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Local Surgeon Buys Tampa Bay Storm

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By Carter Gaddis / The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 7, 2007

TAMPA – The Tampa Bay Storm have been sold to local orthopedic surgeon Robert Nucci for $18.9 million, sources told The Tampa Tribune, and the deal will be announced during a Thursday news conference.

Texas businessman Woody Kern has been the primary owner of the Storm for 13 years. Palace Sports and Entertainment – which owns the Lightning and St. Pete Times Forum – took on part ownership, along with sales and marketing rights, in 1999.

PS&E divested itself of its minority ownership of the Storm in October 2005, when it purchased the Single-A Asheville (N.C.) Tourists minor-league baseball team from Kern. PS&E still owns sales and marketing rights, and is expected to maintain those rights under Nucci's ownership.

Nucci runs the Nucci Spine Institute in Tampa and is the vice-chief of surgery at University Community Hospital Carrollwood. It is believed that one of the conditions of the sale is the team will be kept in Tampa, and selling to a locally based owner was a priority.

Kern, 58, bought the Storm in 1994 and celebrated Arena Bowl championships in 1995, '96 and 2003. The president and CEO of PCK Management in Denton, Texas, began to search for a potential buyer last year, four years after a potential $12.3-million deal to sell to Michigan businessman Thom Hopper fell through.

Hopper was later convicted of wire fraud.

The sale price of $18.9 million is the largest sum paid for an Arena League franchise, surpassing the $18 million paid by the ownership group that brought an expansion team to Kansas City in 2006.

Any sale of an Arena League franchise needs a simple majority approval by the league's board of directors. The board last met in October, but it's not known whether the Storm sale was on the agenda.

The Tampa consulting firm of Carr and Associates has handled the search for a buyer since Kern decided to sell. In May, the team revealed that three potential ownership groups were under consideration.

Arena Football senior vice president of communications Chris McCloskey would not comment on the sale. It is believed that Commissioner David Baker will attend the news conference on Thursday.

Reporter Carter Gaddis can be reached at (813) 259-8291 or igaddis@tampatrib.com.

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