Balsillie Keeps Pressure On

As George Costanza would say, they're taking it up a notch.

Jim Balsillie's bid to bring the Phoenix Coyotes to Hamilton, which is riding heavily on an Arizona bankruptcy judge's decision in 10 days, has pushed the envelope every step of the way. Often, that has angered NHL officials.

Well, Gary Bettman and Co. probably won't be thrilled this morning when the Balsillie group unveils its renovation plans for Copps Coliseum, an attempt to make the rink NHL ready.

Copps has hosted many major events, including the 1987 and 1991 Canada Cups, but requires upwards of $150 million in upgrades, including the addition of private suites.

Balsillie is expected to unveil the name of an architectural firm and show drawings of the planned renovations.

On a day when a news report suggested the Coyotes are likely to lose another $17 million in the coming weeks, it's another way for Balsilie to aggressively ramp up the pressure on the Bettman administration to stop funding the money-losing Phoenix franchise and let it move to Canada.

Comments

[Guido]

Balsillie is a joke.. there are 2 problems with this whole thing.

1 - There is no chance the judge is going to circumvent the entire sports industry and potentially *any* franchise industry by allowing owners to move a team whether they want, regardless of the rules. No chance, and even if he does, it's going to get appealed potentially to the highest court with all sports lawyers involved. Good Luck.

2 - Hamilton is the worst place for a franchise. I've never understood where there is such a romance with Copps. As somebody that lives in the KW area I have zero interest in going to Hamilton to watch a game.. Zippo. If there is another team in the area it should be in the tri-cities area, not stuck in between Toronto and Buffalo - just doesn't make sense.

3 - While Bailsillie may weasel his way into the league, he's going to be blackballed by every other owner, at least for the first while. The one thing an old boys club doesn't like, is to be pushed around.

[Jonathan]

private suites? they better be cheap. i thought he was a romantic who pictured no ties allowed, no business but just real fans watching the games. that wasn't just rhetoric, was it?

[chris]

Balsillie, the billionaire, had better pay for this with his own money, if he is somehow successful. There's no way the taxpayers in Ontario would accept this if he goes hand in hat to them, in these economic times.

[mark]

Good. I'm glad that Balsillie is putting on more pressure. The more that the existing owners see of JB willing to put out, the more they will look at Bettman and say "tell me again why I should keep this guy out of the club and subsidize this mess in Phoenix?" I have to believe the majority of owners have had enough of Bettman's tunnel vision. At a time when several clubs are bleeding red ink and the prospects for new/increased revenues are nill, doesn't it just make plain good fiscal sense to turn this money loser into a money maker? Dogma is not good for business.

[Marijan Kalman]

Who is IDIOT who made a list of of best players in NHL.List without Nicklas Lidstrom, best player in NHL last 15 years!!His name please.Then you people in Toronto are wondering why the rest of hockey world hates us.What a joke is "THE STAR".So bias,it is sad how low people in our hockey world could go.Shame on all of you.

[Guelphdad]

Chris, Balsille has already went hat in hand. And while the taxpayers may not accept it, they don't make the decisions, they just elect the flunkies who'll give our money away. You can bank on it!

[chris]

I am aware the political flunkies we elect do waste our money, Guelphdad. But two wrongs do not make a right. If Jim Balsillie, a billionaire with enough BlackBerry dough to buy several NHL franchises, can get taxpayers money to cover the lion's share of the cost to upgrade the proposed hockey crib in downtown Hamilton, then he loses the right to portray himself as some kind of a Canadian folkhero standing up to the big bad hockey Death Star in New York.