Disney Might Help Pond Get Grizzlies

In trying to learn whether Anaheim could serve as a future home for the Vancouver Grizzlies, team and NBA officials have had preliminary discussions with representatives of Ogden Corp. and the Walt Disney Co., a source familiar with the process said Saturday.

Ogden operates the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim. Disney owns the Mighty Ducks and, under its lease with Ogden, could reap millions of dollars in revenue generated by an NBA team playing at the Pond.

However, Tony Tavares, president of Disney’s Anaheim Sports division, has said the company is willing to renegotiate to accommodate an NBA team.

“We are not acting as obstructionists,” Tavares has said.

As Grizzly owner Michael Heisley evaluates his options, he and the NBA want to examine the Ducks’ lease at the Pond. Under that agreement, Disney--not an NBA team--would sell basketball season packages for luxury seats and club seats and keep 10% of that revenue. Disney also would collect 33% of NBA ticket revenue from any luxury suites and club seats sold on a per-game basis.

Disney would also sell all advertising within the arena, even that defined by the lease as “basketball-related advertising,” and retain almost all the revenue.

If Heisley wishes to move his team next season, he must apply to the NBA no later than March 1. Anaheim is “emerging as one of Heisley’s top choices,” the Vancouver Sun reported Saturday.

Heisley and the NBA are believed to have grouped several potential new homes into three categories. Anaheim joins St. Louis, San Jose and Long Island, N.Y., as sites where the Grizzlies would have to share an arena with an NHL team.

In New Orleans and Louisville, the Grizzlies would move into smaller media markets with smaller corporate bases but could control arena revenue because of the absence of an NHL team. Las Vegas sits alone in a third category, a wild card because NBA Commissioner David Stern doesn’t want to put a team in a city where bets could be placed on that team.

Pond assistant general manager Mike O’Donnell, who said Friday that Pond executives have yet to speak directly with Heisley, declined comment Saturday. Tim Mead, vice president of communications for the Mighty Ducks, also declined comment Saturday. Heisley and NBA officials did not return calls.