Jim Is-silly is...at it again...
It was a big shock in the hockey world some 24 hours ago when RIM bigwig Jim Balsillie came back to the NHL once again in a bid to take over ownership of one of it's clubs. With Balsillie raised a fan of Les Glorieux, the Montreal Canadiens, it was a no-brainer that he would be a bidder for George Gillet's Montreal based assets – but to possibly everyone's surprise, this time it wasn't the obvious, but rather the curious. His 212.5 million dollar bid is for the newly bankrupted Phoenix Coyotes, not the Habs. Odd as it may seem, it's starting to become more and more obvious that Balsillie isn't actually interested in owning an NHL team, his main interest is taking a league that has history, rules and order and making it his in a rogue and bawdy way.In Canada, Jim Balsillie is seen time and again as a hero. His Blackberries are the envy of everyone except those iphone owners, and the BB is a Canadian thing, making Jim even more special. His recent year or so of rebelling against the wishes of NHL Prez Gary Bettman are the things that legends are made of. Every Canadian thinks (most likely rightly so) that Canada not only deserves another NHL franchise, but moreso the NHL can't survive without another or another few teams north of the 45th. Gary Bettman, doesn't disagree, but he doesn't ever seem to want to toss anyone in Canada one of these revered franchises. Balsillie is bound and determined to get one and seems willing to stop at nothing in getting one. His efforts to bring Nashville north were completely kiboshed by Bettman, who turned around and had the Nahsville team sold to someone without money for less money than Balsillie had offered. Hmmm, intresting business model. But is this the Bettman business model, or something much bigger.
The president of the NHL is a spokesperson for the owners, his represents the interests of the owners first which then translates into representing the league second. Balsillie is trying to outlast the tiny imperfect owner, and when you stop and take a look at it, it's impossible. There is one thing standing in Balsillie's way and it's not Gary Bettman, it's someone or something FAR more powerful....The Toronto Maple Leafs. The Toronto Maple Leafs own territorial rights to the hockey market in Toronto AND 60 miles around the city limits. This limits the location that Balsillie is then able to place a transferred NHL club to north, west or east of Toronto, and in fact east of his hometown of Waterloo. Balsillie could settle for placing a team in London, but that's not what he wants, he wants a piece of the Toronto market and that's all he wants. He won't stop til he gets it and the Leafs will never allow it. The fact is that the Leafs own the league's largest revenue base, and anyone who thinks they are stupid enough to ever sell their territorial rights had better have their head checked. It would cost Balsillie a billion dollars to get them to change their minds and even he isn't that dumb (although someone could try him on that). For a billion dollars the Leafs owners (principally Teacher's Pension Plan) could bank the money and guard their investment so that they give up about 10% of their revenues annually and they'd still come out ahead, but anything less than that would leave too much to chance.
This being said, Balsillie will continue to hammer at Bettman and make him the scapegoat. Toronto hockey fans (there's an oxymoron in there somewhere) will blame Bettman and the Leafs will remain silent. Bettman will get booed and spit on, when in reality he's only doing his job, protecting his bosses, the owners....And Balsillie? Well either he's got a master plan, or he thinks that everyone should play by his rules, not their own – even though they own what he doesn't, the league he so wants to belong to.
posted by G.M. Shier @ Wednesday, May 06, 2009
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