That may be, but speed is a different motivator than “largest amount possible”.

I have lots of views on that. THey will have to wait util later tonight, though. Vacation fun awaits.

As requested, here is my take:

1. it is pretty easily arguable that the date of closing is somewhat of a wash (although probably not entirely). In determining the value of the team, purchasers will be assuming that at best the first few years will involve a bit of a financial hammering, due in large part to the damage that the franchise has incurred as a result of the proceeding. To the extent that someone else (NHL) will foot the bill for a part of that period, that should generate a higher price. That is generally how ot works, subject to the assumption that there is a competitive bidding process, of course. A smaller transition period with losses necessarily increases the value of the team.

2. The only way that the NHL will cover the losses for another entire season is if the relocation is the result. In that case, the returns should be significantly higher than the Glendale bids, which offsets the NHL’s loss coverages.

3. I have long suspected that people’s perceptions of the Reinsdorf offer having so many “hurdles” is misplaced. My sense of it is that the Glendale deal is a lot closer to being done than people believe. Just on the reported deal points, I can easily see viable compromises on all of the points that should result in a win/win, which is what the City truly needs to sell the deal. The SOF issue is really far easier than people think. I am sure they are negotiating hard as we speak on terms and conditions, but I highly doubt that the SOF loan will be a deal-breaker. Even if SOF wants to get paid out, I believe that Reinsdorf can arrange it. He is a valuable banking customer, and Kaites and he have all sorts of relationships. IceEdge – not so sure about financing there.

4. I do not think the IceEdge thing is insane at all. If correctly structured as a temporary thing for only a few regular seasons while they get the PHO market recouped, and provided it is used for markets which are no challenge to PHO (Like Saskatoon), it is quite workable.

5. Baum J. will have to pull the trigger on JB eventually, and I don’t see that he has much choice but to accept the NHL’s business judgment. He has to give it considerable deference, and i have seen nothing that is patently unreasonable regarding their conclusions. At the end of the day, their conclusion is that they do not trust him, and that is a really good reason not to enter into a partnership with someone.

6. While anything can of course happen, I do not see him as creating an all-in auction. He would only want to do so if there were qualified out-of-town bidders, and the simple fact is that there are none at this point in time, and there almost surely will not be one at an auction in September. Really – there is less than a zero percent chance. For out-of-towners who have not stepped up yet, there is no time for the NHL to approve them. If JB tries to litigate his rejection, that will not be resolved by September. No chance.

7. I encourage you to do a post on those affidavits. I am sure it would be interesting, although I read them entirely differently. The emails that you refer to for JB really encompasses just one email of PITT’s investment banker, which does not read anything close to an endorsement of JB’s position. To the contrary, JB’s own affidavit clearly establishes that counsel was quite aware that approval of JB was always up in the air on the PITT deal. The fact that the NHL has contemporaneous written memos is also generally persuasive to the courts. At the end of the day, it is all about trust, and the NHL has ample grounds in my view. From the record, it is crystal clear that the BoG has sniffed out JB’s Hamilton gambit even as far back as PITT, and were trying to protect against JB merely giving PITT a cursory effort and then bailing to Hamilton.

8. I would expect a lot of them would involve discussions with Rodier. While I would have thought that they would be privileged, that idea has been crushed by the admission of JB’s own counsel, Kaye Scholer (Vicky Gilbert), who confirmed in no uncertain terms that Rodier was not under any circumstances JB’s counsel. As such, none of those emails would have been privileged. Secondly, while I can appreciate your litigator’s view about revealing privileged emails, in a business deal context such a position is completely incongruous. You are giving people your SIN #, your bank account #‘s and balances of same, and every financial and personal detail up to your shoe size and beyond, and then you assert privilege over some emails? Beyond the privilege claims that are only appropriate in a litigation context (not a business context), JB apparently tried to spin an electronic tale as to why he could not technically produce them, except that he did so in the face of a couple of pioneers in the computer business who apparently knew better. He could not produce them because they were on RIM’s servers and he would have to ask permission, which he felt it unnecessary to ask when using those same servers for his personal business in the first place?

So, all in all, as far as the court’s conclusions and my predictions:

1. Sep 10 will remain a Glendale only auction.

2. Relocation auction to be adjourned sine die*, or without a set date at this time (but to be addressed on Sep 10).

• - first latin I have used in a looooong time, but i know you litigators use that legal mumbo jumbo.

3. He may try to defer JB decision one more time, but hopefully he will realize he has dragged it on long enough. Legally, he does not need to decide it to rule on the NHL’s deferral motion, which after all is what is in front of him. He has tended to only rule on what he has to, so he may conceivably try to run out the clock on JB one more time. If he can get to a Glendale bid that he can live with as judge, he MAY be able to get out of this without ruling on JB, as it may never become ripe. That is a tough road for him to hoe, though.

4. If he ever is forced to rule on the NHL’s treatment of JB, my reading of the cases is that the NHL is well within its powers. The business judgment principle gives them more than enough leeway.

You aren’t going to get a new arena in Milwaukee. The place is just getting crushed in the current economy. The Bradley Center is at least tolerable for hockey; I’ve been there for two NCAA Frozan Fours. I don’t think Milwaukee can really support another pro sports team, but, if it happens, it’ll have to happen in the Bradley Center.