Balsillie One Step Closer To Owning Coyotes With Hulsizer Exit
http://blogs.forbes.com/mikeozanian/...hulsizer-exit/
By MIKE OZANIAN
Now that Matthew Hulsizer has reportedly followed on the heels of Jerry Reinsdorf, owner of Chicago’s Bulls and White Sox, and pulled himself out of contention for buying the Phoenix Coyotes, billionaire Jim Balsillie is the National Hockey League’s only remaining option.
The Coyotes are owned by the league’s 29 other teams and are the least most valuable team in the NHL, worth $134 million. During the 2009-10 season the Coyotes had negative operating income of $20 million, by far the biggest loss in hockey.
With several other NHL teams struggling financially and looking for investors, like the New Jersey Devils and St. Louis Blues, the league needs to get teams to markets that will support them as quickly as possible. Bettman needs to let Balsillie, the CEO of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion, buy the Coyotes and work out terms with the Toronto Maple Leafs for invading their market so he can move the Coyotes to Hamilton, Ontario.