Tag-Archive for » Jim Balsillie «

Frozen Vulcan: Quick Hits

Wednesday, June 10th, 2009 | Author:
Hockey in June; Plenty Going On

Hockey in June; Plenty Going On

There’s enough going on in the NHL to warrant a run-down of thoughts:

- Game 7 goes Friday night in Detroit. I haven’t watched a game in its entirety in this series. I won’t be watching one Friday either, since Roy Halladay will be chucking a no-hitter against the Marlins. From what I can tell, however, Detroit seems to be able to flick that switch on and off, and I don’t expect that close a game. My pick: 4-1 Detroit (empty net goal).

- The proceedings into the Balsillie affair got underway yesterday in Phoenix. I’ve got the sneaking suspicion that the judge will side with the NHL, unfortunately. Relocation fees will be the sticking point, where Bettman will hold his ground by demanding ridiculous amounts of cash for the right to relocate. Who knows, maybe Balsillie will say “what’s another $500 million?”. Nonetheless, everything has been set in motion to get another team in Southern Ontario. That momentum will not go away, and the NHL governors will insist that it happens despite the objections of Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment, whether it’s Jim Balsillie at the helm or not – there’s just too much money to be made.

- Dany Heatley wants out of the Capital. Well boo-hoo to him. Don’t like the new coach, Dany? Tough beans. Unfortunately we occupy an era where The Athlete rules the roost, and The Athlete will have his wish granted. What complicates things is Heatley’s no-trade clause, so not only do the Sens have to trade him but he has to agree with the destination. The NHL would be wise to negotiate the use of this clause out of the next CBA (which means they won’t do it). Leafs Nation would be the first to acknowledge that this clause can ruin franchises (you also need incompetent managers, but that’s another issue).

- So where does he go? Although the talking heads in the embedded media (to borrow a term from Bruce Dowbiggin) have him going to Edmonton or Calgary, wouldn’t a trade with Colorado be the logical assumption? They have a bunch of stars they want to unload (Svatos, Hjeduk, Liles) as they rebuild. It’s in the Western Conference, just like The Athlete apparently demands. Let’s see this happen. Buh-bye Dany.

- I never warmed to Heatley, but I would have thought Spezza would be the one to pull this stunt – would have been happy had he done it. Now the Sens are stuck getting rid of a valuable asset. Here’s hoping they get something serviceable in return.

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The Twit: Weekend Prep Edition

Friday, May 08th, 2009 | Author:
Bettmans attack dog

Bettman's attack dog

Quick hits leading into the weekend:

- No real developments concerning the Bettman/Balsillie story, save for a few anonymous quotes from NHL governors which are nothing more than posturing, and Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes calling the NHL a cartel. Yup, sounds about right. NHL executive Bill Daly shot back today calling the deal between Moyes and Balsillie “a sham“. Let the smear campaign begin anew!

- The Manny suspension still hasn’t fully sunk in.

- A-Rod comes back to the Yankees tonight. One weasel exits left, another enters stage right.

- Jamie Campbell: I do like him, but he needs to stop manufacturing go-to canned lines like “You can kiss this one goodbye!!”. Just react naturally, bud. You don’t want to turn into the White Sox home announcers: “Yyyyyyyessss!”

- A few other Campbell mis-steps during the first Jays/Angels game: at one point he pimped the text message service offered by the Jays, where you get score updates sent to your cell phone. Without missing a beat he goes right into “no need for text updates, though, seeing as I’ll just tell you the score: 7-0 Jays”. Jamie, the Jays marketing department (your colleagues) won’t be all that happy about you dismissing the service they have you trying to sell.  Also, he thanked the Eastern viewers in the Maritimes and P.E.I. for staying up to watch this West coast game, only to add “no need to stay up now, though, as the Jays are up 7-0 and have the game well in hand”. This was in the second inning. Never mind the fact that lots of baseball fans enjoy the game no matter the score, if they’ve stayed up and somehow boost your ratings, don’t encourage them to call it a night!

Bill Hohn: Just make the damn call

Bill Hohn: Just make the damn call

- Bill Hohn is my least favourite umpire in baseball. He was behind the plate of that same Jays/Angels game, and if you were watching you may have noticed that it takes him at least a second after the ball has entered the catcher’s mitt to make a strike call. You shouldn’t need to think about it, Blue. Every time I’d be sitting there thinking “Wow, that looked like a – never mind”. Very aggravating.

- Since I piled on an announcer I actually like, here’s one for an announcer I’m at best tepid about. After Pens left winger Pascal Dupuis picked up a penalty late in the third period after six straight calls the other way, Greg Millen reacted thusly: “Six straight to Washington, you KNEW – it COULD happen – and…yes that was interference”. Mr. Millen, please have the courage of your convictions. What you were trying to say is this: “After six straight calls against the Caps, you knew that the referees were looking for any excuse to give Pittshburgh a penalty. That’s the way referees call the game in this league.” Instead, you chickened out of actually saying it. That betrays a fear of league authorities that too many on-air personalities harbour.

