Jim Balsillie has offered $212.5 million US for the Coyotes. (Dave Chidley/Canadian Press)
Jim Balsillie's bid to buy the Phoenix Coyotes has an expiration date.
According to court documents filed Tuesday by Coyotes majority owner Jerry Moyes, Balsillie will withdraw the offer to purchase the financially troubled team if the sale isn't approved in bankruptcy court by the end of June.
"If a decision on the proposed sale of assets is not made by the end of June, the debtors have been notified that PSE Sports [Balsillie] will withdraw its offer," Thomas Salerno, Moyes's lawyer, said in the document.
"Neither PSE Sports nor any other known entity will fund another year of significant losses … sustained by Coyotes Hockey," Salerno noted.
Moyes filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on May 5, a move intended to facilitate the sale of the franchise to Balsillie for $212.5 million US, but on the condition he can relocate the team to Hamilton.
A formal application from Balsillie was filed Monday with the NHL seeking a transfer in ownership from Moyes to the Canadian billionaire, who is the co-chief executive officer of Research In Motion Ltd., maker of the popular BlackBerry mobile device.
Salerno said in Tuesday's document that completing the sale by the end of June is critical because Balsillie needs "adequate time to, among other things, get
the new arena ready for the 2009-10 season, obtain and line up sponsors and television contracts, and sell tickets to games."
But the NHL is, first and foremost, committed to trying to keep the team in Glendale, Ariz., so has challenged Moyes's legal authority to file for Chapter 11 protection, arguing it has assumed control of the franchise and removed him as majority owner.
Judge Redfield T. Baum, who is presiding over the bankruptcy hearing, ordered mediation between Moyes and the NHL to determine who is in control of the team.
Baum is expecting a status report on mediation on Wednesday.
'A sale cannot drag'
Balsillie's representatives told Baum at a May 20 bankruptcy hearing that he expected to file the application to purchase the Coyotes early this week вЂ" which he did.
If the NHL's board of governors rejects Balsillie's application, Baum has scheduled a hearing for June 22 at which time he is expected to rule on whether the team can be relocated to remove it from bankruptcy.
After that, a court-supervised auction will likely be held, with Balsillie's bid expected, by far, to be the biggest.
"A sale cannot drag through the summer of 2009," Salerno said.
Moyes has claimed to have lost more than $200 million US in equity and more than $100 million US in debt since buying the Coyotes with developer Steve Ellman for $90 million US in 2001.
Court documents detail $73 million US in team losses between 2005 and 2008.
Forbes Magazine figured last fall that the Coyotes were worth an estimated $142 million US вЂ" lowest in the NHL.
With files from The Canadian Press