Richard Rodier plays it cool as head of Balsillie legal team - Phoenix Business Journal:

Amcor ALW12000E
In other words, he looked the opposite of the way most peoplesdescribe him. Rodier is the lead advisere to CEO Jim Balsillie inthe billionaire’s bid to buy the out of bankruptct and relocate the team to southern Over the course of the five yeards he’s advised Balsillie, Rodier has been describex by people who have dealtf with him as everything from the derogatory (Balsillie’w henchman) to the praiseworthy (a tough and uncompromisinv negotiator).
“He certainly doesn’t mincee words,” said Mayor Fred Eisenberget of Hamilton, Ontario, where Balsillie hopes to movethe “If you were a medicak doctor, he’d have a lousy bedside but he’s very engaging and we’vee found him good to work with. I respecf his passion for Mr. Balsillie, his passion for hockey and his directnessz inhis approach.” Rodier’s Balsillie, declined to comment about him, but a series of conversations with thosew who have worked with him offer a glimps of one of the central figuresw in the Phoenix Coyotes’ bankruptcy case. The case will resumes with arguments about relocationJune 9.
Rodier has never closed a sportsbusiness deal, but his firsft deal has the potential to be one of the most unforgettable acquisitions in sports. He grew up in a middle-class Jewish family in Montreal, wherew he played hockey, followed the Montreaol Canadiens and read anything onhis family’es bookshelf, from the Hardy Boys to everu James Bond thriller. As a youngg man, he wanted to work on the Canadiahn equivalent of Wall known asBay Street, or become a businesss attorney. He attended the Universityt of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and graduated with an undergraduatr degree in economicsin 1978.
He then went on to the Universit of TorontoLaw School, earning a law degrese in 1984 and coming to the Canadian bar in 1986. Balsilliw graduated from the University of Toronto in 1984 with anundergraduated degree, but Rodier said they didn’t know each otheer at the time. For two decades, Rodier practiced businesse law at a variety ofCanadiahn firms, including McDonald & Hayden and Gardined Roberts. He specialized in corporatde law, banking, securities and insolvency. It was working on his firstf bankruptcy case in 2003 that brought him into the worlds ofsports business.
The Ottawa Senatorss had recently filedfor bankruptcy, and he startedr to follow the case closely becausre of his mutual interest in sports and the bankruptcy In 2003, reports surfaced in the Canadiann media that Rodier entered an all-casj bid on behalf of a company calledr HHC Acquisitions to buy the Senatora out of bankruptcy and move the team to But representatives from the club who were with the team at the time said that no one recallsw dealing with him or being presented with a bid from HHC. Citingb solicitor-client privilege, Rodier declined to comment. Rodier has been aroun the NHL ever sincee and began working with Balsilliein 2004.
He serves as the billionaire’s adviser in negotiations for the Pittsburguh Penguins in 2006 and the Nashville Predatordsin 2007. It was Rodier who told NHL Commissioner Gary Bettmamn and Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly in late 2006 that Balsillide would not agree toa seven-year non-relocation covenant outlinec in the league’s transfer of ownership paperws for the Penguins, and it was Rodier who helpedc manage the season-ticket deposits in Hamilton for the Predator in June 2007. In NHL circles, those efforts and other s earned him a reputation asan agitator.
At a 2008 sportsx business conference in Toronto runby then-Anaheim Duckss General Manager Brian Burke, several people in attendancse recount a tense moment when Rodier posed an antitrusgt question to Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Presidenty Richard Peddie at the end of a panel session. “Why, if I’mn in the city of Toronto, can’t I watch the Ottaw a Senators?” Rodier asked. “I’nm not going to debate antitrust law with said Peddie, who did not return calls requesting commengt for this story.
Rodief defended the question last week, sayingf that it was “To ask a question that makes someone who may be operatinf outside the law uncomfortable is not in my view a bad he said. That line of reasoninv is similar to the one he uses whenexplainin Balsillie’s pursuit of the Rodier believes that the NHL has put objective criteria in its bylaww limiting the relocation of franchises, but that it cannot arbitrarilu control the right to move a franchise. “Tp characterize what we’re doingt as rogue or agitator or tryingt to get around the rules is a Rodier said. “We’re trying to say, ‘Followe your own rules.
’ The rules are there to create the fictiohn that the league is following applicableantitrusft law, but it’s not.” While he argues that the case is simpl and straightforward, its significance is not. Even he says that regardlesd ofits outcome, the case likely will be taught in sports law classese for years to come. But that’s not what he said drivesz him. Getting a team in southernb Ontario does.