- For the record, I’ve never bought into the theory that referees, especially in hockey, try to spread penalty calls evenly between teams. If they do, they are doing a disservice to the game. Call ‘em as you see ‘em. I believe that theory has been spread by the former coaches and players (who occupy way too many analyst positions in sports broadcasting) who have always felt victimized by referees. It’s also a go-to excuse for feeble-minded fans to attribute blame to officials for their team’s shortcomings, and also to justify bad calls going their way as in:  “Yup, we had that coming to us after you’ve fucked with us all game. Mr. Referee”.

Toronto defeated Vancouver 1-0 on Wedneday

Toronto defeated Vancouver 1-0 on Wednesday

- Toronto FC beat the Vancouver Whitecaps at BMO Field in the first game of the Voyageurs Cup last Wednesday. The winner of the three team home-and-home tournament will represent Canada in the CONCACAF Champions League starting this fall. You’ve probably all heard of Montreal’s surprise run to the quarterfinal of the competition last year. The next game in the Voyageurs Cup schedule (also known by its corporate name of Nutrilite Canadian Championship) goes next Wednesday night at BMO Field. A fierce rivalry was born last year between the two teams facing off, Toronto FC and Montreal Impact. As far as I can tell the game will not be televised on any of the major networks. Sad, but understandable: it would be up against a potential game 7 of Caps/Pens and the Blue Jays v. Yankees.

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Frozen Vulcan: Declaration of War

Thursday, May 07th, 2009 | Author:
Bettman to Balsillie: Youve sunk my battleship

Bettman to Balsillie: You've sunk my battleship

Even in the spotlight of another Pens-Caps playoff game, the most compelling story yesterday was the Balsillie-Bettman death match. Sager over at Out of Left Field has a nice wrap-up of the online journalistic chatter. The best segment of the night belonged to Scott Morrisson and Jeff Marek who were tracking developments in the story. I think my favourite part of the whole day was reading somewhere that a source described Bettman as “apoplectic” when he heard what Balsillie was trying to pull. There’s just something about picturing Gary Bettman losing his shit that gives me a warm feeling.

You see, I’ve been seen as something of an apologist for Bettman in the past. I’ve often found myself defending him to friends and colleagues because I think he’s been unfairly vilified in the Canadian media. I’m not going to revisit now, because those days are over for me. This is a formal declaration of war against the Little Napoleon, and I hope every Canadian joins me in this battle.

It has become clear that whatever plan the NHL had to conquer the US market is now dead. Franchises that bleed money and need to be bailed out by the league are a cancer that needs to be eradicated. Owners of NHL teams  need to realize this, and realize that though there is a place for most US teams in the NHL, the real money to be made resides where the passion is strongest, and that is Canada.

There isn’t room for one more team in Southern Ontario: there’s room for two more. There’s room for another team in Montreal, and Winnipeg and Québec deserve to have their favourite sport represented at  the highest level of competition in which that sport operates. I’ve argued against the reality of these things in the past, but I believe now is the time to pounce. If the rumour that the Lightning want to move to Winnipeg holds any water, well it’s time for other NHL governors to man-up and give this thing a kick in the ass. If Atlanta is struggling as badly as we think it is, then it’s time to explore relocation to a market that will go absolutely ape-shit (in a good way) when it finds out it’s getting an NHL franchise. Same goes for Nashville and Miami.

You see, I had my moment of clarity when I compared how Bettman reacted to a franchise being moved south from Québec and Winnipeg to the current Balsillie struggle of moving a team North of the border. The man corellates the loss of a US franchise to a Canadian city as a personal affront to the master plan he and the NHL governors had of landing a huge US television contract. That payday is not coming. We’re a stone’s throw away from the NHL having to pay a major network for air time. The real television money is here in Canada, as the CBC and CTV Globemedia continue raising the ante at every negotiation. Throw in a couple more Canadian teams and the stakes get doubly serious.

Mr. Balsillie’s got his teeth sunk deep into the NHL’s flesh, and this time he ain’t letting go, to the benefit of all Canadian hockey fans.

Join the battle at www.makeitseven.ca

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Frozen Vulcan: Gary Bettman’s Waterloo

Wednesday, May 06th, 2009 | Author:
Even Napoleon could have seen the writing on this wall

Even Napoleon could have seen the writing on this wall

Gary Bettman has won some impressive battles in the past. Most notable among his victories was his destruction of the NHLPA in the last round of collective bargaining. He’s successfully implemented the owners’ desire for more American teams (in a fruitless pursuit of a lucrative national American television contract – the NHL’s Holy Grail). He’s brought in national sponsors and navigated some tricky ownership issues. To think of it, whether you’ve agreed with him or not, he really hasn’t lost any battles. He’s produced on everything the owners have asked of him.

