Henry and Susan Samueli finally pulled the trigger and bought the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim from Walt Disney Co. on Friday.
The price wasn’t disclosed but likely was in the $60 million to $65 million range. The deal still needs approval by the National Hockey League Board of Governors.
Disney has been shopping the team for a few years. The sale comes at a time when the team should be heading into the final stretch of the season.
But labor strife between the union and the league caused Commissioner Gary Bettman to cancel the season last week.
The Samuelis,Henry is cofounder, chairman and chief technical officer of Irvine chipmaker Broadcom Corp.,have been talking with Disney for some time on the buy.
Samueli said he’d be open to a name change for the team’s nickname,not the use of ‘Anaheim.’
“We’ll do what the fans want,” he told the Business Journal. “If they want to change the ‘Mighty Ducks’ name we’ll do it. But we absolutely, 100% will not change ‘Anaheim.'”
Samueli was referring to Angels owner Arte Moreno’s move to rename his team the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim moniker.
The Samuelis interest in the team isn’t surprising. The couple owns H & S; Ventures of Newport Beach. An arm of H & S;, Anaheim Arena Management LLC, manages the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim where the Ducks play.
Anaheim Arena Management took over running the Pond from bankrupt Covanta Energy, formerly Ogden Services, in 2003. The city of Anaheim owns the arena.
“Since Susan and I also own the management company that operates the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim, the Mighty Ducks’ home ice, acquiring the team was a natural next step,” Samueli said.
Samueli said he and Susan would be “passive” owners. He said they’d be building their management team in the next few months.
“We’ll look at all the personnel we have and involve them in the process of putting first-rate management in place,” he said.
Last year, the Ducks’ former general manager, Bryan Murray, resigned to take the Ottawa Senators’ head coaching job. Al Coates has filled the position on a part-time basis.
Others said to have been interested in buying the team: a group led by Howard Baldwin, former owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team, and the Maloof family, which owns the Sacramento Kings.
Burbank-based Disney paid $50 million for the rights to create the franchise in 1992. Half of the startup fee went to the league with the other half to the Los Angeles Kings as compensation for encroaching on their territory.
Disney’s had its ups and downs with the team. Despite going to the Stanley Cup finals in the 2002-2003 season, the Ducks still lost $11 million. Revenue was $59 million that year.
Its payroll last season was about $54 million. If this season had gotten under way as scheduled, the Ducks’ payroll was expected to be trimmed to $40 million to $45 million.
The Ducks struggled last year, finishing fourth in the Pacific division and 12th in the Western Conference. They missed the playoffs.
