MARKETING : Team Could Fit Neatly Into Disney Play Land : The $50-million franchise would lend itself to vacation packages, merchandise sales.

As the Walt Disney Co. prepares to invest at least $50 million in a National Hockey League franchise, company executives certainly have more in mind than pucks and popcorn.

The Burbank-based entertainment giant already plans to make its team part of its vast marketing machine. An NHL team in Orange County would be a vehicle for selling everything from package vacations to Disneyland to team jerseys at the nearest Disney Store.

“I can’t imagine Disney buying a hockey team for the sake of buying a hockey team . . . that is probably going to lose money,” said Chip Campbell, a sports marketing specialist in New York.

A Disney spokesman acknowledged the public relations benefit of the decision as he downplayed its cost.

“This is not a big deal for us. We are a $7.5-billion company. A $50-million investment is not particularly large,” Disney’s Tom Deegan said. “It ties into our long-range hope to make Anaheim a destination resort city. The hockey team is another package under the resort tree.”

Under the terms of the deal, Disney would pay $25 million to the hockey league for rights to an Orange County franchise that would hit the ice as early as the 1993-94 season. It would pay an additional $25 million to Bruce McNall, owner of the Los Angeles Kings, in recognition of the intrusion into his existing NHL franchise territory.

Professional sports franchises have been increasingly popular for entertainment conglomerates. Turner Broadcasting, for example, shows Atlanta Braves baseball and Atlanta Hawks basketball on its cable superstation, WTBS. The Tribune Co. broadcasts its Chicago Cubs baseball on its WGN superstation.

Paramount Communications Inc., which recently joined Disney in the amusement business by buying an eastern chain of theme parks, owns Madison Square Garden in New York and the professional sports teams that play there: basketball’s Knicks and hockey’s Rangers.

Disney, which owns TV station KCAL Channel 9, would likely win the contract to broadcast the new team’s games. KCAL now broadcasts Los Angeles Lakers basketball. Local games of the Kings, now Southern California’s only NHL hockey team, are broadcast on KTLA Channel 5 and Prime Ticket cable.

“There is terrific upside potential but no guarantees,” said Bob Gold, a vice president for Prime Ticket, a regional all-sports cable network.

Disney could also derive benefits from having its name plastered around the ice rink where even the most casual TV channel switchers would be likely to see it.

“The bottom line becomes, if you put together a team that is successful over a period of time, the benefits to Disney could be enormous,” said Jeffrey Logsden, an entertainment industry analyst for the brokerage of Seidler Amdec Securities in Los Angeles.

There are other lucrative opportunities associated with owning an NHL franchise. Consider:

* Merchandise. Selling team paraphernalia has become as big a business as filling the seats. Witness the popularity of Raiders baseball-style jackets or L.A. Kings knit caps.

Hockey’s San Jose Sharks became legendary before they ever reached the rink: their logo--a shark snapping through a hockey stick--was considered so fashionable that items were snapped off the shelves.

Disney also has a retail distribution network any team would envy through its Disney Stores and merchandise counters at the theme parks.

* Movies. Walt Disney Studios released “The Mighty Ducks” this summer, a movie about a children’s hockey team starring Emilio Estevez that pulled $50 million at the box office.

* Theme parks. In Florida, the expansive Walt Disney World resort offers a variety of nighttime attractions such as themed restaurants and saloons. In Anaheim, a hockey franchise would give Disney an opportunity to develop its first nighttime activity.

* Hotels. The hockey season is played in the cool months, when the Disneyland Hotel and several small Disney-owned motels would have rooms to fill. The hotel could hope to become the “headquarters” for the teams and fans alike.

Logsden said that the proposed deal would allow Disney to enter the world of professional athletics in one of the lower-cost sports. Hockey salaries--excluding those of superstars like the L.A. Kings’ Wayne Gretzky--are a pittance compared to those of megabuck basketball, football and baseball players.

And if the team were to eventually establish a winning record and grab the Stanley Cup, “you essentially make money in a good year,” he said.