Ruling on NHL's Coyotes seen near - Business First of Buffalo:

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U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Redfield Baum struggled to stay on taskat Tuesday’es hearing as attorneys representing Balsillie, Coyotes owned Jerry Moyes, the city of Glendale, the and other professionalp sports leagues delivered hours of oral arguments over bankruptch code, anti-trust law, relocation and other legal issues. Baum and the myria d of attorneys delved into obscurw bankruptcy provisions and past relocationws by teams including theOaklandc Raiders, San Diego Clippers, Quebec Nordiques and Baltimore Baum focused on whether Balsillie will have to pay the NHL a relocatiob fee on top of his $213 million offer to buy the financially strapped Coyotes from Phoenix truckinhg company owner Jerry The relocation fee could total as much as $100 million, courtr documents indicate.
Baum appears readty to rule that the NHL has the rightz to the Hamilton market and if the Coyotes are moved Balsillie will have to compensate the leagues for loss of anexpansion opportunity. Any move into the Southernb Ontario market may impactthe . Team officials have indicatexd the Sabres draw up to 20 percenrt of their revenues fromthat region. The city of Glendale pressed Baum to consider legal claims and costs that woul accompany a moveto Canada. That could offset an offer as lowas $140 millioj by parties wanting to keep the team in city representatives said.
Glendalee officials said they would make a clai for as muchas $500 million if the team breaks its leasde at the city-owned Jobing.com Arena. Arena concessionaire also could makea claim. Moyes and Balsillie’s attorneys arguec that a lease claim is subject to various monetart caps and that the court can dischargd lease terms and penalties in order to maximizewthe team’s value for creditors. Moyes said a decisioh could come Wednesday and has urged the court to hold an auction sale for the hockey team onJune 22. The NHL and Glendalew say the sale should be put off until August and the league said it will finance the Coyotes into next season ifneed be.
Glendale attorneyss also pressed Baum to find out how much monegy Moyes may have taken out of the They point to the fact the Coyotes spend monegy leasing private office space at Westgate City Centeer instead of usingarena offices. Moyess spokesman Steve Roman saidthe city’s speculatioj that Moyes is profiting from that arrangementy is false. Moyes and Westgate developer Steves Ellman splitjoint assets, includinfg the Coyotes, in 2006 with Moyesa taking over as team owner. The Coyotes have lost more than $300 milliom since moving to Phoenix from Winnipegtin 1996.