Comrie to Officially Purchase Gulls

Fred Comrie, a furniture chain owner, will be introduced at a news conference today as the new owner of the San Diego Gulls, completing a three-way deal for the team.

Comrie, a former professional hockey player, expected the paperwork to be done by Tuesday.

Comrie is buying the team from San Diego Sports Arena owner Harry Cooper and developer Ron Hahn, who is in the process of purchasing the arena lease from Cooper. Hahn has overseen the Gulls operation for the past year but Cooper remains the owner pending transfer of the arena lease, on the City Council docket for March 16.

All three were involved in the sale of the team, done separately from the arena sale.

Once the arena lease is transferred, Hahn’s group hopes to initiate the building of a new arena complex, targeted for downtown.

Comrie will have a role in the new arena, though it’s unclear if he’ll be involved in efforts to lure a National Hockey League team here. The Gulls play in the International Hockey League and have no affiliation with the NHL.

Jerry Buss, owner of Lakers and the Forum, is part of the Hahn consortium planning to build a new arena and try to find an NHL tenant, either through expansion or by luring an existing team. Buss is expected to make a proposal at the next NHL expansion meeting.

Comrie told The Times last week, “I’d like to be part of (an NHL presence in San Diego) but I’d like to see the Gulls do well, and I’m taking one thing at a time.”

Comrie played for the Fort Wayne Komets in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ farm system in the 1970s.

Cooper said the sale of the team to Comrie is a positive sign for San Diego hockey fans: “It’s important to have someone who owns the Gulls who knows hockey and sees the bigger picture of what the Hahn group wants to do. This is the best possible group that could be put together to get a new arena built.”