Leipold lives in a glass house. Leipold left the possibility open that he'd back JB in he bought the team and wanted to move them. Furthermore, this is the guy who lent Boots $17MM so he could close the sale on the Preds, while he sat on the Exec Committee which oversees franchise sales.
He does (live in a GlassHouse), and of course coming to light after the fact Del Biaggio was out running wild trying to drum up investors to purchase the Pred's and move the team to KC on the sly. Prior to the BOG's meeting in 09 in which they considered Reinsdorf's & Balsillies' "Membership Applications" in which the former was approved, the latter rejected, Leipold addressed the room with an interesting statement of facts regarding Rodier & Balsillies tactics in attempting to purchase & move the team to Hamilton. Apparently, a full 2yrs prior to entering into negotiations, Rodier was in direct contact with the City of Nashville, asking them if the ownership "wasnt in breach of its lease agreement in not providing its net worth statements" which raised all kinds of Red Flags, and resulted in the Authority with holding tens of thousands of dollars in arena management fee's over a 2yr period (05-07). Disrupting, disabling & devaluing further a struggling franchise. Softening them up before moving in for the kill. Leipold claims he only found out about this in 08 when officials turned over a series of emails from Rodier after the entire deal crumbled into acrimony.
When he did enter into negotiations for the Predators with Balsillie/Rodier, they made it clear they intended to move the team to Hamilton, and included in their purchase agreement submission that Leipold act as the facilitator insuring that it was given clearance by the NHL, with JB simultaneously sending off an application for relocation to league offices, at which point in time the proverbial %&@& hit the fan. . Leipold, in a meeting in Waterloo with Rodier & Balsillie, recorded by his lawyer over the phone, stated clearly that the team was for sale only as a "where is as is" package, that League By-Laws prohibited him selling the franchise for relocation, and that if they wanted to move the team they'd have to abide the 7yr itch clause & play by the rules. Furthermore, a $10M deposit would be required accompanying their purchase agreement submission agreeing to said terms otherwise it was a no go. Balsillie & Rodier agreed to comply, everything purportedly Hunky-Dory.
Instead, they never submitted a formal purchase agreement nor the $10M deposit, and instead, launched a "Hamilton Preds'" ticket sale drive, the "Makeit7" campaign, stirring up nationalistic fever's with borderline xenophobic over-tones, using the NHL's & the Predators intellectual property rights & logo's in order to try & force Nashville, the league, MLSE & the Sabres to accede. That the public outcry & demand for the most "underserved" market in North America would be a boulder that once dislodged from the hilltop would gather enough steam on its way down to gather no moss. Needless to say, upon completion of the presentation of Leipolds "statement of facts" to the BOG's, guys like Jacobs, Snyder & others had some tough bordering on antagonistic questions for Mr. Balsillie. The enmity that he and "Loose Cannon" Rodier (Leipolds words) had engendered through Pittsburgh, Nashville & Phoenix (contemporaneously making inquiries in Atlanta & elsewhere with nefarious plottings & intrigues) guaranteed his outright rejection as an owner by all.
Im not a big fan of Mr.Leipold, however, in his defence of the Del Biaggio scandal, he lent the money (as did AEG out of LA) based on forged documents to a guy whose bona-fides seemed legit. It went against league rules in doing so, but I think it would be naive' to assume that transactions of this nature dont take place on a fairly regular basis amongst the players at ownership levels throughout the league either with or without Bettmans knowledge & or consent..... As for Jim Balsillie, I think its rather apparent that he has far bigger fish to fry than owning a team. Had he achieved his goal, and RIM continues its slide, he might well have ended up the target of a hostile buy-out/take-over himself, the hunter becoming the hunted as his wealth is largely tied up in RIM stock.
