McNall Is Buying All of Kings From Buss

Bruce McNall, who owns 49% of the Kings, has agreed to buy the remaining 51% from co-owner Jerry Buss and become sole owner of the National Hockey League team, McNall said Saturday night.

At a press conference between the first and second periods of the Kings’ game at the Forum against the Hartford Whalers, McNall said that he and Buss, who also owns the Lakers and the Forum, have been negotiating the purchase for about a month.

“The negotiations are quite far along,” McNall said. “We’re just to the point of . . . clearing up some fine points, but generally I think we’re in agreement on pretty much everything.

“I would hope in the next couple of weeks to have it all pretty much put to bed.”

McNall, whose other holdings include about 250 thoroughbred race horses, bought 25% of the Kings in 1986 and another 24% last summer, paying about $10 million for his share of the team.

He said that part of the deal with Buss includes an agreement that the Kings continue to play at the Forum and that Prime Ticket, a cable television company owned by Buss, retain the rights to broadcast the Kings’ games.

McNall, 37, said he also is negotiating with Buss to buy the Kings’ American Hockey League affiliate at New Haven, Conn., and the Kings’ practice facility in Culver City.

The timing of the announcement, McNall said, was unrelated to the settlement reached Friday between the Kings and Vancouver Canucks regarding compensation for the Canucks’ signing of former King Coach Pat Quinn.

The Canucks agreed to pay the Kings an undisclosed amount of money for their part in the Quinn case.

McNall said the announcement was made to squelch rumors from leaking about the impending sale.

“The timing is purely coincidental,” he said.

Buss was unavailable for comment, but in a statement relased by the Kings, Buss said the sale of the Kings would free him to “actively pursue the acquisition of another sports entity.

“It has been no secret that I have had an interest in other professional sports, namely baseball and football.”

McNall, who attends all of the Kings’ home games and frequently makes trips with the team, said it had always been his intent to buy out Buss.

“I was pushing for this more than Jerry,” he said. “I’ve been pushing Jerry for awhile, and I was finally successful in coming to terms.”

McNall said he will be an active owner in terms of providing guidance and financial support, but will continue to allow General Manager Rogie Vachon to run the day-to-day operation of the team.

A reporter asked if he would be the George Steinbrenner of hockey.

“No,” he said, laughing. “I’m not that aggressive. If I am as active, it will be in a quieter way. If I do get like that, shoot me.

“I’ll be active in terms of doing whatever I can do to help, and being informed on the ideas of the coach and general manager in regards to personnel and other things.”

He said he will ask Vachon and Coach Robbie Ftorek to make “wish lists,” and will attempt to meet their requests before the start of next season.

“I’m not sure we’ll do everything on their wish lists,” McNall said, “but we’ll try.”

McNall, who has said his net worth is about $100 million, made his first financial impact as a teen-age coin collector. He was 24 when he paid $420,000 for a 2,000-year-old Greek coin that he later sold for almost $1 million.

Today, he said, his coin company, Numismatic Fine Arts, Inc., is the largest of its kind in the world.

McNall also owns Gladden Entertainment Corp., a film production company that is responsible for such box-office hits as “Mr. Mom,” “War Games” and, most recently, “Mannequin.”

Among his other holdings are Summa Galleries, which imports ancient artifacts, and Summa Stable, Inc., which breeds and races thoroughbreds.

Trempolino, a horse that he co-owns, won the Arc de Triomphe, Europe’s richest horse race, last fall in Paris. Another horse that he owned, Track Robbery, won the 1982 Eclipse Award for older fillies and mares.

McNall hopes to be as successful with the Kings.

One of the first things he would like to do is repair the team’s poor-cousin-to-the-Lakers image. The Kings have the worst record in the NHL.