Quote:
Originally Posted by Vulcan
After the bankruptcy Bettman could have moved the team anywhere he wanted.
Balsillie had also put money aside to pay off Glendale.
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Bettman could not have moved the team to "anywhere he wanted". He would need either a new arena deal in the Phoenix area (there wasn't one) or a buyer who could move the team to a viable area.
Had Balsillie also put aside money to pay off the Leafs, who were a huge obstacle to another team in southern Ontario? Under their agreement, all of S. Ont. is their exclusive territory. They'd have to agree or there would have been a huge legal fight (even though its very arguable they'd suffer no adverse consequences if a team moved there).
As it turned out, it was not a bad decision by the league to refrain from getting into bed with Balsillie.