Storm sale to be announced next Thursday

After years of trying, Woody Kern has finally found a buyer for the Tampa Bay Storm. In a deal that will be announced at a press conference Thursday, the Texas businessman has agreed to sell the team, apparently to Tampa surgeon Dr. Robert Nucci.

Larry Carr, whose Tampa-based firm has handled the sale, confirmed Friday evening that a deal is “in the mix,” but declined to comment further, citing a confidentiality agreement.

“We’re under strict orders from both people not to say anything,” Carr said.

The Storm had hoped to keep the deal quiet until Thursday, when Kern, Nucci and Arena Football League commissioner David Baker are all expected to be in town for a press conference at the St. Pete Times Forum.

Though Nucci will own a controlling stake in the team, there is a chance Kern will maintain a minority stake.

Kern had been asking $20 million for the franchise. The exact sell price is believed to be $18.9 million, which would be an AFL record for an existing franchise. Nucci could not be reached for comment. An employee at his office said he is on vacation and will not be in town until next week.

Kern bought the franchise in 1994 for a reported $850,000, but has racked up significant losses in the 13 seasons he has owned the team. In May, he told the Times that if he sold the team for his asking price, he’d turn a slight profit, despite losses he estimated at between $400,000 and $700,000 a year.

In 2002, Kern reached a deal to sell the Storm for $12.3-million to Michigan businessman Thom Hopper, but it quickly fell apart. The franchise announced the sale at a news conference, but after paying the first $1 million, Hopper failed to deliver the rest of the money. Kern retained ownership. Hopper is now an inmate at a medium-security federal penitentiary in South Carolina, serving a 33-1/2-month prison sentence on an unrelated wire fraud charge.

--DAVID MURPHY, Times Staff Writer

dmurphy@sptimes.com