All that is coming to a fiery end. Like the hero from Dale in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, Jim Balsillie has finally found the soft spot in Smaug‘s armour. By using the Phoenix Coyotes’ precarious financial position to perform an end-around to avoid the NHL ownership approval process (which has been twisted and turned in the past to block him from owning the Penguins and then the Predators), Balsillie will surely secure control of the NHL team. As Stephen Brunt puts it, Bettman is now in “check”.

Once that happens and Balsillie announces his plans to move the franchise North, brace yourself for a hardcore cage match between him and the league – might as well prep the metal chairs, broken glass and barbed wire immediately. Bettman will stake his future on this battle. And he will lose. With the NHLPA poised to get behind this plan, there is just too much going for Balsillie.

And really, why the resistance? A multi-billionaire hockey nut wants to purchase a failed franchise and move it into a sure-fire, can’t miss hockey market. What are the NHL governors so afraid of? The whole point of expanding (and moving) into the States was to get that big TV contract. It hasn’t materialized and it won’t. The game has receded so badly south of the border that ESPN will have nothing to do with it and the league had to accept NBC’s offer of carrying games for the hefty sum of zero dollars. That’s right: NBC pays the NHL nothing for the rights to broadcast the games.

With that in mind, isn’t in the owners’ best interest to allow a team into Southern Ontario, where it will be prosperous and is sure to make the Canadian television rights fees explode? Won’t MLSE (if they take the long view) grow to be stronger if they have a next-door rival whose first act will be to hand over hundreds of millions of dollars in territorial rights fees? Doesn’t everybody win?

Everyone but Bettman. It will be the death knoll of American expansionism, a signal to everyone that Bettman has failed in the venture on which he staked his career. If you’re one of the many Canadians who revile this man, then you are cheering on Jim Balsillie.

I’m interested in knowing your thoughts on why the NHL has so steadfastly opposed his intention to move a team to Canada. Head to the comments section and let’s get them!

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Québec Crackberries?

Thursday, October 05th, 2006 | Author:

TSN reported last night, and the Globe and Mail confirmed this morning, that Peterborough billionaire (these exist??) Jim Balsillie is to become the owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Fans is Canada have a knee-jerk reaction when an NHL team is bought by a Canadian to think “Will he move the team to Canada?”, with Québec, Winnipeg and Hamilton inevitably being debated as the best destination.

These three cities are the only ones in Canada, at the moment, that could support an NHL team. In my opinion Hamilton is the best business destination for the team, while Québec and Winnipeg tug at the heartstrings because of the nature of their departure from Canada in the 90′s.

From the sounds of the G&M article, it appears Jim Balsillie is exactly the type of owner the NHL needs right now – a hockey-mad billionaire that wants to win. There are definite similatities with Mark Cuban, who also was rumoured to be interested in the Pens. Mind you, if relocating to Canada is in his plans, he’s bound to have a run in with NHL brass. On top of that, should he want to call Hamilton home, he’ll have to fight a turf war with Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment, as well as the Buffalo Sabres ownership group.

We also can’t forget about Pittsburgh in this equation, since it figures to be the biggest player on this stage. With a billion dollars, Balsillie could easily get a desperately needed new arena built, along with all the bells whistles he might fancy. That option is also there for Québec, but he would be expected to move into existing facilities in Hamilton or Winnipeg. Staying in Pittsburgh will receive the full court press from Gary Bettman and the NHL – losing an American market in a sports-crazy town such as Pittsburgh will not be kindly viewed.

My preference? I’m honestly torn between Québec and Pittsburgh. Although keeping Pittsburgh in the discussion may seem strange, I gravitate towards it for purely nostalgic reasons. Wiping out the team that Mario played for his entire career would seem wrong somehow, like how parents must feel when they finally leave the home in which they brought up their kids. Hockey hasn’t been the same since it lost the Québec Nordiques, and a renewal of the Canadiens-Nordiques rivalry would rekindle a passion in the province of Québec that’s gone completely missing.

Winnipeg, in my opinion, does not have a large enough market for the NHL. Hamilton would be a great move for Balsillie, if he can pull it off. Having another team in the Battle of Ontario would surely be welcome (or would the Toronto-Ottawa rivalry be diminished somehow?). I just don’t think it will be possible to elbow MLSE out of the way, and Buffalo might become endangered if Hamilton sets up shop on its doorstep.

In any case, this purchase is superb for hockey, unless Balsillie is some nut job like Islanders owner Charles Wong. Here’s hoping he’s got more Cuban than Wong in him.

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