The Marquee Group President Bob Gutkowski "is trying to
assemble a group composed primarily of Long Island investors
to buy the Islanders," according to the N.Y. TIMES.
Gutkowski "said his group will talk this week to see what
direction it will take." Former Islander Clark Gillies is
part of the group, "but Gutkowski declined to say whether"
Robert Sillerman, the media advisor who helped finance The
Marquee Group, "will help back a possible effort to buy the
team" (N.Y. TIMES, 7/20). Save The Islanders Coalition
President Steve Ellers wrote the guest column in Sunday's
N.Y. DAILY NEWS entitled, "Gutkowski Right Man For Isles."
Ellers: "I can't think of a better qualified person to lead
the Islander franchise into the next century. This native
Long Islander and his partners would be the dream ending to
this long nightmare" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 7/20).
MORE TROUBLE FOR SPANO? NEWSDAY's Kessler, Fessenden &
Valenti reported that federal investigators "are looking
into" whether former Islanders Owner John Spano "defrauded"
Mario Lemieux out of "almost a million dollars," according
to "several sources familiar with the financial arrangement"
between Spano and Lemieux. Spano received $1.25M from
Lemieux in late April, "allegedly to invest in options for
stock of a company that was about to go public and would
more than double in value." Kessler, Fessenden & Valenti:
"Prosecutors believe the Lemieux money was used for the
Islanders, according to sources, but they have not tied it
definitively." The Islanders "also received more than a
million dollars" from Roger Staubach's Dallas-based The
Staubach Co. and former Staubach Co. President Jim Leslie,
who became "a minor partner with Spano in the Islanders
ownership group." Leslie said "that he and others at the
company who invested in the Islanders deal were duped by
Spano." Leslie: "We were fooled by him" (NEWSDAY, 7/20).
