Deals

Lightning Sell at $1.8B Valuation, Nearly Double Prior NHL Record

Jeff Vinik is selling his majority interest in the Lightning to new investors.
The $1.8 billion price tag is nearly double the $950 million the Senators sold for last year.

Oct 25, 2024 | 01:07 pm

Jul 7, 2021; Tampa, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik hoists the Stanley Cup after the Lightning defeated the Montreal Canadiens 1-0 in game five to win the 2021 Stanley Cup Final at Amalie Arena.

Douglas DeFelice-Imagn Images

There is a new record price for an NHL franchise sale—by quite a wide margin—after the Lightning unveiled a multistep and multiyear process for owner Jeff Vinik to give up his majority investment in the team.

Vinik Sports Group on Thursday announced a deal that will eventually see Lightning ownership transferred to a group of investors led by Doug Ostrover and Marc Lipschultz, who are the co-CEOs of private equity firm Blue Owl Capital. The move was not unexpected, as Vinik in August announced he was starting the process of a significant franchise stake sale.

While no financial details have been released, the Lightning are valued at $1.8 billion as part of the deal, according to a previous report from Sportsnet NHL insider Elliotte Friedman and multiple other outlets. That’s nearly double the record $950 million the Senators sold for in the summer of 2023.

The transaction has some caveats, though.

Vinik will retain full control and act as the team’s governor for the next three years, mirroring an ownership sale trend seen in various forms in NBA deals (completed and ongoing) involving the Timberwolves, Mavericks, and Celtics.

Control will transfer to Ostrover and Lipschultz in three years, but Vinik will remain a minority owner and alternate governor. Arctos Partners—one of the private equity firms newly approved to invest in NFL franchises—is also selling a portion, but not all, of its stake in the Lightning.

Bolt of Energy

Life has been good as of late for the Lightning, who won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2021 and 2022.

Vinik paid $170 million for the team in 2010, so he’s certainly making out well as part of the deal—but so are his staff members. Every full-time employee of Vinik Sports Group, about 300 in total, will share in a $20 million pool of bonuses, with the minimum payout being $50,000, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Meanwhile, this fall, Vinik has donated $3 million to relief efforts from Hurricanes Helene and Milton, which both hit the Tampa Bay area.