In a piece titled "Team Turmoil," SI's Howard & Munson
write that "you could ... make the case that the Lightning
... is the worst franchise in sports." The team has been up
for sale since the fall of '96 "and nobody seems interested
in buying it." The franchise is "more than" $100M in debt,
and league sources say that though NHL Commissioner Gary
Bettman and team President Steve Oto both deny it,
"bankruptcy or a league takeover isn't out of the question."
Lightning Owner Takashi Okubo, who bought a share of the
team through his Tokyo golf resorts company, Kokusai Green,
"has never attended a Lightning game, never been to Tampa
and never granted an interview to a member of the North
American media." Oto and team Exec VP Chris Phillips are
the only two team employees who have met Okubo, and no one
in the NHL offices has ever met him. Howard & Munson write,
"Though Bettman is loath to admit it, he has been kept in
the dark about Okubo as much as anyone" since Kokusai
Green's purchase was approved by former league President
John Ziegler in '90. Howard & Munson write that "questions
remain about the Lightning's tangled finances, about Kokusai
Green's business practices and about whether the NHL sooner
or later will feel compelled to do something about the Tampa
Bay ownership -- or will just keep praying that the
Lightning will get sold and the problem will go away."
Other areas examined include details on the team's debt; a
look at former Lightning exec David LeFevre and the pending
lawsuit filed by Marc Ganis, whose Tampa Coliseum Inc. group
attempted to develop an arena for the team. Howard &
Munson: "This is a story in which hardly anyone escapes
unscathed" (SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, 3/30 issue).
TEAM RESPONDS: The Lightning issued a statement saying
they were "both bewildered and dismayed" to discover that
Ganis "was again apparently successful in planting a slanted
story littered with factual errors, incomplete information
and unfounded innuendos." The team said it is "replete with
factual errors and relies heavily" on information provided
by former Lightning exec Mel Lowell and Ganis. The
Lightning also said that Lester Munson, co-writer of the
piece, "admitted" to team reps that it was published "at the
personal request" of Ganis (Lightning). Ganis said, "Rather
than providing evidence refuting the charges, the Lighting
once again has taken to name-calling as a distraction to the
issue at hand -- who are these people who are getting $200
million of local taxpayer money" (TAMPA TRIBUNE, 3/26)
MORE NEWS: NHL VP/Legal Affairs William Daly is quoted
in today's TAMPA TRIBUNE as saying a league takeover of the
team "has never been discussed." Daly: "We're satisfied the
current ownership group is committed to make the necessary
investments. While there were no revelations in the
article, the publicity this team is now getting is certainly
not a positive development for the worth of the franchise."
More Daly: "We've heard many allegations concerning
ownership, but where are the facts? Where's the hard
evidence?" (TAMPA TRIBUNE, 3/26). Lightning President Steve
Oto confirmed that the team is $103M in debt, but said that
"much of it is owed to Kokusai Green" (TAMPA TRIBUNE, 3/25).
