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Lightning Sale Taking On 'Typical' Timeline

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By ERIK ERLENDSSON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 17, 2007

Updated: 09/17/2007 12:14 am

BRANDON - Since Absolute Hockey Enterprises announced on Aug. 7 its intention to purchase the Lightning from Palace Sports and Entertainment owner Bill Davidson, very little information about the sale process has been made public.

That's not a big surprise, according to Doug MacLean, one of the principal members of Absolute Hockey.

'I think when you get into this you are real anxious to move it quick, but our banker told us a month ago that we were being a little excitable on our timeline,' MacLean said Sunday. 'It's just a long process and a lot of work so I wouldn't say things have slowed down. I would say it's pretty typical.'

Lightning president Ron Campbell also said the slow progression is normal.

'It does take time,' he said. 'We were going through this process in 1999. We thought we would have this done by April 30 and it took until June 30, so it took two months longer than we expected. And that was with a single, known commodity in Bill Davidson, who was known for his owning the Detroit Pistons.'

A Board of Governors meeting is scheduled to take place Tuesday in Chicago, where Palace Sports and Entertainment CEO Tom Wilson is expected to update the board on the sale process, though Campbell said he wasn't sure what that update would include.

Though there is a deadline date in December to complete the purchase agreement between the parties, Campbell said that deadline can be extended if both sides agree to an extension.

MacLean said there are a handful of application stages to go through and the next step can't begin until the previous application is fulfilled. He said the first step, which involves Absolute Hockey going through its due diligence to produce financial records and other required paperwork, is just about complete and should be presented to the league office this week.

When the announcement was made, it was believed there would be up to nine members of the ownership group, which is still not completely in place. MacLean said that Mark Burg, co-founder of Twisted Pictures and Evolution Entertainment along with prospective Lightning owner Oren Koules, has officially joined the ownership group, which is still being put together.

'There will probably be a couple of more partners announced; when the application goes it will probably be announced, I would think,' MacLean said.

In the meantime, MacLean said the new ownership group will continue to go through its due diligence, which includes filing all the proper paperwork and working with the groups' lawyers.

While MacLean has done his best to stay behind the scenes - he decided not to attend Saturday's first round of intrasquad scrimmages because he said he didn't want to be a distraction - he has stayed in the loop as best as he can, getting updates on the players' progress at the prospect camp last week and how things are going at training camp.

Reporter Erik Erlendsson can be reached at (813) 259-7835 or eerlendsson@tampatrib.com.

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