Judge wants two more days to ponder bids for the Coyotes

It seems the Judge presiding over the Phoenix Coyotes bankruptcy hearings as a style more conductive to letting the parties involved, work out their issues amongst themselves. However, since there is so much animosity between the NHL and Canadian businessman Jim Balsillie that at some pint he is going to have to make a ruling about the legitimacy of Balsillie’s bid for control of the Coyotes.

The NHL has argued that since its Board of Governors voted 26-0 to not allow Balsillie to purchase any NHL team, that Balsillie’s bid is not legitimate. That would leave only the NHL’s bid of 140 million dollars as the only viable one for control of the franchise. The NHL would like to buy the team for itself and then move it trough a sale to a local ownership group in a more orderly fashion.

Now the Judge wants two more days before he makes a ruling. In that time he is going to have to decide if the NHL has the legal right to determine where its franchises rare located and by whom they are owned. This is a case similar to one of Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis, who sued the NFL, in order to move his team from Oakland to Los Angeles, and then back again.

Ultimately it seems that this Judge will rule that the NHL has the right to determine where its franchises are located, and even though Balsillie’s bid would be better off for the creditors of the bankrupt Coyotes, will be forced to sell the team to the NHL itself.