The Lightning ownership made the surprising announcement Tuesday morning that they had agreed to a deal to the sell the team and other Tampa assets to Absolute Hockey Enterprises. The Group includes former Panther's coach Doug MacLean, Jeff Sherrin, a Coral Springs based real estate developer, and Oren Koules, producer of the "Saw" films. The deal, for which no dollar amount has been released, includes the lease of the Forum, and the 5+ acres of land around the arena that Palace Sports and Entertainment owned. The deal still has to be ratified by the NHL Board of Governors, but it’s considered a formality at this point.
Some interesting information from the press conference:
-There will be 9-10 principle owners
-There is no time-line for when the deal will be finalized
-The new ownership group says there is “ 0 Chance of the team moving”
Tom Wilson’s,CEO of Palace Sports, claim that despite being 3rd in attendance behind only Detroit and Minnesota, that the only season the team turned a profit was in 2003-2004 the year they won the Stanley Cup. Makes you wonder why anybody would want to buy a team, and keep it in a market, that reportedly has lost $76 million dollars since it’s inception. They either have some revolutionary marketing ideas or some other plan to eventually demand a new stadium or a new city.
In other news, Ryan Craig was awarded $850,000/1 year contract in arbitration. He had been seeking $1.2 million, the Bolts countered with an offer of $650,000
-JUSTIN LEWIS
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