8
A group of investors led by Doug MacLean and partner Jeff Sherrin will pay slightly more than $206-million (all figures U.S.) for the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Globe and Mail has learned.
William Davidson, the current owner of the Lightning, was won over by the offer from Absolute Hockey Enterprises, the fact that the buyers are true hockey lovers with no intention of relocating and that the team would not be saddled with debt as a result of the deal, say sources familiar with the negotiations.
The $206-million price tag, confirmed today by The Globe and Mail, includes lease rights at the St. Pete Times Forum, where the team plays, as well as 5.5 acres of adjacent real estate in downtown Tampa.
It's a smart business decision for Davidson, an octogenarian who is reputed to have lost about $70-million on the club since acquiring it in 1999 for about $115-million, including debt. Whether it turns out to be a smart deal for the potential buyers depends on whether the NHL can expand its U.S. fan base and attract a major U.S. broadcast partner with greater clout and reach than Versus, which currently holds the NHL rights.
Related Articles
MacLean, former president of the Columbus Blue Jackets, and Sherrin, a Florida developer, have already set up shop in a conference room not far from the Lightning offices as they prepare for what they hope will be a smooth handover once the league approves the transaction.
"We spent the morning going over the checklist of the things we had to get in order," MacLean told the St. Petersburg Times yesterday. "We had a phone call with the NHL to start the process. We met with people of the brokerage firm that facilitated the deal, getting ready to do the due diligence and getting the information to the league."
His Absolute Hockey group includes a Hollywood producer, Oren Koules, a Chicago native who played junior and minor league hockey and made his first big money as a commodities trader. The other as yet unidentified investors include Canadians with an ownership stake in junior hockey, sources say.
These and other prospective owners are being drawn to the NHL because they believe in its growth story, they like the fact the sport is assured of labour peace for the next few years and they have ready access to low-cost bank financing. Another plus is that franchises are a relative bargain when compared with the cost of entry to other major leagues, sports investment specialists say.
But they are steering clear of most of the NHL's basket cases. Despite its accumulated losses, Tampa is one of the few success stories from the NHL's aggressive expansion into the U.S. sunbelt, with the league's third-highest average attendance last season, after the Montreal Canadiens and Detroit Red Wings.
