Balsillie announces $150 million Copps renovation plan.

BlackBerry billionaire Jim Balsillie announced Friday a $150 million plan to renovate Hamilton’s Copps Coliseum.

Balsillie’s plan, conditional on his landing the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes and moving them north of the border, includes an increase of spectator capacity to more than 18,000 from its current 17,383, along with a variety of luxury boxes, new restaurants and lounges.

"A new team for the best new hockey market deserves spectacular new home ice, and that’s exactly what the upgraded Copps Coliseum would offer," Balsillie said in a Friday news release. "This facility will deliver unparalleled excitement and bring fans closer than ever to the action."

The new Copps look has been designed by BBB Architects and its subsidiary group, Stadium Consultants International, which is involved in the renovations at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

According to the news release, the new-look stadium would cost about $150 million in 2007 dollars – the last time the cost construction was calculated.

Construction will include 50 mid-level private suites, with an additional 20 bunker suites in the first six rows between the blue-lines, along with new home and away locker-rooms, and new upholstered seating throughout the building.

The ice surface will be replaced, along with a new ice plant and climate control systems.

Balsillie’s dream of bringing the Coyotes to southern Ontario hinges on a Phoenix bankruptcy judge’s ruling on whether he could buy the club from team owner Jerry Moyes for $212.5 million US and move it out of Arizona.

The judge, Redfield Baum, has promised to rule shortly after a June 9 hearing in Phoenix.

The NHL is trying to block the sale to Balsillie, contesting that it alone can dictate where franchises are placed or moved.

The Coyotes claim the team’s bankruptcy means the judge should rule in the creditors’ best interests instead of those of the NHL and Glendale, Ariz. which is where the Coyotes’ home rink is located.

The NHL has promised to appeal any losing ruling to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.