Monday, April 27, 2009

Panthers Merger Looming

From Sports Business Journal --
The Florida Panthers are in negotiations to merge the team, its arena management company and rights to the real estate surrounding BankAtlantic Center with Sports Properties Acquisition Corp., a public-stock company formed last year, sources said.

The potential deal values the assets at $230 million, including debt, with the plum in the talks a planned mixed-use development around the south Florida arena, the sources said. The negotiations have been taking place over the last several weeks, the sources said.

As part of the prospective deal, the sources said, the Panthers’ owners would receive stock in Sports Properties, making the hockey team a unit of the public company. Ironically, the team under former owner Wayne Huizenga was also publicly held before he sold it in 2001 to current general partner Alan Cohen for $101 million.

Tony Tavares, who managed the move of the Montreal Expos to Washington, where the club became the Nationals, is the Sports Properties CEO. Board members include 1996 vice presidential candidate and current chairman of USA Football Jack Kemp, as well as baseball hall of famer Hank Aaron.

The Panthers have struggled in the tepid south Florida sports market, failing to reach the postseason since 2000 and last winning a playoff game in 1997. Their attendance ranked 24th out of 30 NHL teams in this past regular season at 15,622 per game, far below the league average of 17,460 despite a 1.2 percent increase from 2007-08.

However, Sunrise Sports books more than 200 events a year for the arena, including Panthers games, and Pollstar, a music industry publication, named the venue last year one of its top eight as part of its Arena of the Year award.

The ownership and management of the company are expected to remain after a merger.

That's not the entire article, though. I've condensed it a bit. The whole thing in its entirety is here.

By the way, this doesn't mean they're moving or anything like that. It could actually give the team some more financial stability, which I'm sure we'd all embrace.

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