TV Reports Handshake Deal Reached to Sell North Stars

A television station reported Friday that a handshake deal has been reached for businessman Howard Baldwin to buy the Minnesota North Stars, but Baldwin said no agreement has been reached.

The deal reportedly was made to keep the NHL team in Minnesota.

“What I’m saying for the record is that progress has been made and I’m cautiously optimistic,” Baldwin told the Associated Press from his Los Angeles home. “But it is premature to say there is a deal at this time.”

Baldwin said he met with North Star co-owner Gordon Gund in New York on Thursday, and might meet with him again next week.

KSTP-TV said it learned of the tentative deal between Baldwin and the Gund brothers, Gordon and George, from a member of the NHL’s Board of Governors, but would not identify its source.

The source said the sale price would be $31 million, KSTP said. That matches the price paid for the Hartford Whalers last year, but is far short of the $50 million the Gunds had said was the minimum acceptable price.

The Gunds have petitioned the NHL to move the North Stars to the San Francisco Bay Area.