NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, left, and deputy commissioner Bill Daly wait outside federal court in Phoenix during a Coyotes bankruptcy hearing in mid-September. (Matt York/Associated Press)

Almost half a year of waiting, and the battle was over in one fell swoop.

Judge Redfield T. Baum rejected bids from the NHL and Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie for the Phoenix Coyotes on Wednesday in Arizona bankruptcy court but sided with the league if it could amend its offer for the beleaguered club.

Later that night, the co-CEO of Research In Motion took his hat out of the ring and said he wouldn't appeal the decision, essentially ending the vicious fight over the team and Balsillie's dream to buy it and move it to Hamilton.

So what's the next step in this long and drawn-out saga?

"The answer to that question was made simple by the fact that Balsillie said he's not going to appeal," said Rob Becker, a New York attorney who specializes in sports law. "That takes a lot of uncertainty out of it.

"The judge basically told the NHL what it needs to do."

And what the league has to do, according to Baum's ruling, is amend its bid to add owner Jerry Moyes and minority partner Wayne Gretzky to its list of unsecured creditors to be paid out with the $140-million US offer.

It's a step the league can and will take, Becker said.

"All they have to do is say 'OK, we're going to treat everybody, including Moyes and Gretzky, equally,' " he said. "If they do that, they get the team. And I think they will do that."

Holding a grudge

It means the NHL will have to grudgingly pay a heated adversary in the Coyotes case, since it was Moyes who started the process by filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on behalf of the team in May and backed Balsillie's bid the whole way through.

"It's a situation that puts a great deal of pressure on the league," said Maury Brown, founder and president of the Business of Sports Network based in Portland, Ore.

Baum is "saying that the NHL's viewing Moyes and Gretzky as their opponents," Becker said. "Do they really want to be seen that way? With Gretzky as their opponent? They obviously hate Moyes's guts, but they're going to have to bite the bullet and pay Moyes."

After the bid is amended — which could take only a few weeks, Becker said — the song and dance begins to find a local buyer for the club during the 2009-10 season. But Becker said the Coyotes are done with Glendale, their suburban Phoenix home.

"There's no way they're going to find anybody in Glendale to buy this team," he said. "It's totally unviable, and the judge basically said that."

The situation has already reached a critical mass of sorts, which makes it difficult for anyone to buy the Coyotes and keep them in Phoenix.

The team was already hemorrhaging huge amounts of money before the current mess began and was having the bills partly paid by the league.

Now, with the NHL poised to own the club fully and to cut payroll to limit losses, local fans will be hard-pressed to find a reason to show up at the rink.

"The owners will squeal like crazy in this, because obviously they'll be bleeding a lot of red ink," Brown said. "And as long as the team continues to sit as a 'ward' of the league, it's very difficult for fans to figure out what's going on."

As of Thursday afternoon, more than 1,000 tickets were still available for the Coyotes' home opener on Oct. 10 — despite ticket prices being slashed to $25 US a pop.

Trumpeting the party line

The NHL's public stance continues to trumpet keeping the team in Glendale against increasingly insurmountable odds.

"We are pleased that the bankruptcy court has confirmed the league's rights to select its owners and the location of its franchises," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement after Baum's ruling Wednesday.

"We are reviewing the opinion and considering how we can best address the court's concerns regarding our offer to purchase the Coyotes. It remains our goal to secure the long-term stability of the Coyotes in Glendale."

Any deal that ensures "long-term stability" for the Coyotes, whether in Glendale or elsewhere, has an albatross attached to it: the cumbersome lease agreement between the team and Jobing.com Arena, owned by Glendale. The city is suggesting that any prospective owner could have to pay up to $500 million US to break it.

"You're going to have to negotiate the lease — you're going to have to have that 'new money equation' thrown in," Brown said. "And the credit markets are tight."

But the NHL has a backroom trick up its sleeve if Glendale gets tough, Becker said. It can threaten to fold the team.

"At which point, Glendale says to itself, 'We don't want that, we don't want zero.' So it becomes a game of chicken, and the NHL will say, 'We'll give you a compromised amount,' and there will come a point where Glendale will say 'OK, we'll settle' and that will be that," he said.

Unclear future

The future still looks murky after the NHL gets ownership of the team and it plays out the 2009-10 season.

The team could move to any number of locales in the U.S. (more likely) and Canada (less), it could fold (very unlikely), or it could stay in Glendale (nigh impossible).

"There's a lot of moving pieces to it," Brown said.

One thing's for sure: After Wednesday's events, the NHL is calling the shots now. But what the league does with its battered franchise is anybody's guess.