If the sale goes through with Jim Balsillie...
Paul Waldie of the Globe and Mail puts the number somewhere between US$22 and $37-million.
Mr. Balsillie, co-chief executive of Research in Motion, has offered to buy the club for $212.5-million. Mr. Gretzky owns 1.5 per cent of the Coyotes and serves as coach and "managing partner".
Court filings show that Mr. Balsillie's offer includes an immediate payment of $8-million to Mr. Gretzky to cover compensation he is owed.
He is also entitled to an additional $14.5-million payment as part of the change in control provisions of his employment contract. Mr. Gretzky's employment contract allows him to walk away from the team if the club is sold and still collect whatever is owing on his contract, court filings show.
The Globe and Mail's Bruce Dowbiggin brings an interesting point to all of this.The CBC could be a big Balsillie ally.
"CBC has been sorely disappointed with the new $100-million NHL TV contract that split the Canadian teams with TSN at the start of the playoffs. (It formerly received all Canadian series.) Needing a financial home run from the package, CBC is having trouble getting to first base this spring.
This April, CBC was forced into a choice that many hockey poolies can understand. Of the three Canadian playoff teams, the two largest markets available - Vancouver, Montreal - were unlikely to go more than four or five games. The team with the best prospects of a long series - Calgary - represented the smaller southern Alberta market. CBC chose the large markets of Vancouver and Montreal. The result: four-game sweeps that left great holes in the CBC programming sked for its traditional Saturday night slot. TSN, meanwhile, ended up with substantial ratings for Calgary's Game Six with Chicago on Saturday April 27. CBC was left with either Wilderness Who's Who or a movie everyone with a pulse has seen twice."
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