Spurned Balsillie not giving up

PHOENIX (AP) — Jim Balsillie seems to have as much determination as he does money.

The Canadian billionaire is not giving up his quest to buy the Phoenix Coyotes and move them to Hamilton, Ontario, despite the rejection of his bid by a U.S. bankruptcy judge.

While the NHL praised Judge Redfield T. Baum’s decision and says it is pursuing a buyer who would keep the team in Arizona, Balsillie’s representative Richard Riordan painted the ruling as nothing more than a minor setback.

“The process ebbs and it flows,” Riordan said Tuesday. “This is a bit of an ebb, but so what? It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon.”

Riordan said Balsillie would either amend his bid or submit a new one, pending talks with Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes.

In a 21-page ruling issued at the close of business on Monday, Baum said there was not enough time to resolve the complex case by the June 29 deadline Balsillie had imposed for completion of the sale.

While the deadline has been erased, Balsillie insists the sale still can be completed and the team moved to Hamilton in time for next season.

Riordan said Balsillie wants to enter mediation with the NHL to resolve the case by determining a relocation fee that would clear the way for the move. The league did not immediately respond to Riordan’s proposal but has insisted all along it wants the team to stay in Arizona.

Balsillie applied for league approval as Coyotes owner and for relocation of the team last month, after Baum wondered why such applications had not already been filed.

One reason given by Baum for rejection of Balsillie’s antitrust claims was the fact that the league had not made a decision on whether the franchise could be relocated.

The NHL, meanwhile, was left to find an owner who would buy the franchise and keep it in Glendale, where it has lost $36 million each of the past three years. The name most often mentioned is Jerry Reinsdorf, owner of baseball’s Chicago White Sox and the NBA’s Chicago Bulls.

Any offer to buy the team and keep it in the desert is certain to be far less than the $212.5 million Balsillie put up contingent on moving the club to Hamilton. That would mean less money for creditors, especially Moyes. Last fall, Forbes magazine listed the Coyotes’ value at $142 million.

Any prospective bid also would hinge on the city of Glendale reworking its lease agreement for the Coyotes to play in Jobing.com Arena.

According to Balsillie, the city would have to come up with $20 million in concessions to satisfy Reinsdorf, who has not commented on the Coyotes issue.

In a statement Monday night, the city said it is “anxious to begin working in earnest with the Coyotes’ new ownership and the National Hockey League to protect our community’s investment and deliver a quality product for loyal Coyotes fans.”