Bruce McNall
Encyclopedia
Bruce Patrick McNall is a former Thoroughbred racehorse owner, and a sports executive who once owned the Los Angeles Kings
of the National Hockey League
(NHL) and the Toronto Argonauts
of the Canadian Football League
(CFL).
McNall claimed to have made his initial fortune as a coin
collector, though Metropolitan Museum of Art
director Thomas Hoving
claimed he smuggled art antiquities as the partner of Robert Hecht Jr.
In the 1980s McNall produced several Hollywood movies, including The Manhattan Project and Weekend at Bernie's
.
McNall bought a 25 percent stake in the Kings from Jerry Buss
in 1986, and bought an additional 24 percent in 1987 to become the team's largest shareholder. He was named team president that September, and purchased Buss' remaining shares in March 1988. He then shocked the sports world on August 9, 1988 when he acquired the NHL's biggest star, Wayne Gretzky
, along with Marty McSorley
and Mike Krushelnyski
, from the Edmonton Oilers
for Jimmy Carson
, Martin Gelinas
, three first-round draft choices and US$15 million. McNall raised Gretzky's annual salary from less than $1 million to $3 million, which, in turn, triggered a dramatic rise in NHL salaries throughout the 1990s.
In 1992, McNall was elected chairman of the NHL Board of Governors—the league's second-highest post.
In 1991, McNall, Gretzky and actor/comedian John Candy
purchased the CFL's Toronto Argonauts
. Prior to the 1991 season, McNall enticed Raghib "Rocket" Ismail
away from the National Football League
by signing him to a four year contract for a then-unheard-of $18.2 million. Although Ismail led the Argonauts to the 1991 Grey Cup
championship, he returned to the U.S. after two seasons in Toronto.
At one point, he also owned the finest copy of the most expensive baseball card
, Honus Wagner's 1909 T206 card
.
race horses and in 1990 won France's
most prestigious race, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe
, with the colt
Saumarez
. He also owned a 50% interest in Trempolino when the French colt won the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe
in 1987. He was also a partner with Wayne Gretzky in the colt Golden Pheasant
who won races in Europe as well as the Arlington Million
in the U.S. and the Japan Cup
at Tokyo Racecourse
.
ordered him to put the Kings up for sale or they would force the team into bankruptcy. He sold controlling interest in the Kings in May 1994 and resigned as chairman of the board of governors, though he still remained as president and governor of the Kings for a time.
Shortly afterward, he granted an interview to Vanity Fair
in which he admitted smuggling many of his prized coins out of foreign countries. His claim of graduating from Oxford University was also debunked.
On December 14, he pleaded guilty to five counts of conspiracy and fraud, and admitted to bilking six banks out of $236 million over a ten-year period. He was sentenced to 70 months in prison. Immediately after his conviction, it emerged that his free-spending ways had put the Kings in serious financial jeopardy. They were ultimately forced into bankruptcy in 1995. The financial problems from the McNall era plagued the Kings for several years afterward.
McNall was released in 2001 after his sentence was reduced by 13 months for good behavior. He was on probation until 2006. McNall remained on good terms with many of his former players, with Gretzky, Rob Blake
, Luc Robitaille
and others visiting him in prison
. Gretzky even refused to allow the Kings to retire his number 99 until McNall could attend the ceremony. McNall also attended Robitaille's uniform retirement ceremony in 2007.http://static.espn.go.com/nhl/s/2001/0305/1131288.html He credited his celebrity friends who supported him. Kurt Russell
and Goldie Hawn
visited, "Michael Eisner
, who suggested I write the book and bought it, always took my call", while "Dick Zanuck was always there, Tom Hanks
would write to me, Bert Fields would send his books, and Barry Kemp
wrote long letters. They kept me going."
His autobiography, Fun While It Lasted: My Rise and Fall in the Land of Fame and Fortune, was published by Hyperion Books in 2003. In 2004, McNall became co-chair of A-Mark Entertainment.
Los Angeles Kings
The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles, California. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League...
of the National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
(NHL) and the Toronto Argonauts
Toronto Argonauts
The Toronto Argonauts are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League. The Toronto, Ontario based team was founded in 1873 and is one of the oldest existing professional sports teams in North America, after the Chicago Cubs and the Atlanta...
of the Canadian Football League
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....
(CFL).
McNall claimed to have made his initial fortune as a coin
Coin
A coin is a piece of hard material that is standardized in weight, is produced in large quantities in order to facilitate trade, and primarily can be used as a legal tender token for commerce in the designated country, region, or territory....
collector, though Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
director Thomas Hoving
Thomas Hoving
Thomas Pearsall Field Hoving was an American museum executive and consultant and the former director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.-Biography:...
claimed he smuggled art antiquities as the partner of Robert Hecht Jr.
Robert Hecht Jr.
Robert Emmanuel Hecht Jr is an American antiquities dealer. He is currently on trial in Italy on charges of conspiring to traffic in looted artifacts....
