Hurricanes sale formally closed, Tom Dundon now majority owner

[sctvman]

Dear God where do people come up with this nonsense? Charlotte had no arena in 1997, and they don't have one now. The Spectrum Center is nowhere near NHL-viable. Plus, there is/was no way in hell the city can support an NHL/NBA team at the same time, not big enough and not enough sports dollars and interest to go around.

Raleigh is a much better market for the NHL. By far. Even in the 90's when it was still a sleepy 9-5 town.

And the Hornets in 1997 were really big. They had a fan base throughout the Carolinas. Local TV in basically every market. Averaged 24,000 fans a game. They were probably a top 10-12 team in the NBA at that time.

OTOH, the Canes had 29 games televised their first season. Commuted 90 minutes for every game. There was as much interest in the ECHL (or more) in most markets in the Carolinas. Like here in Charleston, the Stingrays nearly outdrew the Hurricanes.

The first couple of years, I don’t even think the games were televised to SC (which had a very good hockey market at the time with 4 ECHL teams).

The Hornets and Canes are probably close to equal in the NBA and NHL now. The Hornets are a very distant #2 in Charlotte, sometimes #3 behind college basketball and football. The Canes are probably a solid #2/3 behind college basketball in the Triangle.

The Hornets averaged 9,280 households a game in the Charlotte market last year (a 0.78 rating). I wonder what the Canes rated. Probably a little less. Those ratings though don’t include other markets around the area where the Canes are televised.

All of NC and SC get the Canes games on television, and since the Thrashers left, a lot of the games are aired in GA. When you look at the Carolina teams, you can’t just look at a singular market. Charlotte, Greensboro, and the Triangle are all top 50 markets. Charlotte and the Triangle are top 25.

 

[Blue Warriors]

Is this confirmed?

 

[CokenoPepsi]

Is this confirmed?

I figured it was always fake news.

No disrespect meant to Hurricane fans but the purchase never made sense

 

[Acesolid]

Is this confirmed?

Well, I tend to trust Forbes, so I dont think a Forbes journalist would tweet it he were not 100% certain.

If it's the case, ouch!

 

[Slashers98]

Well, I tend to trust Forbes, so I dont think a Forbes journalist would tweet it he were not 100% certain.

If it's the case, ouch!

That's what I said earlier this week and now the cat is out of the bag!

 

[boffosan]

There has been no news on the local front here in the Triangle area. Jeff Gravley from WRAL stated when I asked that he hadnt heard any such report. We'll wait and see I guess?

 

[TheLegend]

Well, I tend to trust Forbes, so I dont think a Forbes journalist would tweet it he were not 100% certain.

If it's the case, ouch!

I would think the sale is off. But for Ozanian to label the whole thing as “fake news” is a bit of overselling on his part that nothing ever transpired.

 

[Mightygoose]

This is not good if true.

I guess we'll have to see what kind of statement the team or Greenberg for that matter makes on this.

If it is true, did Greenberg walk away or did PK say sayonara like mentioned a few months back? Perhaps for Canes fans, there's a plan B locally.

 

[AeroFishOne]

Looked earlier for other sources backing his claim up and hadn’t see any at that time. While I trust Forbes, I’m not familiar with the author and the way the original article was written could have maybe used a little more professionalism and not just because I’m a Carolina fan.

 

[decma]

I would think the sale is off. But for Ozanian to label the whole thing as “fake news” is a bit of overselling on his part that nothing ever transpired.

I think what he labelled as fake news in his July article in Forbes was the $500 million rumored sales price, rather than the whole thing.

"Yes, Chuck Greenberg is trying to buy the money-losingNHL franchise. But all Greenberg has right now is a non-binding letter of intent. Moreover, the real price (enterprise value) is nowhere near $500 million (perhaps the $500 million includes future money the potential buyer is promising to put into the team?), according to my sources."

And in today's tweet he says Greenberg is out as buyer, and tries to tie that to his July article re fake news.

So I don't think he is saying that nothing transpired, just that it was not that firm to begin with, and was not for $500 million (or anywhere close).

 

[TheLegend]

I think what he labelled as fake news in his July article in Forbes was the $500 million rumored sales price, rather than the whole thing.

"Yes, Chuck Greenberg is trying to buy the money-losingNHL franchise. But all Greenberg has right now is a non-binding letter of intent. Moreover, the real price (enterprise value) is nowhere near $500 million (perhaps the $500 million includes future money the potential buyer is promising to put into the team?), according to my sources."

