Hurricanes Owner Peter Karmanos "will have lost at
least" $80M by the end of this season in the three years
since he relocated the franchise from Hartford to NC,
according to Kevin Paul Dupont of the BOSTON GLOBE. Dupont
wrote that "it would be difficult to imagine anyone offering
to buy" the team even if Karmanos wanted to sell, and Dupont
added that Karmanos' "only out might be handing over the
keys to someone willing to take it and perhaps assume some
of the debt" (BOSTON GLOBE, 11/21). The Bonham Group Chair
Dean Bonham, on the Hurricanes' situation in Raleigh, where
they have sold only 6,000 season tickets: "When you look at
it right now, it's scary how bad it could be in two or three
years" (BLOOMBERG, 11/21). Unsigned Hurricanes C Keith
Primeau "has suggested" that he doesn't have a contract
because Karmanos "is planning to sell, or move, the team in
the near future." In Montreal, Pat Hickey wrote that
Houston is a possibility for relocation (GAZETTE, 11/21).
FRONT OFFICE NEWS: Karmanos said that he "made a
mistake" when he "handed the business reigns" to former COO
Dean Jordan in '98. Karmanos: "Dean's philosophy and mine
were not the same in a business sense. I want to make sure
that every employee with the Hurricanes is valued and that
their contributions are recognized. I just wasn't seeing
that happening" (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 11/21).
