Peter Karmanos Jr. confirms he’s in the process of selling his NHL team, with the Carolina Hurricanes price tag currently around $500 million — but that price may go up if this effort led by Chuck Greenberg falls short.
It’s no secret that Karmanos has sought to sell the Hurricanes for several years now: he admits that almost a dozen bidders has expressed interest in the team. And Karmanos says a term sheet between him and Greenberg, a sports attorney and former Texas Rangers president, is complete. The next step is an actual purchase agreement with Greenberg forming an ownership group, which is taking longer to complete than Karmanos anticipated. And if it takes much longer, the Carolina Hurricanes price tag may go up. From the News & Observer:
“Once he’s done that we’re going to examine his offer and see if it cuts the mustard,” Karmanos said. “He was supposed to be done a while ago. I like working with Chuck … (but) if we get a few more weeks down the road and he can’t raise enough money, I’m going to tell him sayonara.”
Karmanos said the final price may “shake out” between $450 million and $500 million. He did not say how much assumed debt would be a part of the transaction — it’s thought to be about $100 million — but said the deal would not include the Florida Everblades, an ECHL team owned by Karmanos, and the Florida arena.
“If I have to go back, the price is going up – maybe 550, maybe 600 (million dollars),” Karmanos said. “The team is on the rise. If I have to wait through this season and we have a magnificent year and we again run the team on a positive, even-up (financial) basis like we did last year, the value will increase significantly.”
The Hurricanes have struggled in terms of attendance in recent years, and averaged an NHL-worst 11,776 fans per-game for the 2016-17 season. However, the team’s lease at Raleigh’s PNC Arena runs through 2024, and NHL commissioner Gary Bettmann denied any possibility of the team relocating in remarks made earlier this year. In fact, Karmanos says the team was profitable in 2016-2017 despite not making the playoffs and should be profitable again this coming season.
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