Courtesy of CBC.ca:



City rebuffs PSE offer of (additional) $25m, win or lose, for support

"Jim Balsillie sweetened the pot again, but the City of Glendale still isn't biting.

Even faced with a mostly empty arena.

Balsillie, the co-CEO of Research In Motion Ltd., reportedly attempted to entice the municipal council to back his bid for the Phoenix Coyotes in federal bankruptcy court by offering the city $25 million US, whether he wins or loses the case, but was turned down, according to the Arizona Republic."

...So James Balsillie offers the City of Glendale an additional $25 mil, over and above the bid, win or lose, to have them say he's "okay, by them..." and they tell him to hit the road?

Is there something in the water? Or, are they just plain, fucking stupid?

im going to have to go with both. I see this as something of a PR move by Glendale. They dont want to be the city that didnt want an NHL team, even though the residents dont seem to support them.

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Check out my website: http://www.artistzero.com

"That wasn't very nice...I do believe you killed my hat."

Driver of the FIRE LINDY RUFF Bandwagon since 2008.

genius....reverse psychology!! Tell them you don't need or want their money so they feel compelled to give you even more!!! Tell me how that works out for ya.

They think that shutting out Balsillie will safeguard their arena lease?

When the NHL moves the Coyotes, next season, they get nothing, nada, zilch, bupkis...WTF is wrong with this picture?

Are they that self-delusional to think that if they stick their heads in the sand, regarding this immediate danger, that it won't come back to revisit them in an even more ominous form?

Take Balsillies' $75 million, take your lumps, and be happy you got anything; period.

Do they think that letting a team fold will look better than letting it go to another city?

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this place feels more like home, with one big happy family

I wish I could just get the cliff notes to this story. We all know how it will end. One way or another sooner or later Phoenix won't have a team anymore. The only questions unanswered are who will buy and where will they take the team.

They believe that Bettman will flip the team to Reinsdorf, who's planning to keep the team locally for 5 years and will be able to guarantee the lease money with $38 million per year in mandatory tax assessments to cover any losses.

It's great for the Glendale government officials, great for Jerry Reinsdorf, who will after 5 years sell them off to someone else for a massive profit, terrible for Moyes and terrible for the citizens of Glendale, and great for Bettman, who will be able to cash in when they are flipped again to Las Vegas or Kansas City and they get to keep the relocation dough.

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Oh lord, it's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in every way. I can't wait to look in the mirror, 'cause I get better looking each day. To know me is to love me, I must be a hell of a man. Oh lord, it's hard to be humble, but I'm doin' the best that I can.

Once this debacle is passed, and Bettman does (say) flip the team to Reinsdorf, what idiot notion makes the City of Glendale think that Bettman will compel Reinsdorf to keep the team in Phoenix?

...That was just a "one-time" smokescreen to keep Balsillie's bid from being considered...once the bankruptcy proceedings are done, and Balsillie's moved on, any one of Bettman's hand-picked cronies will be able to move the team freely - WHEREVER THE FUCK THEY CHOOSE!

...And the City of Glendale will say: "But, Mr. Bettman? You said you wouldn't let anyone move the team out of Phoenix?"...and the sly ol' Bettman will say: "Oh? Did I?... No, my cheeky monkeys...I merely said that I wouldn't allow James Balsillie to move the team. I hadn't included anyone else in that provision..."

Even here in Colorado they have a hard time supporting a team...and it actually snows here regularly and kids actually skate and play hockey! So hey, fuck it lets go 12 hours south in the desert and see what happens. Cock head. Expand hockey to the south for profits and end up damaging the game for the rest of us.....world class Gary. To be completely honest I couldn't care less about the city or the team really. I just want Bettman to lose this fight and get the boot.

God forbid someone think to move the team to a city where hockey is actually relevant.....

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"I'll rap you with my cane; you pencil necked geek!!"

-Bowler, imitating Freddy Blassie, at the very first M & G.

id kill to see the whale back.

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werent the whales having similar attendence problems which caused the original move to carolina...?

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Check out my website: http://www.artistzero.com

"That wasn't very nice...I do believe you killed my hat."

Driver of the FIRE LINDY RUFF Bandwagon since 2008.

Hartford's main issue was getting a new arena built, IIRC.

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Sabres Hockey: Commitment to Mediocrity

It appears that the city of Glendale is under Imperial control these days...


(yes I know I really nerded it up here)

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"She's like plan C after an 18 pack"

Squanto 7/27/2010

Nicely done!

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Oh lord, it's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in every way. I can't wait to look in the mirror, 'cause I get better looking each day. To know me is to love me, I must be a hell of a man. Oh lord, it's hard to be humble, but I'm doin' the best that I can.

nope. karmonos wanted a new arena. he extended his lease with the civic center two years to see where a new arena deal was going. after the first year, the deal hit a snag. wasnt dead, but it hit a snag and it was up in the air. thats when karmonos said fuck this, fuck your lease, im taking the team to a new city. the new city, ironically, was auburn hills, michigan, to play at the palace, home of the detroit pistons. so metro detroit would have had 2 NHL teams. remember, this was back when the red wings would have sold out a 40,000 seat arena on a nightly basis. well, everything was going well, but in the end, red wings owner illitch decided to vote against it. so karmonos went to greensboro.

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Irony, wasn't this at the time that The Vipers were selling nicely in the Detroit area?

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"I'll rap you with my cane; you pencil necked geek!!"

-Bowler, imitating Freddy Blassie, at the very first M & G.

Apparently the City of Glendale is playing hard ball. Sadly we are playing a game of 7-UP and they have yet to realize this. I don't want to see what happens when switch the game over to red rover...

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All the things we wanted each other to be we'll never be.

yes, the vipers were breaking all sports of attendence records for minor league hockey. shit, they sold out the palace of auburn hills quite a bit for a while, and the palace is much larger then joe louis arena. believe me when i tell you this. detroit and the detroit metro was 100% hockey crazy in the mid 90s. the city shut down for playoff games. ive never ever felt anything close to it in all my life. it may not be hockeytown like it was anymore, but i dont think any city ever was as passionate about a team as detroit was for the 95-96 and 96-97 seasons. it was insane.

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The only reason they went to Greensboro was to wait for the RBC Center to get built.

Greensboro is a much larger place than the RBC in attendance also, over 20,000 seats compared to just 18K of the RBC Center.

It was also a good deal for NC State's basketball team which was in need of a new Arena to play in.

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