Eklund: Bolts Nearing Largest Franchise Sale in NHL History

What a fool. Wait a couple years and buy when its worth far less. Clearly they are on the downslide (in my opinion anyway) Never buy high! The seller has it right, but buyers be dumb

The problem with trying to first instead of accurate (per The Athletic)...

Lightning owner Jeff Vinik confirmed Tuesday he’s in discussions to expand the ownership group, but reiterated there will be no change in the day-to-day operations of the club.

According to a report by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Lightning began a multi-stage sale process that will value the team at close to $2 billion. The report included the name of Doug Ostrover — co-founder and CEO of investment firm Blue Owl Capital — as the potential purchaser.

A deal isn’t done yet, with this still being talks. Vinik will retain full operational control of the organization for the next several years as part of the deal, per the Sportsnet report, and will have a significant ownership stake as part of the new group.

Has any franchise out of the 4 major sports ever depreciated? Can anyone actually find factual data that reflects a depreciation?

Has any franchise out of the 4 major sports ever depreciated? Can anyone actually find factual data that reflects a depreciation?
- 26912 PP

Excellent question.

The easy answer is a lot of them did during the pandemic.

https://www.forbes.com/si...t-decline-in-two-decades/

What a fool. Wait a couple years and buy when its worth far less. Clearly they are on the downslide (in my opinion anyway) Never buy high! The seller has it right, but buyers be dumb
- Shynes57

There are only 32 NHL franchises in the world. There's no guarantee another franchise will be available in the near future nor the quality of the franchise. Tampa is also one of the fastest growing US markets. The process is also not especially simple in most cases.

Lightning fans have to be ecstatic. Big money will keep this team elite for years to come.

What a fool. Wait a couple years and buy when its worth far less. Clearly they are on the downslide (in my opinion anyway) Never buy high! The seller has it right, but buyers be dumb
- Shynes57

I mean, successful NHL franchises don't exactly go on the market all that often. You either make the purchase or likely never see it go on sale again. The value of the Lightning and revenues have also steadily been increasing...

As pointed out by a previous poster, EK has it wrong.
The Value of the franchise may be $2B, however the franchise is not being sold in totality, rather they are selling a portion of (how big, who knows) and Vonik remains in operational control for several years.

Lightning fans have to be ecstatic. Big money will keep this team elite for years to come.
- madhatter56

Tampa wasn't elite this year. Their core is aging out and they don't have youth to replace them. They're on the downside of their window and will be rebuilding in the near future. Same exact cycle every cap era contender has taken (DET, LAK, CHI, PIT, etc.). No amount of ownership money prevents this cycle from happening in the cap era.

Jeff Vinik was probably the 2nd best ever fund manager at Fidelity Investments, just behind Peter Lynch...He has always been a very astute investor and this shows it once again...

Your source !!

Jeff Vinik was probably the 2nd best ever fund manager at Fidelity Investments, just behind Peter Lynch...He has always been a very astute investor and this shows it once again...
- hockeygm

I wouldn’t put Vinik that high. I’d put Weaver and Dennis Lynch ahead. Just my opinion.

Love how the first time he ever lists a source, he buggers up what was said. Don't blame me, this is straight from Friedman!

This partial sale is likely necessitated by the need to facilitate his upcoming divorce settlement.