The Save The Coyotes Coalition

In a hearing that seemed to discuss more about trips to Ireland, golf handicaps, and hi-lighter colors(yellow v. blue), it was clear from the onset that there would be no ruling on the case of “control of the team” today.

Judge Redfield Baum, who was clearly star of the hearing (Yes the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Star), has ordered the NHL and Jerry Moyes camp to meet for mediation to determine control of the team.

“The court is ordering the parties to go mediate the control issue. The court expects the parties to pursue that path as quickly as possible.”

The call for mediation was a direct result of the clear lack of agreement on the issue of control. With over 600 pages of documents to sort through, Judge Baum had stated early on that he would not be making a ruling on the control issue today.

And the NHL didn’t seem to disagree with that sentiment: “I dont know” said Tony Clark, counsel for the NHL, “but it doesn’t sound like such a bad idea to me. Seems perfectly sensible under the circumstances.”

All this came after Thomas Salerno, Jerry Moyes’ attorney, accused the NHL of painting a “revisionist history” in regards to whom was in control of the Phoenix Coyotes.

A status hearing on how the mediation is proceeding has been set for May 27th at 9AM.

Other notable moments from today’s hearings:

• Jeff Goldstein, representative of the NHL, referenced the relocation issues and stated that he had handled the LA Raiders litigation personally: “Club is worth nothing without its membership in the league. “
• The Judge stated numerous times that the NHL “Has a lot of hats on. As I would see it, they have threes hats on in their situation” - not a good sign for the NHL
• Jim Balsillie’s group, PSE Entertainment, said that they had “entered into an agreement with the party that they thought was in control.”
• The City of Glendale wanted a creditor involved with the mediation, however, that was respectfully declined.
• No worries! The Taylor Swift Concert will go on as Ticketmaster will be allowed to handle money coming in and redistribute to AEG to pay Swift.