Mighty Ducks of Anaheim Team History

The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim were founded in 1993 by The Walt Disney Company. The franchise was awarded by the NHL on December 1992, along with the rights to a Miami team that would become the Florida Panthers. An entrance fee of $50 million was required, half of which Disney would pay directly to the Los Angeles Kings in order to share Southern California. On March 1, 1993 at the brand-new Anaheim Arena located a short distance east of Disneyland and across the Orange Freeway from Angel Stadium the team got its name, inspired by the 1992 Disney movie The Mighty Ducks, based on a group of misfit kids who turn their losing youth hockey team into a winning team. Disney president Michael Eisner had already said on the December press conference that the film’s success served as “our market research.” As a result of the baptism, the arena was named “The Pond”, and Disney subsequently made an animated series called Mighty Ducks, featuring a fictional Mighty Ducks of Anaheim team that consisted of anthropomorphized ducks led by the Mighty Duck Wildwing.

During the summer of 2004, as the NHL and the NHL Players Association’s labor dispute was headed towards a long lockout, Disney tried to sell the team but received a low offer of $40-million US, less than the franchise’s original price. In 2005, Broadcom co-founder Henry Samueli of Irvine, California, and his wife, Susan, bought the Mighty Ducks from The Walt Disney Company for a reported $75 million (USD). The Samuelis pledged to keep the team in Anaheim. With Disney no longer owning the team, they could not make any more films with the “Mighty Ducks” name until the hockey team changed its name. Brian Burke, former Vancouver Canucks General Manager and President, was appointed GM and Executive Vice-President of the Mighty Ducks on June 20, 2005.