Hurricanes sale formally closed, Tom Dundon now majority owner

[viper0220]

Scott Soshnick @soshnick
BREAKING: Former @Rangers CEO Chuck Greenberg close to ~ $500M deal to buy @NHL's @NHLCanes, who'll stay in Carolina, sources say #sportsbiz

Scott Soshnick is a reporter for Bloomberg Sports

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[cutchemist42]

Scott Soshnick @soshnick
BREAKING: Former @Rangers CEO Chuck Greenberg close to ~ $500M deal to buy @NHL's @NHLCanes, who'll stay in Carolina, sources say #sportsbiz

Scott Soshnick is a reporter for Bloomberg Sports

Its been so long, was this always the asking price? I forget also where the Karmanos control issue was at?

 

[Killion]

Very interesting, and for the sake of Carolina, hope its true. Didnt realize the guy was that wealthy though he's extremely well connected. Owns 3 minor-pro baseball teams, owned part of MLB's Texas Rangers as well as being CEO, an attorney, instrumental in working with Mario Lemieux in his acquisition of the Penguins & ultimately the creation of the Consol Centre in Pittsburgh (where Greenberg grew up & practised Law).... all comments Ive ever seen about him all positive, one of his top priorities being in providing fans with a "positive experience". Fairly young, late 50's.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Oh my god this feels so good to see.

 

[Jerzey Devil]

Hopefully true for the people of Carolina. Maybe people will stop offering your team for re-location now.

 

[Tom ServoMST3K]

And I thought 500 mill for the NHL to make an extra seat at the table for you was steep.

500 mill to take over someone else's seat in Carolina, that's a high price.

 

[Agalloch]

Big news.

Finally, the rumors will stop about them moving.

 

[Wolfpuck]

*exhaling intensifies*

 

[tarheelhockey]

$500M also implies that this isn't being done with the intent to flip for profit.

 

[FreshSeabass]

is this a legit source?

 

[SLAYER]

If this is true, that's a huge deal for 'Canes fans.

 

[IceAce]

No attachment to the Raleigh area as far as I can see. Not saying he'll carpetbag them, just something I always look at when a franchise is sold since the Jim Balsillie/Clay Bennett days.

 

[NotOpie]

No attachment to the Raleigh area as far as I can see.

Well the dude's roots are in Pittsburgh and he bought the Texas Rangers (believe he actually lives in TX).

....and this from a local Raleigh sports guy:

 

[cbcwpg]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...to-near-500-million-deal-for-nhl-s-hurricanes

The team will stay in North Carolina. Greenberg will seek to add local investors to the ownership group and plans to split his time between Raleigh and Dallas

***

The only caveat maybe... so how much from "local owners" is he looking for, and how much is Greenberg in for? Is Greenberg in for the whole $500MM and just looking for local investors to recoop some of that? And what if he gets none?

 

[Riptide]

And I thought 500 mill for the NHL to make an extra seat at the table for you was steep.

500 mill to take over someone else's seat in Carolina, that's a high price.

Why? Carolina (asset wise) is in significantly better shape then LV is (Hanifin, Slavin, Faulk, etc). Carolina (for better or worse) also already has a built in fan base.

 

[garnetpalmetto]

No attachment to the Raleigh area as far as I can see. Not saying he'll carpetbag them, just something I always look at when a franchise is sold since the Jim Balsillie/Clay Bennett days.

As Killion mentioned, Greenberg's a sports gadfly. The only team he's bought that he's relocated was the Short Season-A New York-Penn League New Jersey Cardinals - he moved them from Augusta, NJ to State College, PA where they're now the State College Spikes.

 

[Killion]

No attachment to the Raleigh area as far as I can see. Not saying he'll carpetbag them, just something I always look at when a franchise is sold since the Jim Balsillie/Clay Bennett days.

Ya, deepest roots seemingly in Pennsylvania. Did an interesting deal over in Penn State with one of his minor-pro baseball team's... not seeing this guy as anykind of a Carpetbagger IA.

 

[IceAce]

Carolina has it's positives and it's negatives from a franchise and market standpoint.

I'm not sure how they sold for over 2x what their Forbes evaluation was though? I know most of those are guesstimates since most of that info isn't public, but they usually aren't THAT far off.

 

[madhi19]

Well the dude's roots are in Pittsburgh and he bought the Texas Rangers (believe he actually lives in TX).

....and this from a local Raleigh sports guy:

He did not exactly stick around all that long with the Rangers either. Sound a lot like a baseball guy doing Gary a favour.

 

[Roboturner913]

There is already a minority local ownership group in place (Ron Francis being one), but this makes it sound like he's buying the whole thing. If that's the case then "finding" a local ownership group is pretty much just a formality.

 

[ResilientBeast]

Though I still harbor some hate from 06 no city should lose their franchise

 

[NotOpie]

He did not exactly stick around all that long with the Rangers either. Sound a lot like a baseball guy doing Gary a favour.

Sounds like a sports business guy doing another deal. BTW, where do the Rangers play? That's right, Texas, where they played when he bought 'em.

I'm not saying crazier things couldn't happen, but this looks purely like a investment opportunity in the fastest growing market (population-wise) in the NHL.

 

[Agalloch]

Carolina has it's positives and it's negatives from a franchise and market standpoint.

I'm not sure how they sold for over 2x what their Forbes evaluation was though? I know most of those are guesstimates since most of that info isn't public, but they usually aren't THAT far off.

Vegas expansion changed the game a bit.

 

[moosemeister]

Awesome news! Congrats Canes fans!

 

[Roboturner913]

I think you can add in some performance-based expectation as well (in terms of the sale price I mean). Team is trending up, looks to be in position to be really competitive for the next 8-10 years and a solid management team in place (finally). One could reasonably look at their history of fan support with winning teams in place and see a lot of profit opportunity there if you're forward-thinking. Karmanos, for all his appreciation of hockey, never seemed to care to capitalize on the team's success post-Stanley Cup in terms of PR and growing the fanbase. They've always just kinda been like "we're here if you like hockey" without ever really doing a ton of outreach.

A smart investor would see a market with a ton of upwardly-mobile people with a ton of dispensable income and no other pro sports teams in the vicinity. You wouldn't think that would be terribly hard to exploit. I just don't think Karmanos ever cared to.