Sources tell me that Gary Bettman reportedly claims that his favourite movie is Canadian action-comedy Bon Cop, Bad Cop. Is this actually his favourite movie? Unlikely. Bettman is the type of guy that passive aggressively asserts his authority when confronted with any noun (both proper and non) that questions decisions or mistakes he has made in the past. Ask this guy a question about any entrepreneurial misadventure that he has supported and he literally huffs and puffs on his precious radio show in a weak attempt to save face. Come on, could this man really love a movie that so well articulated the Canadian experience of all that is Bettman? The man who has taken away not one, but two of our beloved franchises, and refuses to give them back even when the economy is screaming, “Make it seven in Canada or die?!” The man who has stopped our beloved game from being played on three separate occasions, and for an entire season in his most recent tyrannical campaign!?
For those of you unaware of this cinematic masterpiece, Bon Cop, Bad Cop is about a crazed Montreal hockey fan that resorts to killing a series of members of the “mock” NHL community after commissioner Harry Buttman endeavours to relocate the Montreal franchise to the United States. Maybe the motive behind the creation of this fictional scenario was lost on this man of certified intelligence. Maybe he wasn’t aware that the key messages were A) Canadians love hockey enough to kill for it, and B) the whole world believes that Bettman hates Canada and will stop at nothing until Canada loses its game for good.
Once again, business mogul and patron saint and savior of Canadian hockey, Jim Balsillie has reached deep into his pockets to rescue a formerly Canadian hockey club from complete destruction. Balsillie offered to buy the Phoenix Coyotes for $212.5M (book value $143M). However, the man is not a fool. Hockey has failed in the desert, no, it has gone beyond failed. Who in their right mind would throw hundreds of millions of dollars at a team that is:
1) Losing $20M a year.
2) Losing fans because the team hasn’t made the playoffs in seven years.
3) Losing fans despite building new fabulous arena because location was an inconvenient 20 minutes from town. (I know my fellow Canadians are laughing at this statement!)
4) Attracting minimal fans based on star power of head coach alone. A coach that has failed to bring the team to playoffs during entire stint as supreme bench boss. A coach that would have been removed if he wasn’t Wayne Gretzky. A coach that will eventually step down, and then what? The Coyotes run out of shiny assets,
just to keep it on barren soil? No, doesn’t make sense does it?
Of course, Bettman viewed Basillie’s attempt to rescue a struggling club from bankruptcy and move it to a market which will surely prosper (in other words his attempt to rescue the league) as a personal attack on his manhood. Bettman is like the hard headed male who would rather drive around for hours than stop at the nearest gas station and ask for directions. It’s like he would rather the league lose more money (let’s not forget he allowed the league to lose $1.8B over 10 years) than admit he made a mistake with one of the franchises born under his vision! This is why he chooses, even now during the current recession, to pursue the idea of expanding the league to even more inhospitable markets than admitting to a mistake (even if it means that terminal clubs burn holes in the league until the league is beyond repair)!
Would Bettman have come to a decision to relocate to southern Ontario on his own? Maybe eventually, but ONLY if he came to the decision ENTIRELY on his own. The fact that Bettman feels that his authority is being undermined, and that he didn’t come up with the idea for the move on his own is the very root of the problem. Much like the smoke he has blown on the southern Ontario market (stating the market was only a ‘probable’ success) and the Coyotes’ strong financial stability in Phoenix only mere weeks ago, Bettman huffed on the Balsillie situation, “This is not about whether or not we want a franchise in southern Ontario and whether or not Mr. Balsillie would make a suitable owner that the (NHL) owners would approve.” Really? Because I thought that was exactly what it was about? Let the league suffer just to keep all the Bettman pawns in play. Bettman likes to pick and choose when the issue is business and when it isn’t. If this is about business, then why isn’t there another team in southern Ontario already? If he’s concerned with the financial security and prosperity of the league, then why isn’t he exploiting markets which will bring home the bacon? The issue is simply, “I don’t want a team in southern Ontario and I don’t want Jim Balsillie as an owner because he will prove just how wrong I was about hockey in the desert!.” It’s not about business, it’s about pride.
The few, the proud, the Arizona based Coyotes fans, don’t be fooled. Bettman is not resisting Balsillie in your best interests. If he wins this battle, the team is not safe. Eventually he will realize that nothing can be done with your club and the team will be moved. Except the team will not be moved where the team will be loved; it will be moved to somewhere like Vegas or Kansas City where they will, once again, be neglected and will eventually have to fold. (The only good thing about this is that Bettman would likely lose his job if he caused all this drama for no greater good in the long run.) If you love your team, then set it free. Let your hometown heroes flourish within the league, instead of condemning them to unemployment. Remember, they were our team first. We will take good care of them.
In the world of Canadian cinema, the evil Commissioner learns his lesson after being kidnapped by our beloved Montreal based hockey fan and serial killer. He retracts his decision to relocate Montreal and implements a clause to keep all Canadian teams in Canada stating that he has realized that we Canadians really, really, love our hockey. It’s a shame Bettman didn’t heed this lesson because this ongoing protest against a seventh Canadian club is becoming, not only a petty battle with a billionaire tycoon, but a full blown war with a nation.
Support Jim Balsillie’s move to rescue the Canadian born Phoenix Coyotes and relocate them to southern Ontario! MakeItSeven.ca
