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Ask (The Spokesman For) Jim Balsillie
by Mike Chen on 05/06/09 at 11:10 AM ET
Comments (12)
Last night, I got an email from the folks behind Make It Seven —the official website of Jim Balsillie’s efforts to bring the Phoenix Coyotes to Canada. I’ve asked if they’d be open to taken questions from readers both for and against the move, and they’ve agreed.
So, whether you want the Coyotes to stay in Phoenix or you want Shane Doan and company to head up past the border, if you have questions for Jim Balsillie’s team (note that Balsillie himself will not be answering it; instead, all communication will be coming from Bill Walker, his spokesman for this initiative), leave it in the comments below. Mr. Walker won’t be able to answer all of them, and given the nature of the situation, we may just get PR spin on the whole thing, but let’s gather your pro and con questions and see what happens.
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Tags: Jim+Balsillie, Phoenix+Coyotes,
Comments
More realistically, this team would end up in the Central and bump someone (St. Louis?) into either a further west division…. uhh there isn’t really a clean answer to this, without basically starting from scratch (which I would be a fan of).
How bout a Lake Erie division?
Posted by MarkK from Maryland on 05/06/09 at 11:51 AM ET
Doesn’t a move to Southern Ontario effectively kill the Buffalo Sabres?
Posted by GT from Phoenix on 05/06/09 at 12:21 PM ET
Do they plan on changing the team name? If so to what? And do they already have some thoughts about colour scheme & logo?
Posted by squirtholio on 05/06/09 at 12:22 PM ET
Ask how a team in Hamilton (or southern Ontario) is likely to affect the Buffalo Sabres? And if that it is good for the league as whole to allow team to come into a territory if it would put an existing team there in financial jeopardy?
Secondly ask about his 2003 bid to buy the Ottawa Senators and plans to move them to Hamilton if that went through and how that would have brought a 7th to Canada?
His wrapping himself in the Candian flag is just a bs PR stunt to try to put pressure on the league.
I doubt his staff will answer the tough questions though.
Posted by jkrdevil on 05/06/09 at 01:01 PM ET
Why the *#$%@& are blackberrys so expensive? I mean, jesus christ…I was looking at one the other day and it was almost $500 after the activation and everything.
Posted by John from Pittsburgh, PA (Wings fan for life!) on 05/06/09 at 01:36 PM ET
I have a couple of serious questions, Mike, for those on Balsillie’s team.
If the NHL and Jim Balsillie head to court, and Balsillie wins the bid option, how does this play out if he is not approved by the league as an owner? After all, he’s simply buying the business out of bankruptcy. The NHL still controls which franchises have rights to play in their league.
And since the NHL can revoke the rights of the franchise to play in the league, is there any point to the apparent behind-the-scenes bid that Moyes and Balsillie agreed upon? Otherwise, he will potentially own the most expensive amateur hockey franchise in history.
Why didn’t Mr. Balsillie simply express his desire to own the team first before creating a conditional clause that allows him to move the team without the NHL’s blessing? Does he have some sort of problem with authority in matters like this where he feels he needs to sidestep the rules and policies the NHL has in place?
Posted by Teebz on 05/06/09 at 01:41 PM ET
And since the NHL can revoke the rights of the franchise to play in the league, is there any point to the apparent behind-the-scenes bid that Moyes and Balsillie agreed upon? Otherwise, he will potentially own the most expensive amateur hockey franchise in history.
PR Bully tactics.
Posted by shanetx on 05/06/09 at 02:03 PM ET
Toronto has been big enough to support an NHL, AHL, and OHL (Mississauga) franchise, but has there been any consideration given to the numerous of OHL franchises in the general area where the team would be, and whether or not an NHL franchise might draw away those fans to any discernible way?
Posted by SENShobo from Waterloo, ON on 05/06/09 at 02:03 PM ET
Oh, here’s mine…
Why go after established teams with huge upsides? First it was Pittsburgh (when Sid Crosby appeared), then it was Nashville (with Kariya and company before they were partitioned off due to salary dump based on uncertain ownership conditions) and now the Coyotes (who have a huge stable of young talent with the largest upside of all).
News broke about changing of ownership when the Coyotes were in 5th place and according the Great One, it tanked the locker room and the on-ice product (Sauer’s injury didn’t help). So, the team can make a run because they can beat Anaheim and they were doing well when they finally got a victory against the Red Wings before the All-Star Break.
So, cutting to the chase:
Why go after this team? Why not wait for the expansion and suffer through the lean years of actually building a franchise? Wouldn’t that make the mark of a successful business owner building something from absolutely nothing?
Why not follow the rules and make nice with your future neighbors instead of like what you are doing now?
Posted by Paul from Gilbert, Arizona on 05/06/09 at 09:22 PM ET
In its recent expansions, the NHL has shown interest in revisiting markets that have previously supported teams. And Bettman seems to prefer that, as he recently stated he would prefer the Coyotes moved back to Winnipeg.
I’m sure the team at Make It Seven has put together some numbers, demographics, competence of the facilities, etc. So, please break it down for me. If the investors are there to bring the Coyotes back to Winnipeg, why would a competitive franchise in Ontario be better than sending the Coyotes back to Manitoba?
Posted by Luc from San Francisco, CA on 05/16/09 at 10:57 PM ET
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=86881575307 this is the link for the page about the rally. We are running a Rally here in Hamilton on Saturday May 30 at 1:00 pm to support Basillie we would like help to get the word out and most importantly Call out Basillie to lead the troops. Thank you Michelle
Posted by Michelle from Hamilton on 05/18/09 at 09:36 AM ET
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Pro or con: How would such a move affect division makeup? Could this piss off fans of an Eastern time zone team that gets bumped into the WC, exposing it to frequent travel across 3 time zones?
Posted by MarkK from Maryland on 05/06/09 at 11:47 AM ET