In the 1980s McNall produced several Hollywood movies, including The Manhattan Project and Weekend at Bernie's
Weekend at Bernie's
Weekend at Bernie's is a 1989 American comedy film directed by Ted Kotcheff. A comedy starring Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman features the two as a couple of young insurance agency employees who discover their boss is deceased...
.
McNall bought a 25 percent stake in the Kings from Jerry Buss
Jerry Buss
Gerald Hatten "Jerry" Buss Ph.D., M.S. is an American businessman, real estate investor, and a former chemist. He is the majority owner of the Los Angeles Lakers professional basketball team along with other professional sports franchises in Southern California...
in 1986, and bought an additional 24 percent in 1987 to become the team's largest shareholder. He was named team president that September, and purchased Buss' remaining shares in March 1988. He then shocked the sports world on August 9, 1988 when he acquired the NHL's biggest star, Wayne Gretzky
Wayne Gretzky
Wayne Douglas Gretzky, CC is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. Nicknamed "The Great One", he is generally regarded as the best player in the history of the National Hockey League , and has been called "the greatest hockey player ever" by many sportswriters,...
, along with Marty McSorley
Marty McSorley
Martin James "Marty" McSorley is a retired Canadian professional hockey player, who played in the National Hockey League from 1983 to 2000. A versatile player, he was able to play both the forward and defense positions. He is also a former head coach of the Springfield Falcons of the American...
and Mike Krushelnyski
Mike Krushelnyski
Mike Krushelnyski is a retired Ukrainian-Canadian professional ice hockey centre in the NHL, and former head coach of Vityaz Chekhov in the KHL.-Playing career:...
, from the Edmonton Oilers
Edmonton Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division in the Western Conference of the National Hockey League ....
for Jimmy Carson
Jimmy Carson
James Charles Carson is a retired American professional hockey player. He is best known for his 10 year NHL career, spent with several teams. After retiring from professional hockey, he embarked on a new career as a financial advisor....
, Martin Gelinas
Martin Gelinas
Martin Gélinas is a former professional ice hockey forward and the current director of player development with the Nashville Predators.-Playing career:Gelinas made a splash in 1987–88 with the Hull Olympiques of the QMJHL with a 63-goal, 131-point campaign...
, three first-round draft choices and US$15 million. McNall raised Gretzky's annual salary from less than $1 million to $3 million, which, in turn, triggered a dramatic rise in NHL salaries throughout the 1990s.
In 1992, McNall was elected chairman of the NHL Board of Governors—the league's second-highest post.
In 1991, McNall, Gretzky and actor/comedian John Candy
John Candy
John Franklin Candy was a Canadian actor and comedian. He rose to fame as a member of the Toronto branch of The Second City and its related Second City Television series, and through his appearances in comedy films such as Stripes, Splash, Cool Runnings, The Great Outdoors, Spaceballs, and Uncle...
purchased the CFL's Toronto Argonauts
Toronto Argonauts
The Toronto Argonauts are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League. The Toronto, Ontario based team was founded in 1873 and is one of the oldest existing professional sports teams in North America, after the Chicago Cubs and the Atlanta...
. Prior to the 1991 season, McNall enticed Raghib "Rocket" Ismail
Raghib Ismail
Raghib Ramadian Ismail is a retired professional American and Canadian football player, who played Wide receiver in both the Canadian Football League and National Football League. He played college football at Notre Dame...
away from the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
by signing him to a four year contract for a then-unheard-of $18.2 million. Although Ismail led the Argonauts to the 1991 Grey Cup
Grey Cup
The Grey Cup is both the name of the championship of the Canadian Football League and the name of the trophy awarded to the victorious team. It is Canada's largest annual sports and television event, regularly drawing a Canadian viewing audience of about 3 to 4 million individuals...
championship, he returned to the U.S. after two seasons in Toronto.
At one point, he also owned the finest copy of the most expensive baseball card
Baseball card
A baseball card is a type of trading card relating to baseball, usually printed on some type of paper stock or card stock. A card will usually feature one or more baseball players or other baseball-related sports figures...
, Honus Wagner's 1909 T206 card
T206 Honus Wagner
The T206 Honus Wagner baseball card depicts Pittsburgh Pirates' Honus Wagner, a dead-ball era baseball player who is widely considered to be one of the best players of all time. The card was designed and issued by the American Tobacco Company from 1909 to 1911 as part of its T206 series...
.
Thoroughbred racing
McNall also owned ThoroughbredThoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...
race horses and in 1990 won France's
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
most prestigious race, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe
Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe
The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe is a Group 1 flat horse race in France which is open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Longchamp over a distance of 2,400 metres , and it is scheduled to take place each year, usually on the first Sunday in October.Popularly referred to as the...
, with the colt
Colt (horse)
A colt is a young male horse, under the age of four. The term "colt" is often confused with foal, which refers to a horse of either sex under one year of age....
