Puck Holdings, Ltd., the YankeeNets affiliate that owns the Devils, wants to pass the puck, The Post has learned.
According to a source with strong connections to the NHL, Puck Holdings and Devils Chairman Raymond Chambers are in “serious ongoing discussions with a business person with local interests” about selling the Devils just under three years after having purchased the club from John McMullen for a staggering $195 million.
The source did not reveal the interested party’s identity, but said the individual was a new player in the professional sports market and, as far as the source knows, is interested in buying the team for the purpose of keeping it in New Jersey. The Devils’ lease with the New Jersey Sports Authority runs through the 2006-2007 season.
Additionally, the source said Chambers has privately admitted that buying the team was “a terrible mistake,” and as such is willing to sell it for perhaps as little as $100 milion.
YankeeNets is exploring the Devils sale as it negotiates a deal to get the Yankees carried on Cablevision on terms that will bring in a lot less money than the sports network originally hoped for.
Puck Holdings Ltd. owes McMullen a final $35M payment next year to complete its obligation to the Devils’ original owner.
Team CEO, president and general manager Lou Lamoriello offered no response when contacted last night by The Post.
“I appreciate the opportunity,” Lamoriello said, “but I’m not going to comment.”
McMullen was able to reap such a windfall in turning over the franchise – generally valued at the time by industry experts at $135 million – because of the club’s perceived value as the hockey tenant of a projected new arena in Newark.
Chambers, who led a group of investors who had purchased the Nets in 1998, and is regarded as a philanthropist interested in revitalizing Newark, believed the arena would be the centerpiece of the urban renewal effort. He wanted the latest amenities and expanded luxury box seating, to significantly increase the Devils’ and Nets’ revenue streams.
Continental Airlines Arena, where the Devils play, is the fourth oldest building in the NHL behind Pittsburgh’s Mellon Arena, Madison Square Garden and the Nassau Coliseum.
But the construction of the Newark arena is now regarded as an extremely doubtful proposition at best, with YankeeNets investors unwilling to supply the approximate $135 million in private funds required for the project.
Added to severe financial losses the Devils have sustained this season and the 2004 expiration of the collective bargaining agreement that is almost certain to provoke a work stoppage that will cancel the entire 2004-2005 season, Chambers and his partners – the full list of investors has never been made public – are seeking to get out of the hockey business as soon as possible.