Southern Ontario team an option for NHL: Daly
Deputy commissioner reiterates Maple Leafs don't have veto power
Last Updated: Monday, November 9, 2009 | 8:09 PM ET
By Doug Harrison, CBC Sports
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly says the league doesn't need the Maple Leafs' approval to bring a franchise to southern Ontario. (Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press)Deputy NHL commissioner Bill Daly on Monday attempted to close the book on any debate the Toronto Maple Leafs own a veto to prohibit a team to set up shop in nearby Hamilton.
Speaking at a sports management conference in Toronto, Daly said the league doesn't need the Maple Leafs' approval to bring a franchise to southern Ontario.
"They can be dead-set against it," he said, "but that doesn't mean they can stop the league from putting a franchise here if the league thinks a franchise here makes sense."
According to a section in the NHL constitution, a new NHL city requires the consent of 75 per cent of all league members.
But section 4.3 states: "No franchise shall be granted for a home territory within the home territory of a member, without the written consent of such member."
Lawyers for Canadian businessman Jim Balsillie, who tried to buy the Phoenix Coyotes out of bankruptcy court this summer and relocate them to Hamilton, have contended the veto exists and violates U.S. antitrust law because it essentially allows the Maple Leafs to operate as a monopoly.
In the constitution, teams are said to have exclusive territorial rights in the city in which it is located and within 80 kilometres from that city's corporate limits.
With Hamilton's Copps Coliseum located 67 km from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, it appears the Maple Leafs veto is in effect.
Toronto general manager Brian Burke said during a panel discussion that his team would not be opposed to another in southern Ontario if a strong business case were made in such a scenario.
Daly noted Hamilton is not currently an option for the NHL because Copps Coliseum, "doesn't provide modern-day NHL economics."
Balsillie planned to renovate Copps, but Daly described the planned arena upgrades as "a pie-in-the-sky kind of deal."
When Balsillie, the co-chief executive officer of Research In Motion — maker of BlackBerry mobile devices — tried and failed to purchase the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2006 and the Nashville Predators in 2007, he was prepared to spend upward of $160 million to renovate Copps Coliseum.
