Mikan Seeking Team for Anaheim : Hockey: Investment group includes Orange County businessmen trying to bring NHL franchise to new arena.

Former basketball star George Mikan heads a group of investors trying to buy an NHL team to play in Anaheim’s proposed indoor sports arena, Mikan’s son confirmed Wednesday.

City officials and developers of the $85-million arena had declined to identify the groups trying to purchase National Hockey League and National Basketball Assn. franchises.

But Larry Mikan said from Minneapolis that his father’s group is negotiating with an NHL team he declined to identify and had made an unsuccessful bid to purchase the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets last fall. Larry Mikan, who is in the real estate business with his father, said that the investors include unspecified 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 was the NBA’s first superstar with the old Minneapolis Lakers, was vacationing in Arizona and could not be reached for comment.

Neither Papiano nor Larry Mikan would reveal the investors’ identities. Papiano said that Mikan’s group is separate from another group of investors, most of whom also are from Orange County, and who also hope to bring an NBA or NHL team to Anaheim.

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

Expansion franchises for the 1992-93 season are expected to command as much as $50 million.

The NHL’s constitution stipulates that franchises may not be moved, and amendments have been required 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.

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

The Mikan group now has its sights set on another hockey team, Larry Mikan said.

“We have another existing team that is very interested in that (Anaheim) area,” he said. “I’m not at liberty to tell you which one.

“It isn’t Minnesota, believe it or not,” he said.

The North Stars have applied to the NHL for permission to move, perhaps to Oakland.

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

Times staff writer Helene Elliott contributed to this story.