Wanna Bet Man?

On the surface it looks like Jim Balsillie lost out to GB again. Well so much for surfaces. Dig just a little deeper.

There lies a point at which the observer eventually notices that Balsillie wins everytime. He failed to buy Pittsburgh... Research in Motion (RIM) stocks went up in price exceeding the value of the amount of that which he would have paid for the Penguins. Everyone in Hamilton loves him.

The NHL, The Toronto Maple Leafs appear like the evil empire. In other words they win, but lose.

Balsillie goes after Nashville. Gary Bettman (GB) blocks the move. To do so GB taps a guy, a convicted fraudster, to counter offer with a loan from the outgoing owner who manages to get a prize franchise in Minnesota. On the surface, GB wins again.

However, Balsillie's company RIM favorably competes with Apple Computers about the I-phone which happened to be getting introduced to the market at the very same time. The value of thwarting the challenge of Apple by RIM, exceeds the value of the lost hockey club. Hamilton loves the guy. Canada loves RIM. So while hockey fails to come to Hamilton RIM wins at the bank on sympathetic loyalty.

In the actual battle, NHL won. But Hamilton is getting really pYssEd. Southern Ontario is beginning to desert the Maple Disbe Leafs. So they won but lost.

Balsillie makes a $212M bid on the Phoenix Coyotes with the caveat that they must be able to move to Hamilton. To the bankrupture court Balsillie set a June 30th date. The judge didn't buy it. Unfortunately for the NHL the judge will throw the team onto the perilous route of an open auction.

The Coyotes in reality are noted to be worth $140M in Forbes, lose $30M dollars per year at least in that sports market. Owe a ton of money. I mean when Balsillie offered $400M any sane man would have called up the looney bin police about the guy. Its bad business. And the myth Balsillie created either accidently or deliberately is that Hamilton would be a thriving sports market when in history it really hasn't.

The bankrupture judge decided on a Monday night to reject the time constrictions of the Balsillie bid because the criteria exceeded the courts ability to deal with the lengthy issues. Like Balsillie doesn't understand this. But Balsillie will let the bid remain regardless until the June 30th date. He really doesn't lose.

When the judge released his decision, earlier that day RIM coincidently announced the release of a new product line. Today the projected earnings for the owners of RIM will many times exceed the value of the bid for the Phoenix Coyotes. Wow I wish I could lose like that.

Balsillie knows business. He understands that from now on, every time the NHL gets into economic trouble he just lays down a bid. He knows he will lose the bid. He also knows that he could go get any other sports franchise (eg. Los Angeles Clippers.) move them to Copps Coliseum or back to Buffalo and literally screw Maple (disbe) Leaf Sports and Entertainment. The strategy would kill the Raptors.

He could have bought all of NASCAR's Petty Enterprises for half the cost of the hockey team and a car in NASCAR will bring more coin to RIM than any NHL Hockey team. Like no matter what the economics are, NASCAR ownership brings more business revenue from television than most other sports. NASCAR would be the best fit for RIM.

With businesses backing out of sponsoring golf tournaments, RIM could invest in sponsorship there with more benefit than owning any NHL team. However, they pay for all the advertising. In the fight with GB, win or lose, Balsillie and RIM benefits from the wide spread publicity.

And in every fight, GB wins but in winning he literally weakens the league. In September, when the Coyotes go on the auction block, the highest bid will be less than $100M. Or the judge could decide to let the NHL wear this. Judge R. Baum might decide, if they can't negotiate with Balsillie, and offers are insufficient to assign ownership and liability to the NHL. Which means they would have to pay off all the Coyotes bills in future, present and past.

This at a time when other teams are facing the same economic difficulty if not a greater degree of difficulty than the Phoenix team. Expect Balsillie to enter the fray yet again. Not to win a team but to torture GB, the NHL and the Maple disbe Leafs. Balsillie now is in an all win position even though GB will continue to think he wins. Every fight strengthens RIM. Every fight weakens the NHL.

Balsillie will likely bid on Florida or Tampa or Atlanta. There are more fires than any fireman can cope with. There is only one Billionaire. And there are so many NHL teams with so many dysfunctional owners. Look at the photo. Balsillie plays hockey, hey he has all his teeth. Gary, Gary, Gary...The game is not hockey stupid, the game is business.