Sporting Madness

It looks like the Phoenix Coyotes are going to be around Glendale, Arizona for at least another year. TSN's Dave Naylor writes that the city council there voted 5-2 to give the team a $25 million subsidy if they haven't found a buyer by the end of the 2011-12 season. As Joe Yerdon writes, that subsidy should keep them there for at least another year, if not longer, and that means Winnipeg probably isn't getting a team this summer. Of course, that won't make everyone happy; it was only decided after a hilarious council meeting (described perfectly by friend of the blog Dennis Tarwood ) that featured plenty of comments both for and against the idea , and it's sure to meet with criticism from the Goldwater Institute , many Canadian hockey fans and media outlets, economists and others. However, while there are substantial issues around hockey in Phoenix that still need to be addressed, keeping the team there is a good thing from this perspective. It's not that e...

The NHL to Hamilton situation continues to get stranger by the day. Yesterday, a new group came forward with their own plan for a team in Toronto [ The Canadian Press via The Globe and Mail ], which involves a 30,000-seat arena at Downsview Park (with Olympic-sized swimming pool!), a percentage of the profits going to charity and possibly the stupidest name ever proposed for an NHL franchise, the Toronto Legacy. MLS and WNBA clubs laugh at that name. Even the Oklahoma Thunder snicker at that name. Anyway, add them to the list of prospective owners for a GTA franchise. Of course, that list also includes Balsillie and his Hamilton plans as well as the group led by former Leaf Kevin Maguire , who are trying to bring a team to Vaughan . Even more interesting, though, was today's revelation that Toronto Argonauts owners Howard Sokolowski and David Cynamon are apparently interested in buying the Coyotes and leaving them in Phoenix [ Paul Waldie , The Globe and Mail ]. Here's the...

Continuing in the vein of my first and second posts on this week's conference call about the official application to relocate the Phoenix Coyotes to Hamilton, I figured it would be worth taking a look at some of the other aspects of the situation. One element that's particularly interested me is if it makes any difference that the proposed new site would be in Canada, so that's the focus of today's post. Obviously, there are some major differences to be found in operating a professional sports franchise in the United States or in Canada. The biggest one is the currency. One of the main reasons that the Winnipeg Jets (who became the Coyotes) and Quebec Nordiques (who became the Colorado Avalanche) left for the U.S. in the 1990s was thanks to a slump in the Canadian economy and a correlated decline in the Canadian dollar. There were other issues in both cities, including arena capacity and capabilities, corporate support and television cash, but the dollar's weaknes...

One of the interesting things that came out of yesterday's media conference call on the filing of the official application to move the Phoenix Coyotes to Hamilton was the information about the NHL's application process. The application covers the territory required by NHL By-Law 36.5, and there are some curious inclusions and omissions there. First, the application includes substantial information about the Coyotes' financial picture in Phoenix. Here are four of the key points made in the application, excerpted word-for-word from the media backgrounder I received: "- Since inception the Club has recorded cumulative EBITDA losses in excess of $316 million. - The Club has been unable to generate a significant fan base in Glendale demonstrated by a lack of interest in attending a game live, with the Club ranking 5th in attendance interest in that market behind the NFL, MLB, NBA, and NCAA Football. Historic support is weak, attendance is low, ticket sales continue to dec...

Photo: Former CFL commissioner Tom Wright authored the Balsillie group's official relocation application. From daylife.com . Thanks to Brenna Flynn of Jim Balsillie 's media relations team, I was invited to take part in a media conference call this afternoon on the Balsillie group's official application to the NHL(filed yesterday) to relocate the Phoenix Coyotes. It was a highly informative discussion featuring many of the usual suspects who have been covering the story, including Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star , Ken Peters of the Hamilton Spectator and friend of this blog Norm James of A-Channel London. I've got plenty of material to discuss from the call, so I'll spread it out over several posts. First up, a piece on the man who wrote the relocation application, former CFL commissioner Tom Wright . It was perhaps an unusual situation for Wright to be speaking in favour of moving a franchise. Only three years ago, he was still the CFL commissioner and proba...

Much has happened since my initial post last week about the rumours of the Indiana Pacers potentially moving to Vancouver. The story's spread everywhere from CTV to Newsday to the Indianapolis Business Journal , with many sites claiming there's nothing behind it. Vancouver Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini , the rumoured potential buyer of the team from current owners Herb and Mel Simon , gave a very interesting statement to CTV, though, saying he has "no immediate interest in purchasing an NBA basketball team." That's a pretty weak denial, especially considering the "immediate" part. Prospective owners of sports franchises rarely make their interest known publicly well in advance, particularly when relocation is involved. Moreover, the initial report stated that any deal was at a very early stage, so Aquilini could be telling the complete truth here and still purchase an NBA franchise a month down the road (if he had immediate interest then). As I ...

The Canucks may be out of the playoffs, but it may be a busy offseason for owner Francesco Aquilini . Kevin Nesgoda of Bleacher Report writes that rumours are swirling in Indiana regarding Aquilini's potential interest in purchasing the NBA's Pacers and relocating them to Vancouver. Nesgoda's initial report has been cited by some politically connected sites in the area, including Capitol Watchblog and Howey Politics , and the B.C. media are starting to look into it as well; Don Taylor mentioned the idea on Sportsnet Connected 's Pacific edition a few minutes ago. At first, this seems like a somewhat implausible rumour, but upon further reflection, it makes a lot of sense. First off, the NBA was not entirely a failure in Vancouver the first time around. Attendance was bad, but much of that was due to poor on-court performance by the team and ineptitude on the part of the management. The team also wasn't really given much time; they were only in Vancouver for six...