And in today's tweet he says Greenberg is out as buyer, and tries to tie that to his July article re fake news.

So I don't think he is saying that nothing transpired, just that it was not that firm to begin with, and was not for $500 million (or anywhere close).

Maybe.... but the average reader will look at the headline and think as if nothing happened at all rather than it really being Ozanian tooting his own horn.

 

[aqib]

I tried googling this and I haven't seen anything other than this Ozanian person and others which reference him.

 

[Killion]

Wow. As the World Turns. This is pretty crazy.

 

[viper0220]

This is not good if true.

I guess we'll have to see what kind of statement the team or Greenberg for that matter makes on this.

If it is true, did Greenberg walk away or did PK say sayonara like mentioned a few months back? Perhaps for Canes fans, there's a plan B locally.

Are we talking about Pierre Karl Péladeau here because I don't think he would say sayonara because TVA payed a shit ton for the French rights and they also spent $2 Million on expansion.

 

[Wolf357]

I'm having flashbacks to The Balkins shoe

 

[Acesolid]

I tried googling this and I haven't seen anything other than this Ozanian person and others which reference him.

But, he's Executive Editor at Forbes. And he has his own TV show on YES and Fox Sports 1 'focused on the Business of Sports, named 'Sports Money''.

As an exemple, he's the interviewer here:





So if there's anybody with inside info on New-York based Sports teams owners.... well it's him!

 

[aqib]

But, he's Executive Editor at Forbes. And he has his own TV show on YES and Fox Sports 1 'focused on the Business of Sports, named 'Sports Money''.

As an exemple, he's the interviewer here:





So if there's anybody with inside info on New-York based Sports teams owners.... well it's him!

Honestly, I haven't trusted Forbes in a long time. When I was with the Federal Reserve there were a couple of times I saw a few of our guys get horrible misquoted.

 

[BattleBorn]

Honestly, I haven't trusted Forbes in a long time. When I was with the Federal Reserve there were a couple of times I saw a few of our guys get horrible misquoted.

The Federal Reserve gets a little more scrutiny than sports finance. Forbes may stink, but they're still as close as we get to something realistic in the NHL world. It's worth accepting what they say, with some reservations perhaps, as as close to reality as we're going to get.

 

[Mightygoose]

Local media saying negotiations have hit a snag

http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/nhl/carolina-hurricanes/article181175991.html

No details other what was said earlier. No reference to the Forbes tweet.

 

[DaveG]

Wow. As the World Turns. This is pretty crazy.

I'll wait til I hear from Luke or Chip first in all honesty.

^ and there we have it, not good but not the doom and gloom the f***wad that was claiming it was all fake news to begin with is making it out to be.

 

[aqib]

The Federal Reserve gets a little more scrutiny than sports finance. Forbes may stink, but they're still as close as we get to something realistic in the NHL world. It's worth accepting what they say, with some reservations perhaps, as as close to reality as we're going to get.

That doesn't make them reliable. I find since the old man died they haven't been a good source for anything.

 

[Acesolid]

Local media saying negotiations have hit a snag

http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/nhl/carolina-hurricanes/article181175991.html

No details other what was said earlier. No reference to the Forbes tweet.

I think this confirms the other tweet.

Altrough it seems all hope isn't yet lost according to that local source.

 

[DaveG]

I think this confirms the other tweet.

Altrough it seems all hope isn't yet lost according to that local source.

Hard to say at this point, I'm (for obvious reasons) still hopeful but more hard to say at this point then it's been in a while. Of course we saw Karmanos try to play the media before with there being nothing to it so no telling what the answer is.

 

[sctvman]

Mark Armstrong (ABC sportscaster in Raleigh) just tweeted:

FWIW - what I was told a while back is that Greenberg's first investor group to buy Canes fell through. He's trying to re-assemble diff $

 

[madhi19]

These deals have a way of happening overnight with fanfare, or dying in private without anybody announcing anything. I would not be shocked if the next announcement is THE official sale, to somebody else either local or otherwise. After that if some journalist bother to dig up the truth* we learn that Greenberg either walked away or was dismissed months before the sale.
Success is always clamoured, failure is always swept under the rug.

*Don't bet on that, or on getting much details. Everybody in the know for these deals are under NDA.