June 28, 2007

MAPLE LEAFS BEHIND BALSILLIE’S INABILITY TO JOIN NHL

      There are far too many irregularities behind Jim Balsillie’s problematic bid at buying into the NHL to assume that it is strictly a clash of major personalities.  Certainly, Commissioner Gary Bettman does not like Balsillie for many reasons—first and foremost because the Ontario businessman does not believe in going through the proper channels.  Balsillie believes it is his inalienable right to do as he pleases in an attempt to join the exclusive club of NHL owners.  It has become obvious, however, that Bettman is less concerned with who owns the Nashville Predators as much as where the club will re-locate.  And his interest in re-location has very little to do with any kind of American influence or US television deal—it is simply a matter of keeping an NHL team out of the lucrative Southern Ontario market.  Why?  I believe it is because the Toronto Maple Leafs wish it.

       Is it not curious that Predator owner Craig Leopold has seemingly pulled away from a much more lucrative offer from Balsillie to set in motion an agreement to sell to California businessman Boots DelBiaggio?  This on the heels of a statement last week from Leopold that a published report on Balsillie being ousted as a prospective owner was simply a matter of hubris and political maneuvering by the NHL—and, more specifically, Gary Bettman.  There is little doubt that Leopold wants to sell—he has grown weary of losing millions in Nashville—and he wants to sell to Balsillie.  After all, how poor of a businessman do you have to be to choose $190 million for your franchise when you can have $240 million?  Leopold didn’t get where he is by being stupid, but he has been placed between a rock (Balsillie) and a hard place (Bettman) with his interest in selling.  And all of Balsillie’s machinations that have blatantly ignored standard league customs have made the sale increasingly difficult.

       So why has it become difficult?  Because Balsillie has made no bones about the fact that he wants to own an NHL franchise, and he wants it in Southern Ontario.  And that means stepping into the lucrative neighbourhood solely owned by the league’s most powerful, and most influential franchise.  Like animals, professional sports teams are extremely territorial and the Toronto Maple Leafs have exerted their considerable influence on the negotiations to ensure that Balsillie stays on the outside of the NHL fence. 

       How are the Leafs doing this?  The Leafs have always been one of, if the not the, most influential organization in the sport.  They have always been able to maintain complete control over a large marketplace that can easily house two franchises by dictating policy to the league and quietly making agreements with the commissioner’s office whenever the league needed support on certain issues.  There is little doubt that in order for Bettman to push through his economic plan, one that resulted in a lost season and the near dissolution of the player’s association, the league needed the full support of the Maple Leafs.  In turn the Leafs received verbal assurances from the league that any attempt by an owner to move into its territory would be blocked.  Balsillie realized that he would have a tremendous hurdle to leap when he tried to purchase the Pittsburgh Penguins last year in order to move them into Southern Ontario, and that is why he made such an outlandish offer to Leopold for the Predators.  He then surreptitiously went about negotiations with the city of Hamilton to house his proposed team in an attempt to garner public support for his bid, and to prove to the other NHL owners that the losing proposition they had in Nashville could be very lucrative north of the border.  Bettman, however, kept Balsillie at arm’s length, and away from the owner’s meetings, to avoid any possibility of a vote.  The Commissioner knows that if the league’s owners vote on the sale there would be overwhelming support for the Research and Motion magnate, and that only two teams would be opposed—the Buffalo Sabres and the Toronto Maple Leafs.  The Sabres don’t have the power to dictate policy to the league…the Leafs do.

       DelBiaggio’s interest is in placing a team in Kansas City.  The league actually would prefer to put an expansion franchise in that city, and thereby earn millions in expansion fees, but having DelBiaggio purchase the Predators and move them to the Midwest would be, by far, the lesser of two evils.  After all, there isn’t a powerful organization in the Midwest capable of manipulating the process and pulling the strings of the Commissioner like a puppet. 

       The Leafs have absolutely no intention of sharing the marketplace with anyone.  They want to continue along on their gravy train whereby they need not put a successful team on the ice to earn millions.  Competition would not only eat away at their pocketbooks, it would also put pressure on them to supply a winner and actually earn the dollars of their fan base.  And that’s a proposition light years away from their business plan.

       Don’t expect Balsillie to go away quietly, though…that’s definitely not in his character.  But as much as he wants in, there are some powerful forces that want him out.  Only time will tell which side will win.

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