Bankruptcy for Coyotes

The Wall Street Journal carries a blog called “Bankruptcy Beat” from which we extracted this article:

The City of Glendale, Ariz., is attempting to block hockey legend and Phoenix Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky from collecting his $9.3 million claim in the team’s bankruptcy case.

Glendale, home to the Coyotes’ rink Jobing.com Arena, said in court papers that the debts owed to Gretzky are “not enforceable obligations.” Few other details are available because most of the city’s protest was filed under seal.

The city did, however, ask for a final determination over what is owed to Gretzky before a planned Sept. 10 court-supervised auction for the team. “The amount and priority of the creditors of the [team] may be altered significantly if the Gretzky claims are disallowed or capped,” city attorneys said in court papers.

Glendale is fighting to keep the Coyotes playing in the Phoenix suburb and has sought to derail the proposed $212.5 million sale of the club to Blackberry mogul Jim Balsillie, who would move the team to Canada.

The city has worked to secure Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf as a buyer for the Coyotes. Reinsdorf has offered less cash for the team, but has pledged to keep the Coyotes skating in Arizona. How Reinsdorf’s $148 million offer for the team would treat Gretzky’s claims has not been made clear.

Balsillie, however, specifically took care of the National Hockey League’s all-time leading scorer, promising to make good on deferred compensation owed to Gretzky. The Coyotes coach and minority owner reportedly even offered to take a pay cut to help out the finically struggling team. And for his part, Gretzky, a.k.a. “The Great One,” has said, “For me, it’s Phoenix or bust.”