Saumarez
Saumarez (horse)
Saumarez was an Thoroughbred racehorse who won France's most prestigious race, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe for his famous owners, National Hockey League superstar Wayne Gretzky and owner of his Los Angeles Kings ice hockey team, Bruce McNall.Trained by Henry Cecil, Saumarez was winless at age...
. He also owned a 50% interest in Trempolino when the French colt won the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe
Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe
The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe is a Group 1 flat horse race in France which is open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Longchamp over a distance of 2,400 metres , and it is scheduled to take place each year, usually on the first Sunday in October.Popularly referred to as the...
in 1987. He was also a partner with Wayne Gretzky in the colt Golden Pheasant
Golden Pheasant (horse)
Golden Pheasant is an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won races in France, England, the United States, and Japan. He was owned by the then owner of the Los Angeles Kings NHL ice hockey team, Bruce McNall, and superstar Hall of Fame player, Wayne Gretzky.Trained by Jonathan Pease, Golden...
who won races in Europe as well as the Arlington Million
Arlington Million
The Arlington Million is a Grade 1 flathorse race in the United States for thoroughbred horses aged three years and upward. It is raced over a distance of 1¼ miles on the turf at Arlington Park, Arlington Heights, Illinois in August each year...
in the U.S. and the Japan Cup
Japan Cup
The is the most prestigious horse race run in Japan. It is contested at the end of November at Tokyo Racecourse in Fuchu, Tokyo at a distance of 2400 meters over the grass. With a purse of ¥476 million , the Japan Cup is one of the richest races in the world.The Japan Cup is an invitational event...
at Tokyo Racecourse
Tokyo Racecourse
is located in Fuchu, Tokyo, Japan. Built in 1933 for horse racing, it is considered the "racecourse of racecourses" in Japanese horseracing. It has 13,750 seats, with a capacity of 223,000....
.
Decline
In December 1993, McNall defaulted on a $90 million loan, and Bank of AmericaBank of America
Bank of America Corporation, an American multinational banking and financial services corporation, is the second largest bank holding company in the United States by assets, and the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by market capitalization. The bank is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina...
ordered him to put the Kings up for sale or they would force the team into bankruptcy. He sold controlling interest in the Kings in May 1994 and resigned as chairman of the board of governors, though he still remained as president and governor of the Kings for a time.
Shortly afterward, he granted an interview to Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
in which he admitted smuggling many of his prized coins out of foreign countries. His claim of graduating from Oxford University was also debunked.
On December 14, he pleaded guilty to five counts of conspiracy and fraud, and admitted to bilking six banks out of $236 million over a ten-year period. He was sentenced to 70 months in prison. Immediately after his conviction, it emerged that his free-spending ways had put the Kings in serious financial jeopardy. They were ultimately forced into bankruptcy in 1995. The financial problems from the McNall era plagued the Kings for several years afterward.
McNall was released in 2001 after his sentence was reduced by 13 months for good behavior. He was on probation until 2006. McNall remained on good terms with many of his former players, with Gretzky, Rob Blake
Rob Blake
Robert Bowlby Blake is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player. He was originally drafted by the Los Angeles Kings in 1988, appearing in the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals, winning the James Norris Memorial Trophy and serving as team captain for five seasons in his initial 11 season-stint with...
, Luc Robitaille
Luc Robitaille
Luc Robitaille is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player. During his 19-season National Hockey League career, Robitaille won a Stanley Cup in 2001–02 with the Detroit Red Wings, and played for the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers, but is most known for his fourteen seasons,...
and others visiting him in prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
. Gretzky even refused to allow the Kings to retire his number 99 until McNall could attend the ceremony. McNall also attended Robitaille's uniform retirement ceremony in 2007.http://static.espn.go.com/nhl/s/2001/0305/1131288.html He credited his celebrity friends who supported him. Kurt Russell
Kurt Russell
Kurt Vogel Russell is an American television and film actor. His first acting roles were as a child in television series, including a lead role in the Western series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters...
and Goldie Hawn
Goldie Hawn
Goldie Jeanne Hawn is an American actress, film director, producer, and occasional singer. Hawn is known for her roles in Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Private Benjamin, Foul Play, Overboard, Bird on a Wire, Death Becomes Her, The First Wives Club, and Cactus Flower, for which she won the 1969...
visited, "Michael Eisner
Michael Eisner
Michael Dammann Eisner is an American businessman. He was the chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Company from 1984 until 2005.-Early life:...
, who suggested I write the book and bought it, always took my call", while "Dick Zanuck was always there, Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...
would write to me, Bert Fields would send his books, and Barry Kemp
Barry Kemp (TV producer)
Barry Kemp is a television producer, director and writer, and a movie producer. He has written for numerous TV shows throughout his career, but his two best known creations are Newhart, which lasted for eight seasons on CBS and Coach, which lasted for nine seasons on ABC...
wrote long letters. They kept me going."
His autobiography, Fun While It Lasted: My Rise and Fall in the Land of Fame and Fortune, was published by Hyperion Books in 2003. In 2004, McNall became co-chair of A-Mark Entertainment.