Disney Plans to Bring Hockey Team to O.C. : Sports: NHL conditionally approves new franchise that could begin play at Anaheim Arena by next fall.

The Walt Disney Co., venturing into professional sports for the first time, won conditional approval on Thursday to establish a National Hockey League team in Orange County, perhaps as early as next fall.

Unanimously approved by the NHL Board of Governors at its meeting in Palm Beach, Fla., the new franchise hinges upon Disney signing a contract with an arena and selling enough season seats to satisfy the hockey league.

Disney executives are confident of success and announced that their team will begin playing as early as next October and no later than the fall of 1994, most likely in the Anaheim Arena, which is under construction.

Walt Disney Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael Eisner, a longtime hockey fan, said the pairing of a professional sports franchise and the global entertainment giant creates a certain synergy--helping to promote hockey as a major international sport and Anaheim as an even bigger tourist destination.

The company’s top executives have been quietly and seriously pursuing the idea for only the past several weeks, said a Disney spokesman.

“We’re happy to join the league; it’s like getting into a fraternity. We could sign an agreement next month. . . . I’m confident we can build a successful franchise,” Eisner said.

Thursday’s news, which took community officials and business leaders by surprise, could not have come at a better time for the financially strapped city of Anaheim.

Disney’s move into hockey could bail the city out of a $1-million payment it must make to owners of the $103-million arena unless a hockey team arrives by the end of 1993. City officials have been scrambling to find professional basketball and hockey teams to play in the new stadium.

“We couldn’t be more pleased,” said Anaheim Mayor Tom Daly. “A Disney-owned team in Anaheim. . . . Let’s hope they bring some of their magic into the new team as well as the NHL. This is an early Christmas present. It’s wonderful.”

The timing may also be to Disney’s benefit, since the City Council must soon consider whether to allow a $3-billion expansion of Disneyland. But Disney officials said the two projects would be formally independent in any negotiations that would require city participation.

“This wasn’t done to solve a problem. This was done because this is our home,” Eisner said in a telephone interview from a corporate jet on his way back to California from the NHL meeting. Eisner said the “working” name for the team is “the Mighty Ducks”--the title of a recently released movie that is Disney’s only other venture into hockey. The hit movie has grossed $50 million.

“ Ducks are what we are going to call it unless I hear otherwise,” said Eisner, who appeared at a press conference in Palm Beach in a bright green, purple and yellow Mighty Ducks jersey and a red Goofy hat. “The (movie) was our market research.”

He conceded, though, that the name could spark ridicule, and that the most opposition to it came “from my own kitchen.”

By Thursday afternoon, jokes were already circulating among hockey fans about potential mascots for the new team--perhaps Goofy, a Mouseketeer or Donald Puck--and whether the players would wear helmets shaped like Mickey Mouse ears.

Business analysts say Walt Disney Co., with its promotional skills, universal grasp of entertainment and reputation for quality, could bring a much-needed boost to the sport of pro hockey, the poor cousin of the big three of football, baseball and basketball.

“Who knows more about marketing than Disney?” said Chip Campbell, marketing director of International Sports and Entertainment Strategies, a New York-based firm. “They bring an awful lot of marketing know-how and things that the NHL thinks it can exploit.”

“They probably thought they did so well with the ‘Disney on Ice’ show, maybe they could bring a softer touch to what is America’s most violent sport,” added Jeffrey Logsden, an entertainment analyst for Seidler Amdec Securities in Los Angeles.

Disney must pay a $25-million fee to the NHL for the new franchise and another $25 million to Bruce McNall, owner of the Kings, who holds the NHL territorial rights for Southern California.

Disney spokesman Tom Deegan called the $50-million investment “not particularly large” for the $7.5-billion conglomerate.

The NHL Board of Governors also on Thursday granted South Florida a conditional franchise agreement. The team, to be owned by Blockbuster Entertainment chief and Florida Marlins baseball team owner H. Wayne Huizenga, will likely play initially in the Miami Arena. The two new franchises would expand the league to 26 teams.

Whether the Orange County team begins play next year depends on how quickly Disney can meet the conditions and close a deal with the Anaheim Arena, which is scheduled to open in June or July.

McNall, who is chairman of the NHL board, has endorsed the plan, voting along with the rest of the board to approve the new franchise. He predicted financial success for the new rival. Orange County fans make up about 17% of McNall’s season ticket base at the Forum, according to recent Kings’ estimates.

“The league looks forward to expanding its reach in the U.S. with the addition of these two important franchise areas,” he said.

“Hockey has sold in Southern California, mainly because of Wayne Gretzky’s arrival,” he said, adding that Kings’ attendance hasn’t slipped despite an injury to Gretzky that has prevented the league’s all-time scoring leader from playing so far this season.

