THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 13, 1995 TAG: 9504130552
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
Will Norfolk Tides president Ken Young buy the Hampton Roads Admirals?
It's too early to tell, but he acknowledged Wednesday that he will meet informally with Admirals president Blake Cullen tonight to discuss a possible purchase of the East Coast Hockey League team.
Cullen has said he might be receptive to offers to purchase the franchise and said he has had recent inquiries from four groups.
``I'm not trying to sell the team,'' he said. ``But I will listen if others call.''
Cullen said he has told all four groups his asking price and has asked them to get back to him if they are interested. So far, nobody has called back, he said.
He would not comment on the asking price, but it is believed to be $3 million.
Young called Cullen last week and asked if they could meet tonight during the Tides' season opener at Harbor Park in Cullen's luxury box.
``I talked with him about it briefly on the phone,'' Young said. ``I'd say the interest is casual at this point because we haven't even talked'' (face-to-face).
When asked if $3 million is in the ballpark of what he can pay, Young said: ``I'd rather not get into what's in my ballpark.''
Cullen has had only one face-to-face meeting with a potential buyer - sports agent Mark Perrone of Boston, who represented a group of investors when he came to Norfolk a month ago.
Perrone has told reporters that Cullen's asking price was $3 million. Perrone's group, which included Walter Bush, former owner of the Minnesota North Stars, and Mike Milbury, the former Boston Bruin and current ESPN hockey commentator, was awarded an American Hockey League expansion franchise on Tuesday that will play in Lexington, Ky.
That group had wanted to purchase the Admirals, dissolve the franchise and bring an expansion AHL team to Norfolk. Perrone says the asking price was too steep. The AHL wanted a $1 million franchise fee, bringing the total cost to $4 million.
Young has been trying to purchase an expansion ECHL franchise without luck. He raised the $1 million necessary for the ECHL expansion fee to put a franchise in Pensacola, Fla., but balked when city officials asked for a $1 million letter of credit to put ice-making machinery into the city's arena.
RALEIGH STAYING: The Raleigh IceCaps and Johnstown Chiefs are staying in the ECHL, and Greensboro is on the fence.
Raleigh officials announced that they were staying this week after an apparent agreement to sell the franchise to owners of the Greensboro Monarchs fell through. Greensboro had planned to move both the Monarchs and IceCaps to the AHL.
However, the AHL's $1 million franchise fee caused the Monarchs to reconsider.
Raleigh general manager Pete Bock said the Monarchs missed the deadline to purchase the franchise.
``Basically, the deadlines came and went,'' he said. ``It's time to move on and get our house in order.''
Bock said the IceCaps will move from the 5,700-seat Dorton Arena into the spacious Centennial Center when it opens in two or three years. The Centennial Center will seat 23,000 for basketball and 11,000 for hockey.
Greensboro officials acknowledge that they're not sure whether they can afford to jump to the AHL.
Johnstown, which has the league's smallest arena and smallest market, had been rumored to be moving to Florida, but was purchased by a group headed by James Edwards Jr., a Johnstown television station owner. by CNB