Judge says NHL entitled to fee if Coyotes move to Hamilton

Did the NHL charge Winnipeg and Quebec a fee to move to the USA? If they didn't it would just reinforce my belief that Bettman doesn't like Canada.

But there wasn't an existing NHL team in Phoenix (Winnipeg) or Denver (Quebec)... Phoenix is moving into the territory of an existing team and will have to pay territorial rights to the Leafs...

I find it frustrating how people want to spin this as a Canada vs USA or Bettman vs Balsillie thing when it's the Leafs who are really objecting to Hamilton having a team....

It wouldn't surprise me if Balsille paid the $100 million just to piss off Bettman and the NHL. Odds are, he'd get it back in a decade (or less) anyways. Another team in the golden horseshoe makes economic sense.

This sounds an aweful lot more like bribery than a court ruling.

Is that what the fee is for? For infringing on someones territory? That I could buy, I believe the mighty ducks had to pay money for setting up in Anahiem. If its just an arbitrary moving fee then I have a problem with that. I don't like Bettman, and I don't think he likes Canada much. That's my opinion.

The dumbest thing is the the NHL is cutting it's own throat by being so obstructionist. With revenue sharing every other team will get far more of a boost in funds by adding a couple of highly-marketable teams to southern Ontario than it ever will by keeping teams in place like the American southwest or Florida. Long term it's a no-brainer as far as economics goes.

It's hard to believe that they'd sooner hurt themselves rather than admit that the expansion into non-hockey US regions was a failure. People who'd rather die over a failed theory instead of relocating teams to areas where they're guaranteed a massive revenue stream should not be in charge of a professional sports league. And damn them as well for continually raising the myth of a long-term US television contract too. NHL has already been bumped down to ESPN 2, ranking far behind things like NASCAR and tennis, and NBC is only interested in showing the All-Star game and a handful of playoff games. The league's been babbling about a major US TV deal for going on twenty years and if it couldn't happen back when Gretzky went to Los Angeles then it's not gonna happen now, or ever. The average US fan is far more interested in NFL and MLB and has shown no inclination to add hockey to the list of favoured sports.

And screw the Maple Leafs too if they're blocking any relocation to Ontario. They're probably just scared of having a team run correctly challenge their dominance in the area and expose all their organizational shortcomings for all to once again see. It's a patheritc excuse for a company that, if they're so terrified of competition, that they immediately resort to filing lawsuits against anyone who comes onto their so-called personal turf. It's just another glaring example of why the Leafs have always sucked and always will suck.

You're right, Thanos, and the NHL recognizes the potentential and value of another franchise in Ontario. But they want to see an expansion team with a franchise fee, perhaps $500M, to receieve that franchise. $500M divided by 30 NHL owners equals $16M+ per owner if a new team comes to Ontario instead of a relocation.

Bettman doesn't get to decide anything as far as where a team goes or doesn't go. The league owners decide that and if they think there's no room for another team in Canada that won't happen. If they want another team in the US then they tell Bettman to make it happen. He's just a talking representative of the owner group that can only give advice.

Exactly. It's the owner's who run the NHL and not Bettman. He is an employee of the NHL. The owners own the NHL. It is their money that is a risk or gain and not Bettman's...

I don't think Bettman is anti-Canadian. Remember when the Oilers were going to relocate to Houston the Canadian Assistance Program was initiated when the US teams were profitable and most Canadians teams were losing money due to a very low Canadian dollar (circa 2000).. McLeans, TSN, etc at the time were predicting there would only be 2 Canadian teams left in the NHL (Toronto & Montreal)... Bettman was just as adamant then to maintain Canadian teams as he is now about keeping the Coyotes in Phoenix...

IF I had to sue to get admittance to club that obviously did not want me as a member I would question whether this is a club I really want to be a member of...

Personally I think Baslillie is just using this as a way to get publicity to possibly further his own career... Perhaps in the near future he will be running for Mayor of Hamilton...or some other office in Ontario government... The poor blind naive blokes in Hamilton are already hoisting him onto their shoulders and proclaiming him the people's champion.... He is simply unifying the people by providing them with a common enemy...the evil, anti-Canadian NHL... ... The same evil, anti-Canadian NHL that fought hard to maintain franchises in Edmonton and Ottawa when they threatened to relocate to the greener pastures of the USA....

Excuse me, Denver had the Colorado Rockies that failed before they brought teh nordiques there to be the avs. Not to mention cities like Atlanta who also had a team (The Flames) that had to move because of a piss poor market and got one back afterwards.

Having corrected you on that, you are right on the Leafs being the protagonists here and they should just shut up, southern Ontario can accomidate another taem and the Leafs won't suffer for it short of having another team beat them on a regular basis.

Yeah, I know of the Kansas City Scouts-Colorado Rockies... Grapes even coached there. I know as well of the Atlanta (Calgary) Flames....

But they were not existing at the time of relocation...and since they were not existing, no territorial fees had to be given to them... The Hamilton area is already serviced by the Leafs & Sabres....hence the need for a fee and why the Avs or Coyotes did not pay any....

Agreed, did you hear how much $$$ they're talking though, somewhere about 100 mil. How much of that will go to the Leafs? None. I'm bettign the league will eat it up before the public even knows how much it was.