Anaheim officials, thrilled by the prospect, believe an agreement for the NHL team to play at the Anaheim Arena is within reach. Brad Mayne of Ogden Entertainment Co., the managing partner of the arena, said details had yet to be worked out, but he is optimistic. “You never celebrate until you’ve got a team signed,” he said.

The company also has to prove to the NHL that Orange County can support a new team, based on advance ticket sales. The Anaheim Arena is about 40 miles from the Inglewood home of the Kings. Deegan said he thought the franchise may have to show that it had commitments for 10,000 season tickets before the league would allow play to begin.

“We already have about a half-dozen calls for season tickets, and the announcement only came at noon. Hockey in this area may be more popular than we know,” Deegan said.

Anaheim already is home to the American League’s California Angels and the National Football League’s Los Angeles Rams.

“The success of the Los Angeles Kings in recent years certainly shows that hockey has a following in the area,” said Richard Brown, president of the California Angels.

Anaheim Councilman Bob D. Simpson shouted, “That’s great!” when told of Disney’s announcement. “We had heard rumors, but . . . the council was not involved in the negotiations. . . . It’s great that Disney is involved--they do things right.”

Although Eisner made it clear that he hopes the new team will play in the Anaheim Arena, the ultimate decision will hinge on terms yet to be negotiated. “Because of our relationship in Anaheim and the fact that we’re hoping to expand in Anaheim . . . we’d like to play at the Anaheim Arena,” he said. “They have this (arena) you can see from the top of the (Disneyland) Matterhorn; to me, it’s synergistic.”

Eisner added that his Burbank-based company and the city of Anaheim have had a “long and close relationship” since Disneyland opened there 37 years ago.

Deegan said his company’s pursuit of the franchise had only been seriously discussed within the past several weeks among Disney executives. The company had been aware of the city of Anaheim’s sports arena construction project and the unsuccessful attempts to lure major-league hockey or basketball teams as principal tenants.

“We do move swiftly,” Deegan said. “It was a matter of serendipity. Certain opportunities arise and you don’t have time to spend years examining them. You have to act.

“If we can take one property (Disneyland) and cross-promote it with another property, then one plus one makes three for us,” he said. “Hockey may seem way out there for us, but we look at it as part of the entertainment spectrum.”

There were no other bidders for the expansion team, according to Eisner, who said he was approached six months ago by National Hockey League President Gil Stein and McNall.

“They really wanted Disney as part of the league. This wasn’t a bidding situation,” Eisner said. Nor did Eisner need to submit the decision to the Disney board of directors, since the $50-million expense was no more than what a Hollywood movie can cost.

Eisner predicted that the sport will boom just as professional basketball did several years ago.

“My sister was a competitive ice skater. . . . Two of my sons are hockey players in junior hockey,” Eisner said. “I really believe that hockey is a great sport.”

In Anaheim, Disneyland President Jack Lindquist said the announcement surprised local Disney employees and executives. He called the purchase an opportunity to promote Disneyland, the Disneyland Hotel and the team together.

“It’s something brand-new, and we haven’t had a whole lot of time to think about it,” he said. “Before the team takes the ice, we’ll have a lot of time to work this out. It’s just great for the city.”

No decision has been made about who would run the team.

“Obviously, we don’t have anybody in our company who could strap on the skates tomorrow. We have a lot of things to get done,” Deegan said.

Disney would not be the first entertainment conglomerate to own an NHL team: Paramount Communications owns the New York Rangers.

Times staff writers Lisa Dillman, Kevin Johnson, Matt Lait and Chris Woodyard and special correspondent Joseph Dionisio in Palm Beach, Fla., contributed to this story.

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Disney Bringing Hockey to Anaheim

Since the mid-1980s there have been attempts to lure a professional basketball or hockey franchise to Orange County. Anaheim finally succeeded Thursday when the Walt Disney Co. was awarded an expansion National Hockey League franchise for $50 million, to play in the soon-to-be completed, $102-million Anaheim Arena. Timing June or July, 1993: Arena opens. Fall, 1993 or 1994: Hockey team starts. 1995 or beyond: Acquisition of basketball franchise. Impact * Local economy will get about $32 million a year in arena-related spending. * City of Anaheim will reap 20% of the arena’s net profits. * Fan spending: About $7.5 million yearly. * Professional franchise will save Anaheim $1 million annually it otherwise would have to pay to subsidize arena operating costs for the next eight years. * Hockey could provide promotional opportunities with Disneyland and its hotels; Disney’s Los Angeles television station, KCAL, might broadcast games. * Announcement comes during a period when professional hockey is not only increasing the number of franchises but is locating them in warm climates to generate investment dollars and national appeal. Arena Arrangement Total seats for hockey: 17,250 Premier seats: 1,724; $4,200-$5,200 a year.* Luxury boxes: 82; $36,000-$68,000 per year.* * Prices will increase with a franchise. Sources: city of Anaheim, Ogden Management; Researched by MARK LANDSBAUM / Los Angeles Times