Hurricanes Owner Peter Karmanos yesterday said that the team's selling price "is about" $500M, according to Chip Alexander of the Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER. Karmanos also said that a term sheet is "in place" with former MLB Rangers CEO Chuck Greenberg's potential ownership group. But Karmanos said there is "no purchase agreement." Karmanos added that 11 or 12 groups "at one time or another" had shown interest in buying the team, but said that he "liked Greenberg and has given Greenberg the time needed to finalize a ownership team." Karmanos: "Once he’s done that we’re going to examine his offer and see if it cuts the mustard. He was supposed to be done a while ago. I like working with Chuck ... (but) if we get a few more weeks down the road and he can’t raise enough money, I’m going to tell him sayonara.” Karmanos said that the final price may “shake out" between $450-500M. Karmanos said, “If I have to go back, the price is going up -- maybe 550, maybe 600. The team is on the rise. If I have to wait through this season and we have a magnificent year and we again run the team on a positive, even-up (financial) basis like we did last year, the value will increase significantly.” Hurricanes President Don Waddell said that the '16-17 season was the first time the team "finished in the black financially without making the Stanley Cup Playoffs." Waddell also said that season-ticket renewals were at 89% and "more than 500 new season tickets had been sold." Karmanos: "Our sponsorship revenue is higher than it's ever been, even in spite of the fact we haven't been in the playoffs in (eight) years." Greenberg has indicated that he "would keep the team in Raleigh." Karmanos: "That team's not moving, no matter who owns it" (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 8/2).
DOING DUE DILIGENCE: NHL Network’s Kevin Weekes said he has "spoken to some different senior level people at the league, and the biggest thing that I've gotten from them is this is going to take time. ... For the commissioner and a lot of the board of governors in the entire committee, they're going to do their due diligence on a lot of these prospective buyers." Weekes noted Karmanos “needs to be as discerning as possible ... and he wants to make sure that it's the right fit, that a potential sale really ticks all the right boxes for him" ("NHL Tonight," NHL Network, 8/1).
