NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman met last Thursday for 90
minutes with "elusive" Lightning Owner Takashi Okubo at the
league's NYC headquarters "to discuss the embattled"
franchise, according to Ira Kaufman of the TAMPA TRIBUNE.
The meeting was also attended by NHL VP/Legal Affairs
William Daly, Okubo's wife and a Japanese interpreter, and
marked the first time Bettman had met Okubo. Bettman said
yesterday that Okubo "expressed a desire to either operate
the franchise in a way that makes the fans happy or to get
it sold quickly." Okubo also met with Kevin Kilgannon, an
Exec VP of SunTrust Bank, which "has a major stake in the
financial health of the heavily leveraged franchise," before
flying back to Tokyo. Kaufman reports that there are no
plans for Okubo, who has never attended a Lightning game, to
visit Tampa. Lightning attorney Stephen Wayne said that the
team is "still talking to at least one of the groups Bettman
is pushing" as potential new owners, and also "dismissed"
rumors that Yankees Owner George Steinbrenner has inquired
about buying the franchise (TAMPA TRIBUNE, 4/21).
