TAMPA, Fla. — As a money manager, Jeff Vinik made hundreds of millions of dollars by taking big bets on undervalued assets. But when he turned 50, he wanted to do something else. He did not play golf and could visit only so many museums.
So he told his wife, Penny, that he was going to buy a hockey team. Then he did what made him a wealthy man: He studied.
He bought textbooks on sports management, spoke to team owners around the country, met with N.H.L. Commissioner Gary Bettman for three hours and even used Google to search “How to buy a hockey team.