The day before the 2000 NHL All-Star game in Toronto, I did a sit-down interview with the commissioner and asked him if he was worried about his legacy. The Nordiques were gone. The Jets were gone. The Senators, Flames and Oilers were in trouble.
I wondered if he was worried that things would fall apart in Canada under his watch. Bettman, not exactly skilled at hiding his emotions, reacted angrily, listing several things he was doing to save this country's teams.
Back then, he made a convincing argument. He created the Canadian Assistance Plan against the wishes of several teams. He fought hard to solidify the Senators when bankruptcy beckoned. No city bought into the lockout more than Edmonton, hailing Bettman as the saviour who would slap down the big spenders and allow the Alberta capital to once again be the City of Champions.
I don't know if that Bettman was kidnapped by aliens or was the greatest living actor not named Edward Norton. But, that commissioner is gone. In his place is a guy standing in the middle of a Nashville street, staring northward with his middle finger up in the air. Yes, this obscene gesture is directed at the hockey fans driving revenue growth since the lockout.
Mr. Commissioner, you are wrong on this one. This league needs owners who love hockey. This league needs cities that love hockey. This league cannot afford to alienate fans who love hockey. And, with this move, you are doing all three.
Look, Jim Balsillie didn't handle this right. He can be a tough guy to deal with, and should have waited to hold the Hamilton ticket drive. But, if Bettman is worried about rogue owners, why did he approve Charles Wang – who gave Rick DiPietro 15 years and refused to buy out Alexei Yashin sooner because Wang liked him as a tennis partner? Why did he approve Tom Hicks, who inflated salaries in the NHL and MLB (Alex Rodriguez)?
Balsillie was also offering to keep Hamilton in the Western Conference. By doing that and expanding, which Bettman seems determined to do, realignment could happen. Detroit and Columbus could switch to the East - as both want to do - and Colorado, which doesn't want to play Vancouver/Edmonton/Calgary eight times a year, could move into a division with more U.S.-based opponents. Meanwhile, the Canucks/Oilers/Flames get another Canadian rival, although I would understand if those three teams hated the travel and put up a fight.
Once Balsillie decides he wants something, he's not going anywhere. If this doesn't work, don't think he won't try again in, say, Florida, with the Panthers as stable as a man who has drank 17 beers. This is personal. Not only does he want to be an NHL owner, he feels he was unfairly treated in his attempt to buy the Penguins. Balsillie was approved, only to have the commissioner include unexpected non-relocation clauses in the purchase agreement. New owners in St. Louis and Anaheim didn't face similar rules. (This was before Pittsburgh got a new arena.)
According to sources, Bettman wanted a seven-year moratorium on even applying for a move and the right to buy back the team at the original price instead of allowing Balsillie to go anywhere. That way, if the Penguins were to move, it would be to an NHL-approved locale. Hello, Kansas City!
So, Balsillie walked. He felt he couldn't trust Bettman and devised another plan. In February, Hockey Night In Canada did a Headliner on the future of the Predators. David Poile, the GM, was very honest. He said this was a huge year for Nashville. He felt a huge playoff run - the only thing the team had not accomplished under his watch - would save them. Anything less, and, well....
Unfortunately for Poile, the Predators were wiped out by San Jose.
In comes Balsillie, offering money-haemorrhaging owner Craig Leipold almost $50 million more than the next highest bidder. He accepted - like any sane man would - and Bettman freaked like a teenage girl who walks into the prom and sees someone else in the same dress. Upping the bid even more won't help Hamilton Jim. There is no way Bettman was going to let this offer get anywhere near the board.
Balsillie's plan now is to play on the patriotism of the other Canadian owners. Ken King, president of the Calgary Flames, did say his personal choice was to have another team here. But that is as far as these guys will go. Bettman's slapped them with a gag order and, rest assured, he will whack anyone who dares to violate it. Before the lockout, Thrashers owner Steve Belkin was fined $250,000 and Pat Quinn $100,000 for labour-related commentary.
You have to wonder, though, if there is any chance Bettman's power base is eroding. Not only is he killing a ridiculously high offer, which would inflate the value of other teams, but salaries are reaching/surpassing pre-lockout levels. The new minimum of $34.3 million is higher than 10 team payrolls from 2004-05. All-Star and Stanley Cup ratings set all-time lows in the United States. Plus, if he accepts this above-market bid, he can still make the other teams some expansion money by adding Kansas City and Vegas if he wishes.
Why move a team and eliminate one expansion fee when you can move one and still add two? That's the question I'd be asking if I owned a team.
I also can't believe Leipold is putting up with this. He's one of Bettman's most loyal supporters, standing by him on the negotiating committee during the lockout. Meanwhile, he doesn't meddle as his expansion team grows into a contender, and hangs on for more than a decade in a market where the business community doesn't care. His reward: tens of millions of dollars in losses. Then, when someone offers him more than he can dream for this hockey Titanic, his good buddy berates him to say no.
Some friend.
(By the way, this is not about Canadian hockey snobs, as someone wrote in a Nashville paper this week. I love the city. It is one of the best road trips in the NHL, and those who play there say it's a fantastic place to live. But, anyone who claims this market is better for the league than Hamilton is taking Barry Bonds' cat tranquilizers.)
Hamilton, no. But Las Vegas and Kansas City, yes. Yeesh. Pencil in the next lockout for 2015.
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