The sale of the Carolina Hurricanes from Peter Karmanos to Tom Dundon last week closed the chapter on Karmanos’ 24-year majority ownership of the franchise.
But had things panned out differently four years before Karmanos bought the Whalers, well before the Hurricanes were ever even a passing thought, there’s a good chance that the Whalers would have never moved to Raleigh. The Tampa Bay Lightning wouldn’t exist in its current form, and even if a team did eventually put down stakes in North Carolina, it would have been owned by someone not named Peter Karmanos.
This is a story of Sun Belt expansions, of near-misses, of desperation prayers being answered, and of a decision whose ripple effects eventually trickled down to three franchises, four cities, and two major-league sports.