The Hurricanes have kept the off-season interesting recently. Last week, the team acquired Marcus Kruger in a trade with the Golden Knights. Yesterday, GMRF announced that they extended Slavin’s contract to a seven-year deal worth $37 million. Then today, there has been a rumor that the Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos, Jr. has an agreement in place to sell the team.
While there hasn’t been a statement by the Hurricanes or Karmanos, it appears the deal is completed. The deal is supposedly for around $500 million, and the ownership group includes the former part-owner and CEO of the Texas Rangers, Chuck Greenberg. I recently read an article by USA Today stating that the deal is finalized and now just needs approval from the NHL Board of Governors. Also, Chip Alexander wrote that the deal apparently includes that the Hurricanes will remain in Raleigh.
There have been a few surprised by the purchase price. Many who cite the price as too high refer to the Hurricanes Forbes evaluation for 2016 of $230 million. Despite that, I am not surprised by the sale price looking at the Islanders sale in 2014 for $485 million and the Las Vegas expansion fee of $450 million. In fact, ex-Islanders owner Charles Wang apparently was asking for around $548 million.
So, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that almost three years later the price tag is at minimum $500 million. Looking at the Islanders sales price, over three years, that is just slightly above a 1% increase of cost. While $500 million certainly isn’t cheap, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the deal closer to $510-20 million.
While the sale certainly is exciting, it shouldn’t come as surprising to most either. Karmanos had openly commented numerous times that he would consider selling for the right price. The current lawsuit that Karmanos is involved in probably is one factor for why around a $500 million offer is acceptable.
Another factor is the necessary roster costs that are coming over the next two seasons to keep the Hurricanes as a competitive team. I wrote on June 20th a piece that looked at his previous roster spending
dating back to 2011-12 and why the next two years are critical financially for the Hurricanes. If the Hurricanes want to bring back Hanifin, Pesce, Lindholm, and TVR, then they need an ownership group willing to spend at least around $65 million for 2018-19.
While there is no knowledge of what the new ownership is willing to spend, my gut says if you buy a team for at least $500 million, you aren’t going to be too focused on pinching cap floor minimum pennies. A new ownership group has a great opportunity to capitalize on the growing excitement in the area too.
Looking at the moves made this off-season, and the possibility of a new ownership group could mark for more community optimism too. There has been tons of buzz in the Triangle the past month, and new ownership might help bolster STH sales and attendance on games early on. If you’ve been a fan on the fence and wondering if it is time to go back to a Canes game, the answer is yes.
Thanks for reading and your comments. What’re your thoughts on the rumors about Karmanos selling the Hurricanes? Be sure to come this weekend as we will look more into the signing of Slavin.
Carolina Hurricanes Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»