Judge Redfield T. Baum will now have to decide whether or not Balsillie’s offer is worthy and he is a capable owner, even though the NHL Board of Governors have turned him down with a vote of 26-0. If the Judge decides against Balsillie and favors the NHL and their offer, the NHL says that they will then sell the team to a private investor.

There will be a hearing on September 2nd to work through some documents that Balsillie has filed, including a provision that would allow him to walk away from his offer and the deal if thing are not settled by September 14th. The auction for the sale of the Coyotes is set for September the 10th.

Doesn’t this tell Bettman and the NHL anything?? NO ONE wanted to make an offer to keep the team in Phoenix. Can’t they get a clue??!! An NHL team cannot survive and thrive in Phoenix. Please stop making the other teams in this league financially support your bad decisions, and do what is right for the league, the sport of hockey, and its fans… LET BALSILLIE WIN and LET HIM MOVE THE TEAM TO HAMILTON where Canadian citizen live and breathe hockey.

The NHL Board of Governors rejected Jim Balsillie’s bid to purchase the Coyotes (suprise! hah), and gave positive responses to bids put forth by Ice Edge Holdings (a group of U.S. and Canadian investors) and Jerry Reinsdorf. Both bids were to purchase the team and keep them in Phoenix, with the Ice Edge Holdings groups also proposing that the team would play five game in Canada… in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan or Halifax, and Nova Scotia. Ice Edge is offering $150 million and Reinsdorf bid is for $148 million, both much less than Balsillie’s $212 million offer.

However, the most recent news is very good…Judge Baum has decided to let any and all interested parties be involved in the open auction for the team on September 10th, which means that Balsillie will be allowed to take part! The Judge said specifically that the offer from Balsillie would be considered. Balsille also got a little help yesterday… the largest creditor of the Coyotes (which is owned by Michael Dell of Dell Computer) said that they wanted to be paid in full and in cash, and that only Balsillie’s bid would fulfill their request. The Globe and Mail has a great article on all of the latest. Check it out.

Yes, there is still hope for Canada!!

And later that night…

The Coyotes organization lost at least $45 million last season, was last in the league with ticket revenue at $18.4-million, and has lost $316 million since moving to Phoenix in 1996. The organization did not even meet enough of the trigger criterion set by the NHL to receive their full ($15 million) league revenue sharing money, which is the highest in the league. The Coyotes also only averaged about 11,000 fans per game last season at Jobing.com Arena.

In other news…
the Montreal Canadiens were sold to the Molson brothers (mmmm, beeer) by George Gillett for perhaps at much as $555 million.

Over the weekend, our favorite mini-commish Gary Bettman made his first appearance at an NHLPA meeting in Las Vegas. The meeting lasted nearly two hours and the biggest topic of discussion had to do with steroid and performance enhancing drug use in the NHL. Bettman and the players seemed to agree that it wasn’t much of an issue in the league, and nothing was decided on the issue of drug testing in the future. For Bettman… typical talk and PR. Furthermore, the NHL’s TV contract also came up in the meeting… it seems as though players want the league to move to ESPN, but the little man sticks to his original terrible decision to put and keep the games on NBC and Versus.

Balsillie isn’t giving up, however… even though his battle might be a tougher one than trying to make ice in a desert. Balsillie is going to submit another motion to the court, to purchase the team and hopefully enter mediation with the NHL.

So what do we all and Jim Balsillie do? SEND AN EMAIL TO GARY BETTMAN AND FLOOD HIS INBOX!!!!!!!!!!! We are working with Jim Balsillie and his MakeItSeven campaign to send the little commish as many emails as possible.

Simply fill out the form below and hit submit, and the message below will be sent to Gary Bettman!!!!!:

The Judge heard from both sides earlier in the week. The major outcome of the proceedings was that the NHL could probably charge Balsillie a relocation fee to move the team from Phoenix to Hamilton. This fee could be at least $100 million, which would create an easy $300+ million price tag for the desert team.

If this is the case and it’s as simple as this (which we highly doubt)… we say WRITE THE CHECK BALSILLIE!!! Just get the deal done and move on!! If he wants this team and wants this for Canada enough, he can and will do it.

In other news… Balsillie and his MakeItSeven movement have chosen June 19th as Make It Seven Day in Canada!