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ESTERO — Software entrepreneur Peter Karmanos has put the minor league hockey team he owns, the Florida Everblades, up for sale, along with the team's home, Germain Arena.
Karmanos, co-founder and executive chairman of Compuware Corp., who also owns the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes, wants to shift his focus, according to a release. “I am at a point in time where I want to simplify my life,” Karmanos says in the statement. “While I have thoroughly enjoyed owning the arena and team and seeing the tremendous benefit they have been to the community, it is now someone else's turn.”
Germain Arena, with 7,000 seats, was built in 1998, the same year the Everblades started playing. The arena includes 26 suites, two additional ice rinks, hockey training facilities, a private club and the Breakaway Sports Pub overlooking the ice, the release states. The Everblades, moreover, have finished first in East Coast Hockey League attendance five times in the past 15 seasons.
The arena also draws national music acts and shows, in addition to hockey and ice-related events. Other events include: Cirque du Soleil, boxing, mixed martial arts and trade shows. The Florida Tarpons of the Ultimate Indoor Football League play home games there and so does the Florida Gulf Coast University hockey team, the release states.
Los Angeles-based sports investment bank Park Lane is the exclusive sell-side banker for both the team and the arena. “With the rapidly improving economy in Southwest Florida, this is an excellent time for someone to acquire the team and the arena,” Florida Everblades President and General Manager Craig Brush says in the release. '¨
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