As
Vancouver executive
Arthur Griffiths overspent building
General Motors Place, where the
NHL's
Vancouver Canucks and the upcoming
NBA expansion
Vancouver Grizzlies would play, in March 1995 he associated with
Seattle billionaire
John McCaw Jr. - then a co-owner of the
Seattle Mariners - to form the Northwest Entertainment Group, which would control both teams and the arena. On August 22 the company was rebaptized Orca Bay Sports and Entertainment, in homage to the
killer whales that roam on the
British Columbia coast. In 1996, McCaw assumed full ownership of the company and its assets. Citing mounting losses, on August 21, 1999, Orca Bay announced that the Grizzlies, Canucks and GM Place were up for sale. The Grizzlies were purchased for $160 million in 2000 by
Chicago businessman
Michael Heisley, who after another losing season relocated the team to
Tennessee in 2001, where it became the
Memphis Grizzlies. While for three years Orca Bay considered selling the Canucks to North American investors, by 2003 the team's improved performances had the company give up on this. In November 2004, Vancouver-based investment company the
Aquilini Investment Group purchased 50% of the company from McCaw and two years later bought the remaining 50%. In 2008, AIG rechristened the company Canucks Sports & Entertainment feeling the team's brand was strong enough for its parent company. It was reported on May 11, 2009, by local radio station the
TEAM 1040 that
Francesco Aquilini and Canucks Sports & Entertainment had expressed interest in purchasing the
Indiana Pacers of the
National Basketball Association and moving the team to
Vancouver. A possible deal would depend on if Pacers owners Herbert and Melvin Simon can secure a new lease agreement with the Indianapolis Capital Improvement Board who own their home arena, the
Conseco Fieldhouse (now Bankers Life Fieldhouse). In 2011, rumours surfaced of Aquilini wanting to purchase the then-
New Orleans Hornets; however, the Hornets, since renamed the Pelicans, were sold to
Tom Benson, owner of the
National Football League's
New Orleans Saints, in April 2012. In June 2018, Canucks Sports and Entertainment purchased the
Vancouver Stealth of the
National Lacrosse League. The team was rebranded as the
Vancouver Warriors and relocated from the Vancouver suburb of
Langley, British Columbia to
Rogers Arena in Vancouver. Canucks Sports and Entertainment became the fifth NHL owner to purchase an NLL franchise. ==Assets==