Fiesta owners to buy Tampa Bay Lightning

Dean Juipe

Wednesday, May 14, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

Las Vegans George and Gavin Maloof are preparing to buy the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League, although they have no intention of uprooting the team.

The Maloof brothers have been pursuing an NHL franchise for several years and expect the Tampa Bay deal to fall into place shortly.

Prior to making contact with the Lightning, the Maloofs sought an NHL expansion franchise that they would have placed in Houston.

"We don't have a signed deal yet, but everything's progressing very nicely," Gavin Maloof said Tuesday at the Fiesta hotel-casino, which is owned by the Maloof family. "This is something we've wanted to do for almost 10 years."

The Maloof brothers' late father, George, purchased the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association in 1979. He passed away in 1980 and his sons sold the Rockets in 1982.

Since then the family has made bids for at least three mainstream professional sports franchises -- baseball's Texas Rangers, and basketball's San Antonio Spurs and New Jersey Nets -- while also owning the Birmingham, Ala., franchise of the World League of American Football from 1990 to '92.

"We've been looking for the right deal and to get back into pro sports for a long time," George Maloof said. "We've been working on the Tampa Bay deal with (NHL commissioner) Gary Bettman for quite awhile. We're there. We're going to buy it."

The Lightning is currently owned by a Japanese investment group headed by Takashi Okubo. It brought the expansion Lightning to Tampa Bay in 1992.

The Lightning plays in a new 26,000-seat arena, The Ice Palace, that cost $160 million to construct.

The purchase price for the Lightning and the arena was not available.

"The team will stay in Tampa," Gavin Maloof said, eliminating any thought that the Lightning would be moved to Las Vegas.

The Maloofs backed off pursuing an NHL expansion team for Houston when the city would not agree to build a new arena for its proposed team (and the NBA's Rockets).

"We're business people," Gavin Maloof said. "We looked at a lot of casino opportunities before building (the Fiesta), and we've looked at a lot of professional sports teams. I think we've picked the right one for us."