Tony Tavares, the former Walt Disney Co. executive who helped bring hockey to Anaheim, is about to take public a company that’s raising money to buy sports, leisure and entertainment businesses.
Tavares, who left Disney in 2002, now heads up New York-based Sports Properties Acquisition Corp., which plans to raise $400 million in a public offering this week.
While at Disney, Tavares in 1993 helped start the Mighty Ducks hockey team, which now goes by the Anaheim Ducks and plays at Honda Center in Anaheim.
As chief executive of Disney Sports Enterprises, Tavares also led the company’s 1997 buy of what’s now the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim baseball team. Disney sold the Angels in 2005.
Sports Properties Acquisition is a “blank check” company raising money to buy other businesses. Directors include baseball’s Hank Aaron and Jack Kemp, the former professional quarterback who ran for president as a Republican a few years back.
After leaving Disney, Tavares served as president of the Montreal Expos and their successor the Washington Nationals. He moved the team from Canada to the nation’s capital.
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