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ORLANDO, FL - Late Wednesday afternoon, Phoenix bankruptcy judge Redfield T. Baum rejected bids by both Jim Balsillie and the NHL to purchase the Phoenix Coyotes hockey team but left the door open for the league to come in and take over. In his 31-page ruling, Baum turned down Balsillie's $242.5 million offer because it did not adequately address the NHL's rights regarding his desire to relocate the franchise to Hamilton, Ontario. The ruling also indicates that the NHL is within its rights to choose who it will allow to be a team owner. At the same time, he denied the league's $140 million bid because it left questions as to how the league would handle repayment to the team's creditors. The league's offer did not include payments to former head coach Wayne Gretzky and majority owner Jerry Moyes. Baum did however suggest that if the league retooled its offer to cover all and not selected parts of the creditors list that he would reconsider in favor of the NHL. "In hockey parlance, the court is passing the puck to the NHL who can decide to take another shot at the sale net or it can pass off the puck," Baum wrote. Baum's decision comes just one day before the NHL season gets underway and just shy of five months after Moyes, stating losses of $30 million per season, took the franchise into bankruptcy with the idea of selling to Balsillie. The NHL, which had been financially operating the team dating back to late 2008, asserted that Moyes did not have the right to file for bankruptcy and denied Balsillie's petition to buy the team. PHN is analyzing the decision and will have more on the ruling in the next few days. Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com © Copyright 2009 by Prohockeynews.com Top of Page |
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