Vinik Sports Group has signed a multiyear agreement with Oak View Group to manage the hospitality of Amalie Arena, the longtime home of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Amalie Arena will be the first venue primarily used by an NHL team to be run by OVG’s growing division OVG Hospitality. OVG owns and manages two other NHL venues—the Seattle Kraken’s Climate Pledge Arena and the New York Islanders’ UBS Arena.
Financial details of the Amalie deal were not disclosed.
While the company has a wide range of clients—from Penn State athletics to London’s Royal Albert Hall—it has slowly added more pro sports teams to OVG Hospitality’s portfolio. In February, the firm was hired by the Las Vegas Raiders to enhance the fan experience at Allegiant Stadium. The Phoenix Suns and Mercury are also clients.
“We don’t aspire to be the biggest food and beverage provider or concessionaire,” said Chris Granger, president of OVG Hospitality, in a phone interview. “What we like to do is find like-minded partners who share our values. We’re interested in working with people who are entrepreneurial. We’re interested in working with people … who have an interest in doing big things for their fans and who have an authentic commitment to their community.”
OVG replaces Delaware North as the arena’s hospitality partner, with the company stating that Delaware North employees at Amalie will have opportunities to transition to OVG. Delaware North, a hospitality and venue management firm, is chaired by Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs.
Opening as the Ice Palace in 1996, Amalie Arena has hosted three Stanley Cup Finals, two NHL All-Star Games and three Frozen Fours, as well as the 2012 Republican National Convention. The Toronto Raptors played their “home” games there during the 2020-21 NBA season due to travel restrictions placed by the Canadian government during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last weekend, Amalie hosted the women’s Final Four and national championship game.
In discussing the months-long proposal process from Vinik, Granger said that OVG’s understanding of managing arenas as a venue owner and operator gave it an advantage over the competition. Although the premium hospitality OVG Hospitality already provides in Las Vegas, Phoenix, London and Abu Dhabi resonated with the Lightning ownership, Granger said that a desire to put a local spin on Amalie’s food and beverage offerings helped win the bid.
“They have seen what we’ve done in terms of embracing the local community, local purveyors, local restaurants in many of our venues,” he said. “And I think that too is something that is of high value to them given their commitment to the community.”
A year after Jeff Vinik bought the team for $170 million in 2010, the arena underwent a five-year renovation, with upwards of $98 million in public and private funds to keep the venue on par with some of the newer arenas that have opened around North America. Amalie Oil Company, which is based in Tampa, purchased the naming rights to the arena in 2014.
In October, Vinik sold a majority share of the franchise to a group of investors led by Doug Ostrover and Marc Lipschultz at a valuation of $1.8 billion, which ranks 10th in Sportico’s NHL franchise valuation list. (It’s a 54% share, as reported by the Tampa Bay Times.) In the agreement, Ostrover and Lipschultz, the co-CEOs of Blue Owl Capital, are set to pay for their full stake within a year of its announcement.
The sale price is 19 times what Vinik paid for the team. Vinik will retain control of the franchise and act as the team’s governor until 2027.
At 97 points and with four games remaining in the regular season, the Bolts sit three points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs for the Atlantic Division lead.
(This story has corrected the name of OVG’s division from OVG360 to OVG Hospitality and corrected that OVG owns and manages the two NHL venues.)
