The Tampa Bay Lightning, the successful team of the NHL in recent years, has been sold, reports Sportsnet.
24.10. 20:04•Updated 24.10. 20:06
American investor Jeff Vinik has sold its majority stake in the NHL club Tampa Bay Lightning by Doug Ostrover and by Marc Lipschultz for the investor group he leads. The NHL board has already approved the deal earlier this month.
Forbes lists Ostrover’s personal fortune at $2.8 billion, making him the 1,204th richest person in the world.
Vinik, who is a minority owner of the MLB club Boston Red Sox and worked, among other things, on the board of the Premier League club Liverpool between 2010 and 2013, continues to be behind the team and will work on the Lightning’s management ladder for the next three years.
In Tampa, we are satisfied with Vinik staying at the head of the club. Vinik revived the club both financially and athletically. Under his ownership, Tampa won two consecutive Stanley Cups (2019–20 and 2020–21). In addition, the club has the NHL championship from the 2003–04 season.
The details of the deal were not disclosed to the public.
In August Sportsnet Elliotte Friedman estimated the value of the team to be around two billion dollars, i.e. around 1.85 billion euros. Vinik bought the club in 2010 for an estimated $170 million. Now its value has increased considerably, and the deal is the most valuable in NHL history.
Michael Andlauer bought the Ottawa Senators for $950 million last fall.
However, in the sales history of North American sports organizations, NHL deals do not top the charts.
by Josh Harris led by the group bought the NFL club Washington Commanders in the summer of 2023 for about 6.05 billion dollars. A year earlier, the NFL club Denver Broncos changed hands for 4.65 billion dollars and the NBA club Phoenix Suns for 4 billion.