Anyway, I'm no hokey fan, but the politics behind this are actually pretty
interesting. The NHL commisioner has been in power for a long time and runs
the league with a heavy hand, and his primary push over his time has been
trying to expand the game to the southern US, which involved moving teams from
places like Quebec City and Winnipeg to Phoenix and Nashville. Of course,
there is no base for hockey there and so a lot of these teams have very poor
attendance and lose lots of money. Due to revenue-sharing, more successful
teams have to pay for the loses for less-successful teams, which irritates
lots of team owners, who are also governors of the NHL.

Now, Balsillie comes along and tries to buy a team. First The Penguins, then
the Predators. The first time he balks after some last-minute addenda to the
contract, while the second time he is judged to be too brash and not
respectful enough of the established order.

Now comes this attempt. Clearly the Coyotes are a failure of a business -
amongst the lowest sales in the league, massive financial loses every year. In
order to survive, Bettman must convince team owners (who must approve any move
within the league) that his southern strategy is worth perusing, that
Balsillie would be an irresponsible and undesirable owner, and that they must
keep subsidising the Coyotes for the good of everyone. Balsillie, OTOH, is
using three strategies: first bankrupcy court to where he picks up the Coyotes
by offering a very good price for a very bad business, second a lawsuit that
alleges the NHL promotes anti-competitive practises (trying to keep Hamilton
from getting a team, since its close to Toronto and Buffalo) and lastly,
appealing to other team owners' business sense, his this move would make the
league better off financially.

~~~
sachinag
I've worked in the league offices of Major League Soccer. While it's not one
of the big four, all the high executives are from one of the big four.

Balsillie has a number of issues: first, Hamilton's clearly in both the Leaf
and Sabre territories. Second, the arena in Arizona is brand new and better
than anything in Ontario by a wide margin. Third, even if they were going to
move the team, Kansas City has a new arena that's perfect for hockey as well.
Fourth, moving a team back to Canada doesn't help get the NHL back on ESPN
(which is apparently their "Master Plan" to rebuild the league in the States).

Lookit, as a sports fan, I'm in favor of putting teams where fans want them
and can afford them. (i.e. the Jacksonville NFL team is a mistake of
incredible proportions.) In particular, it makes more sense for the Coyotes to
end up in Hamilton than any of the other teams in the NHL (maybe the Preds).
But it's not just Bettman's ego that's keeping a team here in the States.
There are all sorts of structural issues at play as well. And we haven't even
gotten into the "Balsillie is the Mark Cuban of hockey" argument.

~~~
marcusbooster
For outsiders of the region, Hamilton is basically a suburb of Toronto.
Certainly it is it's own place, but it's fair to say there's a lot of back-
and-forth between the two, ie. commuting and fan loyalty. It's also a hour
away from Buffalo, so there are ties there as well. They question is, what
effect does giving this area a new team have on the league overall. Obviously
there are fans there, but these fans are already probably going to games in
Toronto and Buffalo. Are they expecting to make fans in the area? That seems
unlikely. So you are cutting into the bases of 2 other teams in the league for
what?

~~~
r7000
There are multitudes of under-served fans in the region. Yes they go to Sabres
and Leafs games. But the Leafs have the longest waiting list and the highest
prices of any team (all while serving up a very sub-par on ice product).
Tickets are largely locked up by corporate season ticket holders and the
"regular fan" has enormous difficulty obtaining an over-priced ticket. Hockey
is, by far, the number one sport. There would be no need whatsoever to create
new fans. The existing market would buy anything and everything a new team
would be selling.

~~~
sachinag
See, you're thinking from the _fans'_ perspective. That's just about the last
thing anyone at the NHL is thinking about. If they let in a Hamilton team, the
NHL would be sued _so fast_ by both the Maple Leafs and Sabres. (Yes,
franchisees can sue their franchisor.) Territory rights are golden to sports
franchises - it's their one sustainable asset, even more valuable than their
logo/brand.

Again, the $750 million payment to Glendale, the KC arena, and the desire to
be on ESPN are all issues that would have to be resolved _before_ we even get
to a territorial rights fight. Balsillie is hoping that bankruptcy court
solves these issues - and court certainly does help him overcome these actors
- but they're huge, huge issues.

~~~
r7000
I was just addressing a single issue raised in the prior comment. I was not
offering an opinion on the merits of a move or other issues (from any
perspective). Of course there are other issues.

(It is not guaranteed the Leafs would sue. NHL territory rights have never
been tested in court and it is probably to everyone's benefit that they never
are - in order to ensure that value is maintained).

------
zandorg
I dunno how a little email gadget made him billions.

His research centre is the exciting thing, not the NHL.

