Team Owned by McCain Patron, Major GOP Donor, Goes Bankrupt

The Phoenix Coyotes NHL hockey team is now that league's version of the Montreal Expos, as the club has gone bankrupt and will now be managed by commissioner Gary Bettman and his office until a new buyer can be found. The Coyotes have reportedly lost $90 million total over the past three seasons.

Erstwhile Research in Motion supremo Jim Balsillie is said to be interested in moving the team back to Canada. It was originally the Winnipeg Jets before it went under new ownership and headed to Arizona.

The owner of the Coyotes is Swift Transporting founder Jerry Moyes, who has given donations to the campaigns of failed presidential candidate John McCain as well as Crazy Caucus members John Shadegg and Jim Inhofe. He has also donated $5,000 in 2008 to a lobbying firm for the trucking industry.

Moyes' fortunes have reportedly been hard hit by the downturn in the economy and high gasoline costs, according to ESPN. Getting a good sale price for his hockey side would be tough, given how Forbes has called it, "one of hockey's greatest disasters."

Bettman would like to keep the club in Phoenix due to his obsession with the American market and he and Balsillie are thought to not see eye to eye generally anyway.

An economics blogger at the rightwing Ludwig Von Mises Institute had harsh words for the situation that both the Coyotes and the NHL finds itself:

"Bettman is "dealing with the situation" by simply throwing more money down the hole. He doesn't want to admit that the NHL's artificial-boom-fueled expansion and reliance on government-funded arenas was a poor business strategy. The NHL is the sports equivalent of the Fed; it's been printing worthless money in the form of new franchises for decades. Consider this: From 1978 to 2008, the National Football League and Major League Baseball increased their total "output" of regular season games by about 15%; during that same time, the NHL increased output 81%. Somehow, baseball and football remain more popular and profitable despite a slower growth rate. Some would say there's a lesson here."

The blogger is essentially right, as other NHL outfits are on an economic precipice, even after breaking the players union a while back.

McCain has whored himself to pro sports franchises, the owner of the New York Jets, Woody Johnson, raising $7.5 million for his presidential campaign last May 7th as one instance. Johnson is an Arizona native.

For more info on the Coyotes finances, see Mike Savino's blog here.

That old GOP economic magic strikes again.