Glendale Officials Reject Moyes' Plea In Support Of Balsillie's Bid

Moyes Says Glendale Would Be Better Off Without Hockey

Coyotes Owner Jerry Moyes "made an emotional plea to the Glendale City Council on Tuesday to speak in support" of RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie's bid for the team, but Glendale Mayor Elaine Scruggs and city staff told Moyes that he "could not talk and must leave," according to Rebekah Sanders of the ARIZONA REPUBLIC. City Council members a half-hour later "emerged from behind closed doors refusing to alter their backing of a competing offer from the NHL." Moyes: "I wish they would have listened to me. The city of Glendale would be better off without hockey. This team is going to be gone in a year." Moyes suggested that "concerts and events" staged at Jobing.com Arena "would bring the city more cash." Sanders notes Balsillie last week in U.S. Bankruptcy Court announced that he "would hand Glendale a $50[M] check as compensation if he is allowed to relocate the Coyotes to Hamilton," and Judge Redfield Baum "asked Glendale officials to evaluate the proposal by Thursday" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 9/16). Glendale Council member Phil Lieberman spoke in favor of accepting Balsillie's offer, saying, "I would like to keep the team in Glendale. I am not sure that is what the NHL will do in the long run. ... I believe the time is now to take the $50[M] and put up with the fact that we will have to continue the debt service on (the arena)" (AZCENTRAL.com, 9/15).

LOW EXHIBITION TURNOUT: SPORTINGNEWS.com's Ray Slover noted at the Coyotes' home exhibition debut last night at Jobing.com Arena, there were "few fans cheering for them to stay," as the game recap said that a "couple thousand people were on hand." Meanwhile, Coyotes Managing Partner & coach Wayne Gretzky was "nowhere to be seen -- just as it has been since training camp opened" (SPORTINGNEWS.com, 9/16). In Phoenix, Dan Bickley writes Gretzky "should be here, taking one for the team, suffering like the rest of us." Gretzky "should've seen how pathetic it all looked inside Jobing.com Arena, with tiny pockets of loyal fans scattered throughout a giant hockey palace." The low turnout was "expected yet ominous," as the Coyotes "didn't spend a dime on preseason advertising, not with all of the uncertainty in the air." Maybe if Gretzky saw last night's turnout, he "would've felt twinges of shame" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 9/16).

FIGHTING FOR BALSILLIE: The GLOBE & MAIL's Karim Bardeesy writes Balsillie attorney Jeffrey Kessler is "playing a key -- if somewhat unusual -- role ... in the battle of egos and chequebooks now unfolding in the court." Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection "isn't his bailiwick, after all," as he is an "antitrust litigator with a large sports practice." In taking on Balsillie's case, Kessler is "helping to turn a bankruptcy proceeding into a test case that could determine the NHL's right to decide who can be a member of its exclusive club." Bardeesy: "A picture emerges of a lawyer who stands for aggrieved, if well-paid and well-financed, outsiders and athletes who want to challenge the professional sports establishment" (GLOBE & MAIL, 9/16).