Anaheim Arena Story Has Flip Side

Bruce McNall, owner of the only National Hockey League franchise in Southern California, owner of a National Hockey League franchise suddenly with no Wayne Gretzky, said some truly amazing things the other day.

McNall said he would unequivocally support the relocation of an existing NHL team to Anaheim, a location less than 40 miles away from the Forum and McNall’s Los Angeles Kings.

McNall said, “If anything, I would encourage it.”

McNall said, “The more the merrier.”

Really.

It was in the newspaper.

Allegedly, this is the same Bruce McNall who:

--Told another reporter from the same newspaper earlier in the week that Anaheim Arena’s planned announcement of a 1993-94 tenant “by the end of the month” was preposterous, that any such move would have to be approved by him first, that the Anaheim Arena people had not yet approached him and that Anaheim would have to pay him an indemnity so astronomical that he couldn’t even give a ballpark figure because he didn’t know where to begin.

--Attended Anaheim Arena’s ground-breaking in November of 1990 and said that having an NHL rival in Anaheim would be “a bit close to home” and that “roughly 20% to 25% of our fans come from Orange County. That’s some significant support. Would we miss it? That’s something I have to take a look at.”

--Said in June of 1991 that he would join Laker owner Jerry Buss in an effort to build an 18,000-seat arena in San Diego for the purpose of bringing major league hockey and basketball to San Diego, which is located a somewhat more comfortable 125 miles down Interstate 5.

When dealing with McNall, as Anaheim apparently intends to, it pays to keep two things in mind: As professional sports owners go, McNall is a nice guy. And, being a nice guy, he wants everybody to like him.

This is why McNall surrounds good buddy Wayne Gretzky with all of Gretzky’s old buddies from Edmonton; why he entered the no-win proposition of buying the Toronto Argonauts because Gretzky and John Candy, another good buddy, wanted to run a football team; why he refused to fire King General Manager Rogie Vachon, one whale of a nice guy, and gently bumped him upstairs instead, and why he often tells friends or potential friends whatever they want to hear.

Buss is a friend, so McNall says, sure, let’s go to San Diego together.

The people at Ogden Corp., a partner in the Anaheim Arena project, are friends, so McNall goes on the record to say, sure, come on down, let’s bring in another team to further tap that overflowing reservoir of Southern California hockey fanatics, in a bad economy, with my one and only meal ticket laid up with a herniated back disk, perhaps never to return.

Hockey in Anaheim would be a wondrous thing for Anaheim. It’s a great sport, Von Hayes doesn’t play it, it would give Orange County’s sports fans something to do during the traditionally dead months of April and May--and, it would save the city a million dollars a year.

As it stands now, Anaheim is liable for annual payments of $2.5 million to Ogden and the Nederlander Organization if it is unable to land NBA and NHL franchises. Land an NHL team, though, and the liability decreases to $1.5 million.

So that’s what’s at stake for Anaheim.

But what’s in it for McNall?

Hockey was a cult sport in Los Angeles before Gretzky and now McNall faces a future without Gretzky, very possibly forever. Will Los Angeles support hockey without Gretzky? Check out that Forum colonnade in February and March.

Next, throw Anaheim into the mix. This year, the Kings will draw 17% of their season-ticket holders from Orange County. Would that 17% stay at home to watch the Anaheim icemen? Is that 17% the extent of Orange County hockey fandom, or are Stanton and Garden Grove and Mission Viejo stocked with closet puckheads who simply hate driving to Inglewood? And how badly would McNall miss that 17%?

Maybe a Los Angeles-Anaheim rivalry could help the Kings, in the long run, provided the Anaheim entry can skate and chew gum at the same time. And, in the short term, McNall would benefit from the indemnity Anaheim would have to pay him for waiving territorial rights--a figure that could fall anywhere between $25 million and $100 million.

Suppose all of this is true. Suppose McNall’s approval can be bought.

Then what?

Who’s coming to Anaheim?

Winnipeg and Hartford, the two best rumors of the past 12 months, are staying put. The Jets used the Anaheim threat to nudge Winnipeg into building them an arena and the Whalers used the Anaheim threat to coax a $29-million loan from the state of Connecticut.

Pittsburgh has an owner, Howard Baldwin, with an itchy trigger finger, but how does one move Super Mario and back-to-back Stanley Cups out of Pittsburgh while living to see another season?

There were rumors of a North Stars’ move, to Seattle or Milwaukee, a couple years ago, but that was before the North Stars reached the Stanley Cup finals and reignited interest in the Twin Cities.

Quebec? Once, the Nordiques were there to be had, but now the Nordiques have Ron Hextall and another 18 or so former Philadelphia Flyers--thank you, Eric Lindros--and it is assumed Quebec will turn out to support a team that wins more than 20 games a season.

New Jersey?

Keep an eye on those Devils. Once upon a time, they were the first Colorado Rockies. Before that, they were the Kansas City Scouts. They moved twice in six years, then settled in East Rutherford for a decade. Carpetbagging is in their blood, though, and the Devils’ home attendance last season (average: 10,038) was worst in the league.

Might they be getting antsy again?

The Angels and the Devils. Anaheim has to like the sound of it.

The actual sight of it, however, is the catch. The more the merrier? When McNall said it, he must have meant the dollar bills it will take for Anaheim to remove the pipe from this dream.