ATLANTA: TBS will own the team and Turner Sports
President Harvey Schiller is expected to be named team
President. Schiller "expects at least 12,500 season tickets
to be sold, with the team averaging about 16,000." TBS
Chair Ted Turner favors the name "Thrashers" after the GA
state bird, but Schiller said fans may be asked to
contribute suggestions (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 6/18). Tim
Tucker notes that Schiller "perhaps surpasses Stan Kasten as
Atlanta's most diversified" sports exec, as he will maintain
his position at Turner Sports (ATL. CONSTITUTION, 6/18).
COLUMBUS: The DISPATCH's John Futty: "Columbus will
relinquish its status as the largest city in the United
States without a major league hockey, baseball, basketball
or football team." John McConnell, who heads the ownership
group, "declined to discuss a legal dispute that has
developed with" Lamar Hunt, who "once was seen as an
integral part of the Columbus ownership." Futty:
"McConnell and Wolfe Enterprises, another investor in the
team, yesterday filed a lawsuit asking the Franklin County
Common Pleas Court to declare that their group may obtain a
franchise without Hunt's involvement." McConnell: "The
Hunts are in limbo right now" (COLUMBUS DISPATCH, 6/18).
Brent LaLonde reports that the suit contends Hunt
"misrepresented the original investment group when it came
time to negotiate a lease with the owners of a privately
owned arena." LaLonde adds the "dispute is not expected to
affect Columbus' standing" with the NHL (DISPATCH, 6/18).
MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL: The STAR TRIBUNE profiles the
investment group behind the NHL's return to the Twin Cities.
Robert Naegele is the lead investor along with, among
others, Hubbard Broadcasting Chair Stanley Hubbard and Vance
Opperman, President of MN-based Key Investment, Inc. (STAR
TRIBUNE, 6/18). The team's president will "probably be" Jac
Sperling, a Denver-based attorney who helped broker the deal
(Jerry Zgoda, Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 6/18). In
Minneapolis, Duchschere, Smith & Smith write the "hockey
deal gave a tangible credibility to [St. Paul Mayor Norm]
Coleman's oft-stated visions for a revitalized downtown,
adding a major-league touch to a city unaccustomed to big-
league triumphs." Coleman gained an "inestimable boost for
his reelection bid" (STAR TRIBUNE, 6/18). In St. Paul, Jim
McCartney: "The announcement that a NHL team is coming is
the latest of several high-profile developments that could
boost the city's fortunes." One of Coleman's first phone
calls was to Hurricanes Owner Peter Karmanos. Coleman: "We
never would have gotten there without Karmanos. He really
helped us retool our effort" (PIONEER PRESS, 6/18).
NASHVILLE: Headline over the Nashville TENNESSEAN
sports section: "Drop The Puck!" Majority Owner Craig
Leipold said a decision on a team president could come "as
early as the next two or three week. Leipold: "We've
maintained all along that we believe that starting in '98
was critical" (Jeff Legwold, Nashville TENNESSEAN, 6/18).
