Mikan Heads Group Seeking Hockey Team : NHL: Former basketball great and his Orange County associates hope to put team in proposed Anaheim facility.

Basketball legend George Mikan is heading a group of investors trying to buy a professional hockey team to play in Anaheim’s proposed indoor sports arena, sources confirmed Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Anaheim city officials estimated that legal challenges to the arena could increase construction costs as much as $500,000 a month, or a minimum of $1.5 million, even if the city prevails at an upcoming court hearing.

City officials and the developers of the $85 million arena had previously declined to identify the groups trying to purchase NHL and NBA franchises.

But Larry Mikan confirmed Wednesday that his father’s group is negotiating with an NHL team, which he declined to identify, and had made an unsuccessful bid to purchase the Winnipeg Jets last fall. Larry Mikan said the investors include an unspecified number of Orange County businessmen.

Neal Papiano, attorney for arena developer Ogden Allied Services, also confirmed that Mikan heads a group made up of “all Orange County people.”

The elder Mikan, who as a player was the NBA’s first superstar, was vacationing in Arizona Wednesday and could not be reached for comment.

Neither Papiano nor Larry Mikan would reveal the investors’ identities. Papiano said Mikan’s group is separate from another group of investors, most of whom also are from Orange County, that also hopes to bring a pro basketball or hockey team to Anaheim.

Papiano said he recently told Mikan that the developer would “certainly want to talk to you” if Mikan’s group purchases a hockey team. He said Mikan’s investors have the financial resources to purchase a franchise.

The Los Angeles Kings hockey franchise was bought by Bruce McNall for $20 million in 1988, but now is valued at up to $100 million.

The NHL’s constitution stipulates that franchises may not be moved, which has required the constitution to be amended on the few occasions that franchises have been shifted. Such amendments require unanimous approval from the league’s Board of Governors, a league spokesman said.

The Kansas City Scouts, a team launched in the expansion of 1974-75, moved to Denver for the 1976-77 season and in 1982-83 moved again to New Jersey, where they remain. The California Seals moved to Cleveland for the 1976-77 season and merged with the Minnesota North Stars in 1978-79. The Atlanta Flames, who began play in 1972-73, moved to Calgary before the 1980-81 season.

Barry Shenkarow, president of the Winnipeg Jets, said Tuesday that a group from Anaheim had made one of several offers to purchase his hockey franchise last fall, but that the team is not for sale.

The Mikan group now has its sights set on another hockey team, said Larry Mikan, who is in the real estate business with his father in Minneapolis.

“We have another existing team that is very interested in that (Anaheim) area,” Larry Mikan said. “I’m not at liberty to tell you which one. I just got off the phone with one of the partners . . .

“It isn’t (the) Minnesota (North Stars), believe it or not,” he said.

The North Stars have applied to the NHL for permission to move, perhaps to Oakland to play in the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena.

Mikan was the first big man to dominate play in the NBA and came to be known as Mr. Basketball. An All-American at DePaul University, Mikan went on to a Hall of Fame career with the Minneapolis Lakers, retiring in 1956 before the team moved to Los Angeles.

Santa Ana, which has plans for a nearly identical 20,000-seat indoor arena, also is trying to land either a pro hockey or pro basketball team.

Attorneys for the city of Anaheim will go to court today to seek a delay for a hearing on three lawsuits challenging the City Council’s re-zoning of land for the arena, issuance of a parking permit and approval of an environmental report on the project.

The owner of Orange Tree Mobile Home Park obtained a temporary restraining order Jan. 28 prohibiting the city from proceeding with its arena plans and delaying construction.

The city’s attorney, John Fellows III, said Anaheim needs additional time to prepare its case.

“There are some real potential harms to both the city and to Ogden” if the court further bars work on the arena, Fellows said.

“Increases in construction costs will run to half a million dollars a month for each month” of delay, Fellows said. “We’re looking at, realistically, three months before this thing is decided, so we’re looking at $1.5 million.”