Lamar Hunt "contends in papers filed" yesterday in
Franklin County [OH] Common Pleas Court that lead investor
John McConnell "did not have the right to set up a second
ownership group to obtain a major league hockey team,"
according to Brent LaLonde of the COLUMBUS DISPATCH. In an
amendment to a suit they filed last week, McConnell and
Wolfe Enterprises Inc. asked the court to "dissolve an
original ownership group because it cannot carry out its
intended goal: to obtain an NHL expansion franchise." The
suit aims "to declare the new ownership group's right to
acquire a team without Hunt" (COLUMBUS DISPATCH, 6/24).
HUNT'S SIDE: The original ownership group -- Columbus
Hockey Limited -- included Hunt, McConnell, Dispatch
Publisher John Wolfe, real estate developer Ron Pizzuti,
Ameritech and a group headed by Jay Schottenstein. In his
suit, Hunt says the original group should be awarded the
expansion team and claims that McConnell, Wolfe, Pizzuti and
Schottenstein "each committed" about $4.5M, or 5% each, of
the $80M expansion fee and $10M "in capital needed to start
the team." Hunt also alleges he "would have owned" 55% of
the team and that Ameritech would own "about" 25%. He adds
that Ameritech "was interested in the deal only if Hunt was
majority owner." In his suit, Hunt asks for the "present-
day value" of the projected profits of the team and the
arena over the next 25 years (DISPATCH, 6/24).
