| | NEWARK, N.J. -- The owner of the New Jersey Devils intends to sell his team to the joint venture involving the New York Yankees and New Jersey Nets, The Star-Ledger of Newark reported Wednesday.
YankeeNets will pay John McMullen at least $175 million for his
hockey club, the newspaper reported, citing four unidentified
people with knowledge of the negotiations.
The deal has not yet been signed, but one of the newspaper's
sources said it is "99 percent there" and could be signed within
a week.
McMullen was in the Orlando, Fla., area Tuesday, and the
newspaper could not reach him for comment.
Lou Lamoriello, the Devils' president and general manager and a
minority owner of the team, said: "To my knowledge, everything is
as it has been. I don't think anything will be known or heard until
it's done or it's not done."
YankeeNets officials were meeting Tuesday in Tampa, Fla. Yankees owner George Steinbrenner attended Tuesday night's Devils game versus the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Ice Palace in Tampa.
YankeeNets spokesman Howard Rubenstein declined comment on any involvement with the Devils.
The Yankees and Nets formed their new company last year in an attempt to gain the upper hand in negotiations for television rights. Company officials have said they might form a new regional sports network to compete with Cablevision, and the acquisition of the Devils would make that venture more feasible.
The sale of the Devils would nearly assure that the Nets and Devils would move to the new arena proposed for downtown Newark in 2003. The current home of both teams is Continental Airlines Arena at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford.
Forbes magazine last month estimated the Devils franchise to be worth $135 million. | |
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