There was new excitement about the team. Buying Gretzky from the Oilers changed the popularity of hockey in L. Gretzky became a superstar in a city where stars are made. Suddenly, celebrities were flocking to games. McNall was never one to shy away from the limelight, being a fixture at some of L.
He had pictures up of him at the famous Palm Steakhouse in Hollywood. He was known to fly celebrities with him on his private jets to away games during the Kings Stanley Cup Final run. Chicago Blackhawks owner Bill Wirtz decided to step down as chairman, making McNall the new chairman. The league needed an executive who shared that vision. McNall looked to the NBA in filling this role. Bettman was Commissioner soon after. When McNall became an owner, he was the first owner to set up preseason games, in non-traditional hockey markets.
With the success of these games played in non-traditional hockey markets, McNall and company set their sites on the sunbelt states. The Anaheim Mighty Ducks were born — Disney now had a hockey team! All that money was then used to pay off loans that he owed banks. More problems were right around the corner.
Unfortunately, Bruce got into some trouble with the law. The team had some tough years after that, and Gretzky was eventually traded to the St. I mean the Wirtz family are an iconic family.
But it was time to move on from that, to something new and fresh that would make the league grow and explode like it did in L. It was a great honour but it was a little odd for somebody as young as I was and as new as I was in the league.
Maybe some thought that we would attract a major television deal. But I thought we could. The natural place to look was the National Basketball Association, which was then regarded as the cutting edge of modern sports marketing, with its commissioner David Stern considered the leading light in North American professional sport. It was the identity of the new owners. Michael Eisner bought the Anaheim Mighty Ducks on behalf of Disney Wayne Huizenga, who had made his fortune with the Blockbuster Video rentals chain, and who also owned the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League, bought what would become the Florida Panthers, the second franchise in the Sunshine State, following the arrival of the Tampa Bay Lightning in They were movers and shakers whose influence extended far beyond the world of sport.
If they were willing to invest in hockey as the game of the future, there must be something to it. He sent that money immediately to one of the banks that was breathing down his neck. That was the flip side to the beautiful illusion McNall had so brilliantly constructed: On the outside he was still the man with the Midas touch, living his dream, showing everyone else the way.
Behind the scenes, even as the Kings were rolling to the Stanley Cup Final in , even as he was flying from game to game in a private jet full of movie stars — by all accounts one of the greatest running parties in the history of the world — he knew what was coming. Maybe a big score could still save him. But maybe not. It was my favorite thing, and then going from that to the Hollywood dream of being in the movie business, and race horses. I went from being a nerd kid from Arcadia to being a celebrity.
So that club is a pretty small club. My story is reaching a dream that others only dare to dream about and showing that it was possible. That was a red flag.
People started digging deeper — including the feds. The biography, the prodigy stuff, Oxford? A lot of it was made up, or at least embellished. The fortune?
More of a Hollywood false front. That was probably part of his undoing — his charm. He told a great story. People want to believe that a guy is fabulously wealthy. They see the limousines, they see the trappings of it, they see the private jet, they see the home. One story involves a dead race horse. Books were cooked to cover his tracks. And in some cases the banks — or at least flesh-and-blood bankers — were complicit.
They believed the stories, too. He brought them into his world and courted them and they were star-struck around the people that he knew. In the extreme version, some even see McNall as a bit of a victim.
Bruce came from a nice family. And he did real hard time. He never said a word about it. Without the plea bargain, he faced a maximum 45 years in prison. His first home behind bars, a minimum security facility in Lompoc, Calif. McNall managed the prison softball team, and when his Hollywood and sports friends visited, as they often did, he would make a show of taking orders for fast food — whatever they wanted — and then having it delivered by the guards, some of whom were augmenting their income with the memorabilia and autograph opportunities McNall and his guests provided.
They stuck him in solitary, and eventually moved him to much tougher prisons far away from the L. Robitaille and Rob Blake visited him during that last stop, and came away shaken by what they saw. It was exactly like the worst prison you see in the movies.
When you see a person at their lowest and you see their true self, you almost appreciate them better. Those are times that I cherish. McNall found a way to endure. He is willing to not only fudge the truth, but take on any kind of personality he needs to, not only to survive but to thrive.
He was releasead in after his sentence was reduced by 13 months for good behaviour. McNall emerged divorced his ex-wife famously held a yard sale in their upscale neighbourhood to rid herself of his belongings , humbled, owing millions of dollars in restitution, and finding himself conveniently erased from the history of the NHL.
Waiting for him on the outside were many friends who remained loyal, including Eisner, who helped him land a book deal, and Gretzky, who postponed his jersey retirement ceremony in Los Angeles until McNall could be there.
He also still attends Kings games and remains friends with many of his former players, including Gretzky and Kings president Luc Robitaille. No chance that it can happen again. In part the league would never allow a team to buy a player the way I did and guise it as a trade. Also, there is not a player that could have the same effect Gretzky had at that time in this day and age.
There is a difference between the best player currently and the best player EVER. They thought they were bananas on ice!
I knew that basic black and white goes with anything and would sell better. More people would wear it than black and purple. We also wanted to get out of the Raiders shadow. Al Davis wasn't happy with me! The way the game is played talent can't shine the way it used to. Passing seems to be a forgotten part of the game. It is simply dump and chase. Also, the stars and personalities of the players are not promoted.
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