Gary Bettman's Love of Fool's Gold Turning League's Finger Green

I admit that I have not been enamoured with the leadership of Gary Bettman. The events of the past few years have justified my disdain. I believe when Mr. Bettman's tenure is finished, people will point to the Pittsburgh Penguins arena situation as the beginning of the end.

Why would I choose that as a defining moment? Well, because that is the day that he decided to shun a potential owner with deep pockets in favour of his own agenda.

That potential owner was Jim Ballsillie, of Blackberry fame, who was trying to negotiate a sale of the bankrupt team from Mario Lemieux and his ownership group.

Then came the last minute stipulations the league inserted into the agreement, preventing Mr. Ballsillie from moving the franchise out of Pittsburgh because any sale was contingent on a new arena deal that the club, city, and league were all supporting.

What everyone seems to forget about the Pittsburgh situation was the involvement of Boots Del Biaggio. He was trying to buy the Penguins and move them to Kansas City into the recently completed arena built and managed by AEG (who just happen to own the Kings).

I now believe this interest was a ruse created by Gary Bettman to put pressure on the state of Pennsylvania by creating the perception that there was a real possibility of the team being moved to Kansas City. And when the arena deal was done, I believe Mr. Bettman conceived the Nashville scenario as a way to reward Mr. Del Biaggio, AEG, and Craig Leopold.

All the while, Mr. Ballsillie was waiting in the weeds for a franchise to become available. He pounced on the Nashville situation by offering $230 million for a franchise that was valued at $160-170 million.

Mr. Bettman could have none of that, and thus began the Nashville disaster. Mr. Leopold inexplicably took $40 million less to sell to an ownership group that included Mr. Del Biaggio and a consortium of local owners who wrote provisions in the agreement because they did not fully trust Mr. Del Biaggio.

Then, within a year of the Nashville sale, Mr. Leopold bought the Minnesota Wild for a bargain. We now know this because Mr. Leopold was gracious enough to lend money to Mr. Del Biaggio to buy his team. If that doesn't defy logic then I don't know what does.

Additionally, Mr. Bettman's golden goose has now been accused of defrauding a bank which he helped create out of $10 million, filed for Chapter 11, and the Nashville franchise is trying to buy its own tickets back to qualify for the NHL assistance plan.

This is a record Mr. Bettman can be proud of? I am only dreading what other proud moments lay ahead for the Comish and his love of fool's gold.