Anaheim Mighty Ducks Tickets
The Walt Disney Co. agreed to sell the Anaheim Mighty Ducks to billionaire Henry Samueli and his wife, Susan.
Samueli's company operates the Arrowhead Pond, the Mighty Ducks' home arena. The deal, announced Friday by Samueli, is subject to approval by the NHL. However, it won't be on the agenda Tuesday when the board of governors meet in New York, said Bill Daly, the NHL chief legal officer.
Despite the ongoing lockout that forced the cancellation of the hockey season, the pending sale is not expected to be different than others in the past.
Samueli said that the deal with Disney was struck "pretty much independent of what's going on between the league and the players."
"Disney has had them up for sale for quite a while and we've been negotiating with them," he said in a phone interview. "This was a natural next step. The synergy was there since we already are operating the Arrowhead Pond.
"We're buying the team with a long-term plan in mind. We're assuming this (the labor dispute) will get settled shortly. We're assuming things will get cleaned up and we'll have a long and healthy future with the team."
Samueli said he fully intends to keep the team at the Pond, and that he won't be changing the name to Los Angeles Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. Arte Moreno, who bought the Angels from Disney in 2003, recently caused a stir by changing the team's name from Anaheim Angels to Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
"My wife and I are longtime residents of Orange County and supporters of Orange County and Anaheim, and we're happy to use the name Anaheim," Samueli said. "The Mighty Ducks have become a wonderful asset to this community, with a terrific following, a history of winning and a strong nucleus of outstanding young prospects and talented veterans."
Disney paid $50 million for the Ducks to join the NHL as an expansion franchise in 1992. Samueli's initial offer to Disney reportedly was in the $50 million to $60 million range.
Although the Ducks were Western Conference champions and went to the Stanley Cup finals during the 2002-2003 season, Disney has had them on the market for years.
"We are confident that Henry and Susan Samueli will bring continued success to the Ducks, and we will remain among the biggest fans of the team going forward," Disney chief executive Michael Eisner said.
Samueli, co-founder, chairman of the board and chief technical officer of Broadcom Corp., believes the Ducks will be able to lure fans back when the labor dispute is settled.