Eisenberger to meet with Balsillie’s reps
Maybe it’s ‘so he can lock something up’
May 06, 2009
Ken Peters
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/News/BreakingNews/article/561228
Hockey representatives for prospective NHL franchise owner Jim Balsillie are scheduled to meet with Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger Thursday.
And at least one Hamilton hockey official is hopeful the Balsillie group will once again seek control of Copps Coliseum for the specific purpose of relocating the Phoenix Coyotes there for next season. It’s not known whether Balsillie will be at the meeting.
Balsillie announced this week that he has made a conditional offer for the Coyotes, which have filed for bankruptcy, with the intention of moving the franchise to southern Ontario.
“I think he said ‘southern Ontario’ because he has not locked up anything yet. Maybe the meeting is so he can lock something up so it’s no longer southern Ontario but Hamilton,†said city councillor Terry Whitehead, chairman of the city’s NHL subcommittee. “That’s what I’m hoping.â€
“I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a request to re-affirm the same arrangement we had in the past,†Whitehead said.
That previous agreement saw the city hand over control of Copps Coliseum to the Basillie group for the purpose of bringing a team to Steeltown. But Balsillie’s bid to bring the Nashville Predators here failed and the agreement expired more than a year ago.
But word that a second hockey group is interested in bringing a franchise to Hamilton may complicate matters.
“The only comment I would make is our role is to protect the interests of the taxpayers and leverage opportunity,†Whitehead said.
“I understand they are bona fide. I know where they are from,†Whitehead said of the second party, adding he could say no more publicly.
Jim Bethune, chairman of Hamilton Entertainment and Convention Facilities Inc., which runs Copps Coliseum, said he will not be part of the mayor’s meeting Thursday.
But Bethune said HECFI has a regular board meeting scheduled for that afternoon and expects Balsillie€™s latest hockey gambit will be raised “in a general sense.â€