Jerry Reinsdorf’s $148 Million Bid for Coyotes Gets NHL Support 30/07/2009 |
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Jerry Reinsdorf moved a step closer to adding the Phoenix Coyotes to his sports empire when the National Hockey League’s board of governors unanimously approved his $148 million bid for the bankrupt team.
Reinsdorf, the owner of the National Basketball Association’s Chicago Bulls and Major League Baseball’s Chicago White Sox, plans to keep the team in Glendale, Arizona.
“We will so advise the Bankruptcy Court and we will move this process forward,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said yesterday in a statement.
The board unanimously rejected a bid of $212.5 million from Jim Balsillie, co-chief executive officer of Blackberry-maker Research In Motion Ltd. Balsillie wants to move the team to Ontario.
Balsillie’s qualification as an NHL owner shouldn’t be an issue because he already gained league approval in 2006, when he failed with a bid to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins, the company behind his offer, PSE Sports and Entertainment, said.
Based on bankruptcy Judge Redfield Baum’s ruling last month, the NHL can’t keep the group from taking ownership of the Coyotes unless it can prove there have been “material changes” in PSE since 2006, company spokesman Bill Walker said.
“No such change was raised with us today,” Walker said in a statement.
The NHL governors encouraged a third group headed by Anthony LeBlanc of Thunder Bay, Ontario, a former executive at Research in Motion, to pursue a bid after saying its application was incomplete, Bettman said.
August Auction
Baum set Aug. 5 for a Coyotes’ auction among bidders who want to leave the team in Arizona. A Sept. 10 auction is scheduled for potential buyers who want to relocate the team.
“Jerry has refrained from commenting publicly on the Coyotes situation until the judge has rendered a final decision as he does not want to be perceived as influencing, in any way, an issue still before the court,” White Sox spokesman Scott Reifert said in an e-mail.
Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes sought Chapter 11 protection from creditors for the team on May 5, citing almost $400 million in losses.
Wayne Gretzky, the NHL’s all-time leading scorer, has run the team’s hockey operations since 2001 and has been head coach the past four seasons. Gretzky is owed $22 million under his contract with the Coyotes, making him a creditor in the bankruptcy case.
The case is Dewey Ranch Hockey, LLC, 09-09488, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Arizona (Phoenix).
(Source: Bloomberg)
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