Fans Warm Up to Hockey Deal

Before the announcement that Walt Disney Co. wanted to put a National Hockey League team in this city’s new $103-million arena, the managers of the facility found it difficult to stir interest in the state-of-the-art sporting complex.

Advertising sponsors were scarce and sales of luxury and club seats lackluster without a major sporting tenant in the building.

“But all that’s changed,” said Brad Mayne, the general manager of the city-owned arena operated by Ogden Corp. “Now that Disney is involved, it’s a whole new ballgame and expectations have got to change.”

Since the Dec. 10 announcement that Disney had acquired an NHL expansion team with the intention of making the arena home ice, more than 7,500 people have asked to be put on a waiting list for season tickets. Sponsors have been lining up to advertise in the building.

“We’ve got people that wouldn’t talk to us before now talking to us and sponsors that would talk to us, but didn’t want to give a lot of money, are now saying they will give us a lot of money,” Mayne said.

As negotiations continue with Disney--with the aim of having a hockey team on the ice by the fall in time to start the 1993 season--Mayne and his colleagues are busily putting together deals that will bring other events to the new facility when it opens sometime next June.

Mayne said there are currently about 70 events tentatively booked for the arena’s first year.

Among the events are: equestrian acts, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, Disney on Ice, Ice Capades, CIF basketball tournaments, NCAA basketball tournaments, motor sports, World Wrestling Federation events, gymnastics, religious events, concerts, tennis exhibitions and a rodeo.

Mayne said that he is also negotiating to bring a team from the new Continental Indoor Soccer League to the venue, as well as teams from indoor football and Rollerblade hockey leagues.

The goal is to bring at least 120 events, not including hockey dates, into the facility, Mayne said. Depending on the success of the performances, he said, the city’s financial liability in the arena could be reduced and possibly eliminated.

Under the city’s agreement with its partners, Ogden Corp. and the Nederlander Group, Ogden pays for the construction of the arena, but Anaheim must pay $2.5 million annually for eight years if neither a professional basketball nor hockey team becomes a tenant. The city is liable for $1.5 million if one professional franchise moves in.

Those who took the risk of purchasing luxury suites and club seats before it looked like a hockey team was going to be a tenant in the arena will be sitting pretty with bargain prices for premium seats, Mayne said.

Immediately after the announcement, the club seats and luxury suites were taken off the market. They will go back on sale at higher prices after a lease agreement with Disney is signed.

Ogden has also stalled signing contracts with advertisers until the Disney lease is completed, but there is plenty of interest.

“Now we’re finding out that there’s not as much resistance to do business” in the arena, Mayne said. He declined to identify any potential sponsors but noted that three major beer companies are eager to advertise in the facility.

Mayne said the announcement of a possible Disney team in the arena has vindicated those in the city who had confidence in the project.

“The thing that was always frustrating for me as the operator of the facility was to know that everything was going fine and not being able to discuss it,” Mayne said. “A lot of naysayers in the area were saying, ‘Why the hell did they build that?’ and ‘It’s a white elephant.’ All the while, we were comfortable with the program that we were following.”

* SPORTING CHANCE: Problems with site selection could give Orange County a chance to lure away the Clippers. A3