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Local Surgeon Has Agreement To Buy Storm For $18.9M

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By CARTER GADDIS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 8, 2007

TAMPA - Longtime Tampa Bay Storm owner Woody Kern has agreed to sell the team to local orthopedic surgeon Robert Nucci for $18.9 million, and a Thursday news conference has been scheduled to announce the deal.

All parties involved are bound by a confidentiality agreement, but three sources close to the Arena Football League and the team independently confirmed that the news conference is scheduled for Thursday and that a deal is in place for Nucci to buy the team.

Nucci, 48, a Palm Harbor resident, 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 that the team be kept in Tampa, and selling to a locally based owner was a priority.

Kern, CEO and President of PCK Management in Denton, Texas, bought the team in 1994. 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.
Palace Sports gave up 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. Palace Sports still holds sales and marketing rights and is expected to maintain those rights under Nucci's ownership.

Kern, 58, celebrated Arena Bowl championships in 1995, '96 and 2003. Kern ramped up his search for a potential owner last year, four years after a potential $12.3-million deal to sell to Michigan businessman Thom Hopper fell through.

It is unclear whether Kern, who did not respond to messages left on his cell phone by The Tampa Tribune, would retain a minority ownership in the team. It is believed that longtime coach and general manager Tim Marcum will remain in his position.

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 is not known whether the Storm sale was on the agenda.

The Tampa firm of Carr and Associates has handled the search for a buyer. 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 Thursday's news conference.

Phone calls by the Tribune to Nucci's office in Tampa, to Larry Carr of Carr and Associates and Nucci's attorney, Paul Genet, were not returned.

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

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