McNall Says He Might Purchase Nets of NBA

Owner Bruce McNall of the Kings said Friday that he has been considering buying the New Jersey Nets of the National Basketball Assn.

“This is very early on,” McNall said. “I’m not totally counting it out but, at the same time, I would have to say it’s just a possibility at this stage.”

McNall was involved in the limited partnership that established the Maverick franchise in Dallas.

He sold his interest in the Mavericks before he bought into the Kings in 1986-87, when the team was owned by Jerry Buss.

McNall completed the purchase of the Kings in March of 1988 and since has said that he would never again own part of a team that he did not control.

Asked if that meant he would be acting alone if he bought the Nets, McNall said: “No. That means that I would not want to be a minority partner. But there has been someone else interested in joining me in this, but it’s a person who has, so far, wanted to stay in the background.”

McNall said that he learned that the Nets might be for sale through Howard Baldwin, former owner of the Hartford Whalers of the National Hockey League.

Baldwin mentioned that Joe Cohen had told him there might be a possibility of a sale.

“I often get asked about buying things, and 90% of the time, it’s nonsense,” McNall said. “But Cohen has credibility.”

Cohen used to run Madison Square Garden, McNall said, and was attempting to line up potential buyers for the current group of Net owners “in case they decided to sell.”

McNall said: “I was impressed to see that the Nets, basically, were not losing money under some bad circumstances.

“I said we’d talk. Cohen told me that he had another group that they were talking to that was interested. . . . I didn’t want to get into a bidding war.”

McNall did not reveal the price tag on the team, but said it was in the range that other NBA franchises have been going for. That would put it at about $60 million.

McNall paid about $20 million for the Kings.

Asked if the purchase of a basketball franchise would necessitate the selling of his hockey franchise, McNall said “absolutely not.”

For one thing, McNall said, it would not be necessary.

“The pot is in a little better shape than it used to be before the value of the Kings increased the way it did,” he said.

“One thing is for sure. My heart is with hockey. I’m not as involved emotionally in basketball as I am in hockey. I would have to think about it long and hard before I bought a basketball team or football team or baseball team. I would not buy any other team if I thought in any way, shape or form it would affect the Kings.”

McNall said that he has talked with only two of the Nets’ five current owners, Alan Aufzein and Bernie Mann. Most of his contact has been with Cohen, who has “some relationship” with the current owners and was hoping to find someone to buy the team who would keep him involved in running it.

As McNall came off the golf course Friday, he said that he had messages to call Cohen.

“I have a feeling we’ll be taking another look at it,” he said.

McNall denied rumors that he was planning to buy the Nets and move the team to San Diego.

“That probably comes from the stories that were written down there about Mannie Jackson’s thoughts about getting an NBA team in San Diego,” McNall said. “He’s interested in getting an arena there and getting an NBA team to play in it.

“I was asked about that. I was asked about my interest in a financial partnership and so forth. But if I wasn’t going to own it 100%, like the Kings, or at the very least, be in control, I wasn’t interested.”

McNall was quoted last week in San Diego as saying: “I’m looking at teams that are possible to buy and move. There aren’t that many available at the moment. The NBA is quite strong. The few teams that have been rumored for sale often carry with them long-term leases with the present arenas they are in. So, at the moment, there is not anything on the horizon.”

McNall said that the Nets have a long-term lease. They are committed to the Meadowlands, he said, and he would want to leave the team in the New Jersey area.

“I think the league has put a lot of time, money and effort into developing the (New Jersey) area,” he said.

“My understanding is that if a team is good and can provide a winner, that New Jersey would definitely support it. I wouldn’t want to try to go against what the NBA would want.

“I have an interest to the extent that I like the idea of buying something that is not doing very well and improving it, as you know. If I was going to buy a team, I would prefer to have a team in Los Angeles. Obviously. If not, in L.A. or San Diego, which is close to my home, then in the New York area. I go to New York quite often. I would have no interest in moving the team.”

McNall said that if he did buy the Nets, it would be a business transaction, not an emotional one.

“I’m not sure I would be a good owner for New Jersey,” McNall said. “It’s important that you pay attention to your business.”

McNall is also aware that the New York area has the kind of television and cable television clout that Los Angeles has. McNall is involved in the entertainment industry as well as in the horse-racing and breeding industry and in his best-known specialty, coins and antiquities. The main office of his Gladden Entertainment is in New York.