Make it Seven part 2
I suspect you are having as hard a time as I am understanding what Gary Bettman is mad about (see prior post “Make It Seven” May 6-09). He doesn’t want Jim Balsillie to buy an NHL team, and would prefer someone like Nelson Skalbania?
This from the Globe & Mail:
Skalbania, 61, has a checkered history not only with the NHL but also in the business world. He gained fame in the late 1970s when he bought several sports teams, including the Atlanta Flames, which he moved to Calgary in 1979. He was also known for selling a teenaged Wayne Gretzky from his Indianapolis Racers in the now-defunct World Hockey Association to his friend Peter Pocklington, who owned the Edmonton Oilers.
However, Skalbania flamed out in 1982 in a spectacular bankruptcy which saw him lose all of his businesses. He then was hired by his creditors to rebuild some of them.
Skalbania managed to work his way back to solvency and even bought the B.C. Lions of the CFL in 1996. But that venture soon collapsed and he lost the team. One year later, Skalbania was convicted on a charge of stealing $100,000 from a real-estate partner but avoided jail time by going on parole and wearing an electronic monitor for almost a year.
The NHL is going to turn down a recent inductee to the Canadian Business Hall of Fame in favour of a convicted felon? Really? It is time for Wayne Gretzky and the Directors of MLSE to stand up and be counted. Do you want Jimmy or not? There’s always a Skalbania waiting in the wings to join this august group of NHL owners, if folks like Mr. Balsillie can’t be found.
Perhaps our House of Commons Industry Committee can kick off a public hearing regarding the allegations that the NHL is an “illegal cartel”. That might bring this all to a close quite quickly.
MRM
Before we all cannonize Balsillie, lets not forget his stock option pricing scandal. Perhaps not as bad as Skalbania’s offenses, but not the work of a saint either.
Bettman is trying to protect his existing franchise holders. If he allows Balsillie to violate the teritorial rights of MLSE then what is stop other ailing franchises from relocating in Montreal, Boston or Chicago? I am not a Bettman appologist, but he can’t allow Balsillie to circumvent the territorial rights without drastically reducing the value of all his best franchises…then who is going to want to buy in the future. It is amazing how emotions cloud the normally clear judgement of people on this issue.