Bankruptcy judge rejects both bids to buy NHL team

Bankruptcy judge rejects both bids to buy Phoenix Coyotes, leaves door open to NHL

• By Bob Baum, AP Sports Writer
• On 5:38 pm EDT, Wednesday September 30, 2009

PHOENIX (AP) -- A bankruptcy judge has rejected both bids to buy the Phoenix Coyotes.

Judge Redfield T. Baum turned down the offers of Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie and the NHL in a 31-page ruling on Wednesday.

However, he left the door open for the NHL to buy the team if it amends its offer to provide more money to Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes and former coach Wayne Gretzky.

"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.

The ruling comes on the eve of the start of the NHL season after nearly five months of often bitter legal wrangling between Balsillie and the league.

Moyes took the team into Chapter 11 on May 5 with a plan to sell to Balsillie, contingent on moving the franchise to Hamilton, Ontario, over the NHL's vehement objections.

Balsillie's bid, which rose to $242 million in an effort to persuade the city of Glendale to drop its opposition, was denied outright by the judge, who said the NHL had the legal right to determine who owns its member teams and where they play.

"This conclusion effectively is the end for the efforts of PSE, Balsillie, Moyes and the Coyotes to force a sale and relocation of the hockey team. ...," Baum wrote.

PSE is the company formed by Balsillie to pursue the Coyotes.

The NHL board of governors voted 26-0 against Balsillie, labeling him untrustworthy. It is the third time Balsillie, who is co-chief executive of BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd., has tried and failed to buy an NHL team. Previous efforts to purchase the Pittsburgh Penguins and Nashville Predators also fell through.

The league offered $140 million to buy the team and try to resell it, first to a purchaser to keep the team in Arizona. Failing that, the NHL said it would look to relocate the franchise.

Baum based his rejection of the league bid on that fact that it would pay all unsecured creditors in full, except Moyes and Gretzky, who would get only a share of what was left after every other party got its money.

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