No new developments (at least I didn’t hear any), but I ran across this interesting piece of tidbit today. I was going through old podcasts of The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos on my iPod and watched an uncut, half-hour interview with Bettman back in February. Just before the 12:00 mark, this is what transpired:

Stroumbo: "And again, I mean this very sincerely, the NHL are running the Phoenix Coyotes. How is that not a disaster?"

Bettman: "Well-well, we’re not really running them. I mean, Doug Moss is still operating them, Jerry Moyes is the owner…"

Stroumbo: "But other franchises are paying for them, right?"

Bettman: "No, no, no, no, you see, that’s where the…*Strombo about to interupt with another question but Bettman pushed on* What-what’s happened is, we have advanced monies that the club would be ultimately be entitled to…to this point. So that, you know, revenue sharing, national TV, we’re dealing with their cash flow issues. But, what’s the alternative? Not have them go through this season? You do the things that’re necessary to make it work."

Stroumbo then asked him if the Coyotes would play there next season, and Bettman answered that the league has "every expectation that they will." They then went on to expansion issues.

Bit of hesitation there. I know there are some things that you need to keep private from the media, but which is it, Gary? Were you or were you not running the Coyotes as of November ‘08 as you kept saying to the media? Or was it really Doug Moss who’s running shop as you said in February?

For the edited interview that aired (and doesn’t contain this segment), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyl9jo4BLec

For the entire uncut interview that has this part and I can’t find on youtube, it’s a little bit more complicated and I can’t guarantee it’ll work. Open your iTunes, search "The Hour podcasts," and subscribe. The uncut interview is not available for download by itself though. Once you’ve subscribed, go all the way back to February and see if it’s still available for download. This is the only way I can figure out how to watch it for non-subscribers. If someone else can find it on youtube, by all means, post the link.

So what do you think? Can this be used at all to cross-examine Bettman, either back in court or during mediation? This certainly is evidence and should be treated as such according to the rules in bankruptcy laws. Any rebuttal in support for Bettman or against my own arguments?

Technorati Tags: cash flow issues, coyotes, doug moss, expectation, franchises, half hour, hesitation, hour with george stroumboulopoulos, ipod, jerry moyes, little bit, monies, national tv, new developments, nhl, phoenix coyotes, podcasts, quot, segment, tidbit