Professional Sports Franchises

[scaeagles]

The NHL Phoenix Coyotes are at the heart of an interesting process going on right now.

They are in bankruptcy proceedings, having lost 380 million over the last 12 years. They have been actively pursuing a buyer, and they have a buyer, a Canadian Billionaire who wants to move the to Ontario, Canada.

"FOUL!" cry the NHL owners. They don't want the Coyotes to move to Ontario (not exactly sure why). The bankruptcy court may rule that the sale is permitted because it will result in the creditors being paid off (well, largely or at whatever percentage the bankruptcy court rules or however exactly that works), but the league is saying that the sale would violate league agreements on the owners of teams in the league having control of where franchises are located.

The NBA, MLB, and NFL have also weighed in on this and are against the sale for the same reason.

I am somewhat torn, to be honest. The creditors have rights, but so do the owners who have contractual agreements with the Coyote franchise, and so do the taxpayers of Arizona, who voted to publically fund the arena in which the Coyotes play (I voted against it and hate publically funded sports arenas, but that's a different story).

I don't know if this results in the death of pro sports leagues, as has been the rhetoric from the prop sports leagues.....I don't really even know if it truly harms them.

Thoughts? Opinions?