Minnesota Wild Sold: Fool Us Once . . .

The Minnesota Wild of the National Hockey League have been sold to Craig Leipold, who up until recently was the owner of the Nashville Predators. Bob Naegele, Jr., who has been the majority stockholder in the Wild since the team's inception in 2000, will remain as a minority investor.

Leipold, who is from Racine, Wisconsin, said there would be no immediate changes in the team on and off the ice once the purchase is approved by the NHL.

Forgive our skepticism, but when it comes to out-of-town businessmen like Leipold who have purchased the local NHL franchise in the past, we've seen this movie before. And it had an unhappy ending.

Remember Norm Green? When he came down from Calgary to become the new owner of the Minnesota North Stars in the early 1990s (taking over from the Cleveland-based Gund brothers), he made all sorts of promises such as bringing a Stanley Cup championship to the state (which almost happened in 1991, losing in five games to Mario Lemieux' Pittsburgh Penguins), or building a shopping complex next to Bloomington's Metropolitan Sports Center (which became the Mall of America, though the Ghermezian brothers from Edmonton got the credit for that one.).

But then the North Stars floundered on the ice and attendance--which was never that great to begin with--suffered. Green started making noises about getting out of the Met Center lease and moving into Target Center in Minneapolis, but couldn't make a deal with city leaders. Then he started talking to cities like Anaheim and Dallas, before the NHL told him he could go anywhere he wanted, as long as it wasn't Anaheim (which eventually got its own team). Then came the sexual harassment suit and it was goodbye Minnesota, and hello Dallas. Which is where the Stars in 1999 finally won their Stanley Cup.

Leipold founded the Nashville Predators in 1997 in a city that's better known for country music than for hockey. They've had decent teams, and have even made the playoffs a couple of times. But attendance started dropping and the rumors began: Kansas City or Hamilton, Ontario? Eventually, the Predators were sold to a local group, where the situation remains precarious.

Which raises the question: How long will it be before the Wild leave the State of Hockey? Even though they're one of the NHL's most successful franchises, that may not be enough for Leipold. If there's anything less than a sellout at St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center, Kansas City, Hamilton, Winnipeg and Las Vegas beckon.

We have every intention of believing Leipold will do right by the Wild and its fans and not screw up a good thing. But then we believed Norm Green, Howard Baldwin and the Gund brothers. Minnesota hockey fans weren't born yesterday.