I'll be live-blogging tonight's Toronto FC match against D.C. United (7:30 p.m. Eastern/4:30 p.m. Pacific, Rogers Sportsnet) here and at The 24th Minute . It should be a good one; D.C. leads the East with 13 points from a 3-1-4 record, while TFC is in second with 12 points from a 3-2-3 record. Thus, the winner of this one will take over or hold on to first place. One question for Toronto is if defender Adrian Serioux will be fit to play ; he suffered a neck injury against Columbus last week and missed the midweek clash against Vancouver. Sam Cronin also missed the Whitecaps game, but is expected to return to face D.C. tonight. Another interesting element is what's going on off the pitch. Everyone knows about D.C. United's stadium struggles, and they've led to threats of relocation if they can't find a new stadium. The D.C. United supporters are going to be marching to the match [ Jason Davis , MLS Daily ] to show their passion for keeping the team in D.C.; Ja...

As I wrote in my Out of Left Field post on the Sonics settlement earlier this morning, there are only two scenarios by which this abrupt reversal on the city's part makes sense in my mind. The first is that they've actually obtained a more substantial guarantee of a replacement team than was indicated in the settlement deal : the second is that they were hornswoggled into accepting a bunch of cash and a number of vague promises for the future in return for their franchise. This second, more depressing scenario, which I picked as seeming more likely at the moment, seems to be the predominant belief in Seattle for the present. As columnist Steve Kelley of The Seattle Times wrote today : "Basketball died in Seattle Wednesday afternoon. It died because too many people who should have cared didn't. It died of neglect. It died because all of the powers-that-be stopped paying attention. ... Basketball is dead, and don't look for any miracle resurrections. Chances ar...

Well, the details of the Sonics settlement have finally come out [Sharon Pian Chan and Jim Brunner, The Seattle Times ], and it looks like they will in fact be moving to Oklahoma City sooner rather than later in exchange for $75 million dollars ($45 million if the city gets another NBA team within five years). That's much better than the $26.5 million Bennett offered in February before the trial, but it leaves me with plenty of questions for the city. Their whole case revolved around the idea of "specific performance", the idea that money alone could not replace an NBA team. What about the passionate testimony from writer and fan Sherman Alexie? What about Mayor Nickels' testimony [Greg Johns, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer ] about being an eternal optimist, where he said "A lot can happen in two years?" What about the testimony from economist Andrew Zimbalist, who said he couldn't put a dollar value on what the Sonics bring to the community? What ab...

Now that's highly unusual: The Seattle Times is reporting [Jim Brunner and Sharon Pian Chan, The Seattle Times ] that the Sonics and their owners have apparently agreed on a settlement, only hours before Judge Marsha Pechman was supposed to issue her ruling in the case. The timing of this is bizarre, as I don't see what either side has to gain by settling now. For the city, their aim throughout has been to try and enforce "specific performance" to make the team play at least two more seasons in Seattle, so it wouldn't seem to make sense for them to take a cash buyout at this stage when Judge Pechman might have ruled in their favour, and it's hard to imagine Clay "Buccaneer" Bennett agreeing to the Sonics staying in Seattle any longer than necessary. The other odd aspect to the timing is that both sides have already been fighting dirty: often, settlements are reached in cases like this one to try and prevent incriminating information from coming out...

Photo: Steven Pyeatt of Save Our Sonics. [Photo from http://stevenpyeatt.com/ ]. As part of the preparation for Judge Pechman's decision [Greg Johns, Seattle Post-Intelligencer ] later today on the future of the Sonics, here's the next installment of On the Ground, featuring an interview with Steven Pyeatt, the co-founder of Save our Sonics . Steven has been one of the most influential figures in the fight to keep the team in Seattle, working with co-founder Brian Robinson and the impressive team they've pulled together (including former Sonics star Slick Watts). He's helped organize rallies (including the one I covered ), e-mail and letter-writing campaigns, and much, much more. If the Sonics do survive in Seattle, his efforts will be a large part of the reason why. There's an excellent Seattle Times profile on him by Ashley Bach. Anyways, here's my questions and his answers. Q: What’s the mood like in Seattle? Do people still feel there’s a chance to keep...

Photo: Jim Moore, Seattle Post-Intelligencer sports columnist. [Photo from the Seattle Post-Inthttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif elligencer ]. Without further ado, I present the second installment in the On the Ground interview series. The subject this time is Seattle Post-Intelligencer sports columnist, . Here's my questions and his answers: Q: What’s the mood like in Seattle? Do people still feel there’s a chance to keep the franchise, or are they resigned to losing it? A: The mood here isn't good. I think people are hopeful that the city has a good case but are more resigned to the thought that the Sonics will win and leave town soon. Q: Do you think the rallies and popular expressions of support will make any difference in the end? A: No, I don't think the rallies or fan support matters. Hate to say that, but I don't. The judge even intimated during the trial that fan sentiment wasn't her chief concern. Q: What do you think was the city’s strongest argu...

Photo: Seth Kolloen, the executive editor of Sports Northwest Magazine and founder and sole proprietor of Enjoy The Enjoyment. [Photo from Enjoy The Enjoyment ]. One of the rules of journalism in general is that you get a better story if you're at the event instead of writing about it from afar. That's why large papers have bureaus all over the world, and also why they have beat reporters travel with teams instead of watching the games on TV and writing about them from home. I've found this to be true with my own writing at the Journal : when I've taken road trips with teams, I can usually come up with something much more interesting than if I just phone the coach afterwards and ask questions based on the game summary. As with any rule, this has exceptions: Will Leitch made a very nice career out of not going to events over at Deadspin , and I'm sure his successors A.J. and Rick will keep that trend largely alive. It's quite possible to do great things wit...