By Carter Gaddis / The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 7, 2007

TAMPA – The Tampa Bay Storm have been sold to local orthopedic
surgeon Robert Nucci for $18.9 million, sources told The Tampa
Tribune, and the deal will be announced during a Thursday news
conference.

Texas businessman Woody Kern has been the primary owner of the Storm
for 13 years. Palace Sports and Entertainment – which owns the
Lightning and St. Pete Times Forum – took on part ownership, along
with sales and marketing rights, in 1999.

PS&E divested itself of its minority ownership of the Storm in
October 2005, when it purchased the Single-A Asheville (N.C.)
Tourists minor-league baseball team from Kern. PS&E still owns sales
and marketing rights, and is expected to maintain those rights under
Nucci's ownership.

Nucci runs the Nucci Spine Institute in Tampa and is the vice-chief
of surgery at University Community Hospital Carrollwood. It is
believed that one of the conditions of the sale is the team will be
kept in Tampa, and selling to a locally based owner was a priority.

Kern, 58, bought the Storm in 1994 and celebrated Arena Bowl
championships in 1995, '96 and 2003. The president and CEO of PCK
Management in Denton, Texas, began to search for a potential buyer
last year, four years after a potential $12.3-million deal to sell to
Michigan businessman Thom Hopper fell through.

Hopper was later convicted of wire fraud.

The sale price of $18.9 million is the largest sum paid for an Arena
League franchise, surpassing the $18 million paid by the ownership
group that brought an expansion team to Kansas City in 2006.

Any sale of an Arena League franchise needs a simple majority
approval by the league's board of directors. The board last met in
October, but it's not known whether the Storm sale was on the agenda.

The Tampa consulting firm of Carr and Associates has handled the
search for a buyer since Kern decided to sell. In May, the team
revealed that three potential ownership groups were under
consideration.

Arena Football senior vice president of communications Chris
McCloskey would not comment on the sale. It is believed that
Commissioner David Baker will attend the news conference on Thursday.