BlackBerry co-CEO Jim Balsillie wants to buy Coyotes & move them to Ontario
by The PocketBerry Team
It looks like the co-CEO of Research In Motion said that his $212.5 million offer is conditional on the terms that the Coyotes relocate to Canada, where they existed as the Winnipeg Jets before they went ahead and moved to Phoenix during the 1996-97 season.
Basically what happened was the team had previously filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last Tuesday. In the filing, it included the proposed sale of the franchise to PSE Sports & Entertainment, LP, a Delaware limited partnership, which would move the franchise to southern Ontario.
Balsillie made offers in the past to purchase the Nashville Predators and Pittsburgh Penguins in best hopes of moving them to Hamilton, Ontario and failed at those offers as well.
“The current team ownership asked that I table an offer to purchase the Coyotes and significant discussions resulted in an offer that is in the best interests of the franchise, the NHL, and the great hockey fans of Canada and Southern Ontario,” Balsillie explained during an interview. “I am excited to move closer to bringing an NHL franchise to what I believe is one of the best unserved hockey markets in the world — Southern Ontario. A market with devoted hockey fans, a rich hockey history, a growing and diversified economy and a population of more than seven million people.”
The NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said that the Coyotes definitely needed investors and were looking for some as of March, but stressed that the team will not be located under any circumstances. Balsillie is hoping to make the team a deal that cannot be refused assuming the team gets to its really needy stages.
Source: CBS Sports
-by Mac Jadalhack
