THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 13, 1997 TAG: 9702130307
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHIP ALEXANDER AND BOB WILLIAMS, THE NEWS AND OBSERVER
DATELINE: RALEIGH LENGTH: 71 lines
Charlotte businessman Felix Sabates, claiming his National Hockey League bid is in jeopardy, says he must have an agreement by Friday to lease a new arena in Raleigh or he will withdraw his application for an expansion franchise.
Officials from the Centennial Authority, which would construct the arena, say it's impossible to finish a lease that quickly. They say Wake County and Raleigh city officials still must meet to reconcile differences over financing the $120 million arena before they can work out final details with Sabates.
If Sabates withdraws his NHL application, it could be a boost for other regions bidding for expansion franchises, including Hampton Roads and Charlotte businessman George Shinn.
Sabates is angry about the pace of talks and says he feels deceived by the authority and its chairman, Steve Stroud. Sabates said his group of investors was lured into pursuing an expansion team as a means of completing the funding on a new arena near Carter-Finley Stadium, where North Carolina State University's team would play its basketball games.
``We're dejected because we feel we have been used in this whole arena deal,'' Sabates said. ``We were part of a master plan to get a new building built for N.C. State University. Hockey was nothing more than a backstop. Once the people who wanted to build the building got the money they needed, pro hockey became a non-issue.''
Reached at his home, Stroud denied the charge.
``That's absolutely not true,'' he said.
Sabates insisted that his group of investors and the authority already agreed on a memorandum of understanding on a lease, and that such a document had been drafted. Stroud said that the authority has had a draft agreement from the ownership group since late last year, but that it has not been approved or even considered by the group's full membership.
``Enough of this crap,'' Sabates said. ``They know damn well what the deal was.''
Sabates and the ownership group paid the $100,000 NHL application fee after being approached by Stroud just days before the NHL's Nov. 1 deadline.
Stroud and Raleigh officials negotiated with Charlotte Hornets owner George Shinn before contacting Sabates. Shinn withdrew from negotiations with Raleigh on Oct. 31 and submitted a bid to bring a team to Hampton Roads the next day.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and the league's executive committee will meet Tuesday in New York to discuss expansion.
Sabates said the Triangle could claim one of the four expansion franchises expected to be awarded by the NHL. But without a lease or memorandum, he said, the Triangle won't make the cut.
``I'm hoping it can be worked out, but it would take a miracle at this point,'' Sabates said. ``We've spent a lot of time, effort and money on this thing. For that, we have nothing.''
Authority member Reef Ivey said he doubted the ownership group was actually facing an NHL deadline.
``As far as I'm concerned if there's any deadline, it's one that's being arbitrarily imposed by Mr. Sabates and his group, not the NHL,'' said Ivey, a Raleigh attorney. ``It's going to take however long it takes. It's as simple as that.
``They are going to have a very difficult time rushing the timetable on this.''
The arena originally was to be a $66 million joint venture. N.C. State was to contribute $22 million, the state of North Carolina $22 million and the city and Wake County $22 million. But the price of the arena escalated to $120 million. Raleigh and Wake County approved $48 million in additional hotel tax money and Sabates agreed to chip in $10 million to complete the funding.
However, the city added conditions that Sabates said he can't accept, including a provision that Sabates pay $2 million per year to the city and county.
KEYWORDS: ARENA