Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 10, 1990 TAG: 9005100367
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From Associated Press reports
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
As part of the agreement, Howard Baldwin and Morris Belzberg bought the North Stars from Gordon and George Gund for about $31.5 million. In turn, the Gunds were given a Bay area franchise for 1991-92 - the league's first expansion since four teams from the World Hockey Association were admitted in 1979. One of those WHA teams was the Hartford Whalers, whom Baldwin helped found in 1972.
In addition, the NHL said it might expand by one or two more teams for the 1992-93 season. The league, which announced in December that it plans to increase from 21 to 28 teams by the end of the decade, set a price tag of $50 million per franchise.
The Gunds, who have owned the North Stars since they merged their Cleveland Barons with the Minnesota team in 1978, will house their new club in the Cow Palace near San Francisco in 1991-92 before moving to a new arena in San Jose the following season.
It will be the first Bay area hockey team since the California Seals - owned partly by the Gunds - left Oakland for Cleveland in 1976. The Seals were part of the league's first expansion in 1967, when six teams, including the North Stars, joined the original six clubs to double the NHL's size.
by CNB