The third time could be the charm as the Phoenix Coyotes become the third NHL team Blackberry founder and Kitchener native Jim Balsille has tried to purchase and relocate to Southern Ontario.
Over the last couple years, Balsille has also tried to purchase the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Nashville Predators without success. He even began selling tickets at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton for the Predators franchise in an effort to show the interest of the fans in what he calls "one of the best un-served hockey markets in the world."
This time, Balsille made an offer of $212.5 million for the Coyotes hours after the team declared bankcruptcy. The offer consists of a conditional clause stating the team must be relocated to southern Ontario.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman isn't going to like this. Despite the obvious profit to be made by moving a money losing franchise closer to the most profittable hockey market (Toronto), Bettman has no interest in relocating any NHL team. Bettman's philosophy has always been to make the NHL a sport watched across North American by speading the team's across North America. He definately doesn't want any teams from the Western Conference moving farther East because the magority of NHL teams are in the North Eastern sector of North America. He wants to expand the NHL West for the sake of creating new NHL markets and fans that'll spend their money on merchandise, tickets and cable deals. If the NHL were to expand, Bettman would rather create franchises in Las Vegas and Kansas City than Southern Ontario.
After Toronto, the GTA and Ottawa, the next most populated cities in Ontario are Hamilton, London, Windsor and Kitchener. Hamilton is only 104 km from Buffalo and Windsor in only 2.8 km from Detroit which will make it difficult for either city to get an NHL team. If Balsille lands a team in Southern Ontario, the team may land in his hometown of Kitchener.
Balsillie's new strategy for depicting the interest for another team in Southern Ontario in his new website http://makeitseven.ca. On the site, Canadian fans can leave their email address and their postal code, read the full release statement and sign up for their online community.
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