Felix Sabates Salutes the Canes

You know, I forgot all about Felix Sabates making the original bid to get an NHL expansion team for Raleigh-Durham area. Too bad he couldn't reach an arena deal with the Centennial Authority folks to build the RBC Center. I wonder if he would consider buying part of the Canes now if he was offered the chance ? ? ?


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Sabates lauds Canes' success

He led early expansion bid

Chip Alexander, Staff Writer

The man who first tried to bring an NHL team to Raleigh a decade ago says he is happy to see the Carolina Hurricanes flourish and win a Stanley Cup championship.
"It's great for the area and great for the state," Felix Sabates said Monday. "We have big-time football, basketball and NASCAR. Now, with the Hurricanes and hockey, the state has the whole package."

Sabates, a wealthy Charlotte businessman and NASCAR team owner, headed an ownership group in the fall of 1996 that paid a $100,000 fee to the NHL -- the first step in bidding for an expansion team. Sabates' group made a formal presentation to the league's expansion committee early in 1997 but eventually withdrew the expansion bid, in large part because of disagreement over the funding for the building of the RBC Center.

Peter Karmanos, then owner of the Hartford Whalers, was present when Sabates' group made its presentation. He relocated the team to North Carolina in May 1997, renaming it the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Canes, playing their first two seasons in Greensboro, reached the Stanley Cup playoffs in 1999, 2001 and 2002 before claiming the franchise's first Stanley Cup last week in the finals against the Edmonton Oilers. Karmanos said the team would make a profit for the first time this year.

"I can't say I could foresee a championship, but I knew there was room for hockey [in the Triangle] and it could succeed," Sabates said. "I did believe Karmanos would do well there. He has a good track record with his business [Compuware], and if you can run a business successfully you should do a good job with a team."

Sabates is majority owner of the Charlotte Checkers, an ECHL team. He said he may look to sell the team and may be able to use the Hurricanes' championship, and increased interest in the sport, to boost the price.

"And sometimes I think I'll send Karmanos a bill for having helped pave the way for him in Raleigh," Sabates joked.

 

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