Bruce Patrick McNall (born April 17, 1950) is an American former Thoroughbred racehorse owner, sports executive, and convicted felon who once owned the
Los Angeles Kings
The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent ...
of the
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
(NHL) and the
Toronto Argonauts
The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...
of the
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...
(CFL).
McNall claimed to have made his initial fortune as a
coin
A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order t ...
collector, though
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
director
Thomas Hoving
Thomas Pearsall Field Hoving (January 15, 1931 – December 10, 2009) was an American museum executive and consultant and the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Early life
He was born in New York City to Walter Hoving, the head of Ti ...
claimed he smuggled art antiquities as the partner of
Robert E. Hecht
Robert Emmanuel Hecht, Jr. (3 June 1919 – 8 February 2012) was an American antiquities art dealer based in Paris.
He was on trial in Italy from 2005 to just before his death in 2012, on charges of conspiring to traffic in looted antiquities art ...
. In the 1980s McNall produced several Hollywood movies, including ''
The Manhattan Project'' and ''
Weekend at Bernie's
''Weekend at Bernie's'' is a 1989 American black comedy film directed by Ted Kotcheff and written by Robert Klane, loosely based on the 1959 novella '' The Two Deaths of Quincas Wateryell'' by Jorge Amado. The film stars Andrew McCarthy and ...
''.
McNall bought a 25 percent stake in the Kings from
Jerry Buss
Gerald Hatten Buss (January 27, 1933 – February 18, 2013) was an American businessman, investor, chemist, and philanthropist. He was the majority owner of the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), winning 10 l ...
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 Douglas Gretzky ( ; born January 26, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "the Great One ...
, along with
Marty McSorley
Martin James McSorley (born May 18, 1963) is a Canadian former professional hockey player, who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1983 until 2000. A versatile player, he was able to play both the forward and defense positions.
A for ...
and
Mike Krushelnyski
Michael "Krusher" Krushelnyski (born April 27, 1960) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre/left winger who played 14 years in the National Hockey League (NHL). While playing in the NHL, he won three Stanley Cups as a player with the ...
, from the
Edmonton Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...
for
Jimmy Carson,
Martin Gelinas, three first-round
draft choice
A draft is a process used in some countries (especially in North America) and sports (especially in Closed league, closed leagues) to allocate certain players to teams. In a draft, teams take turns selecting from a pool of eligible players. Whe ...
s and
US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
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 National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
—the league's second-highest post.
In 1991, McNall, Gretzky and actor/comedian
John Candy
John Franklin Candy (October 31, 1950 – March 4, 1994) was a Canadian actor and comedian known mainly for his work in Hollywood films. Candy rose to fame in the 1970s as a member of the Toronto branch of the Second City and its '' SCTV'' seri ...
purchased the CFL's
Toronto Argonauts
The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...
. Prior to the 1991 season, McNall enticed
Raghib "Rocket" Ismail away from the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
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
A baseball card is a type of trading card relating to baseball, usually printed on cardboard, silk, or plastic. In the 1950s they came with a stick of gum and a limited number of cards. These cards feature one or more baseball players, teams, stad ...
,
Honus Wagner's 1909 T206 card.
[Bob Pool]
Honus Wagner card sells for $2.35 million
''Los Angeles Times'', February 28, 2007.
Thoroughbred racing
McNall also owned
Thoroughbred
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. Thoroughbreds are ...
race horse
Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic pr ...
s and in 1990 won
France's most prestigious race, the
Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe
The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris, France, over a distance ...
, with the
colt Saumarez. He also owned a 50% interest in Trempolino when the French colt won the
Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe
The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris, France, over a distance ...
in 1987. He was also a partner with Wayne Gretzky in the colt
Golden Pheasant
The golden pheasant (''Chrysolophus pictus''), also known as the Chinese pheasant, and rainbow pheasant, is a gamebird of the order Galliformes (gallinaceous birds) and the family Phasianidae (pheasants). The genus name is from Ancient Greek ...
who won races in Europe as well as the
Arlington Million
The Arlington Million is a Grade 1 flat horse race in the United States for thoroughbred horses aged three years and upward on the turf. It was originally raced at the now-closed Arlington Park in Arlington Heights, Illinois over a distance of ...
in the U.S. and the
Japan Cup
The is one of the most prestigious horse races in Japan. It is contested on the last Sunday of November, post time of 15:40 at Tokyo Racecourse in Fuchu, Tokyo at a distance of 2400 meters (about miles) run under weight for age conditions with ...
at
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 a capacity of 223,000, with seating for 13,750.
Tokyo Racecourse hosts numerous G1 (Grade 1) r ...
.
Decline
In December 1993, McNall defaulted on a $90 million loan, and
Bank of America
The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank ...
threatened to force the Kings into bankruptcy unless he sold the team. 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 the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
was also debunked.
On December 14, 1993, McNall 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 Wayne Gretzky,
Rob Blake
Robert Bowlby Blake (born December 10, 1969) is a Canadian professional ice hockey executive and former player. He is the current general manager of the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was originally drafted by the Kin ...
,
Luc Robitaille
Luc Jean-Marie Robitaille (born February 17, 1966) is a Canadian–American professional ice hockey executive and former player. He currently serves as president of the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League (NHL).
During his 19-season N ...
and others visiting him in
prison
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...
. 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. He credited his celebrity friends who supported him.
Kurt Russell and
Goldie Hawn
Goldie Jeanne Hawn (born November 21, 1945) is an American actress, dancer, producer, and singer. She rose to fame on the NBC sketch comedy program ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' (1968–1970), before going on to receive the Academy Award and Go ...
visited, "
Michael Eisner
Michael Dammann Eisner (born March 7, 1942) is an American businessman and former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of The Walt Disney Company from September 1984 to September 2005. Prior to Disney, Eisner was president of rival film st ...
, who suggested I write the book and bought it, always took my call", while "
Dick Zanuck was always there,
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...
would write to me,
Bert Fields
Bertram Harris Fields (March 31, 1929 – August 7, 2022) was an American lawyer noted for his work in the field of entertainment law. He represented many of the leading film studios, as well as numerous celebrities, and lectured at both Stanfo ...
would send his books, and
Barry Kemp wrote long letters. They kept me going."
McNall's 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. He took a role with Peter M. Hoffman at
Seven Arts Pictures
Seven Arts Entertainment Inc. is a British independent film production company founded in 1992. Notable films that were made by Seven Arts are '' Stander'', ''Asylum'', ''Noise'' and more recently, '' Night of the Demons''.
History
Seven Ar ...
in 2003 and is credited on
Nick Cassavetes
Nicholas David Rowland Cassavetes (born May 21, 1959) is an American actor, director, and writer. He has directed such films as '' She's So Lovely'' (1997), '' John Q.'' (2002), '' The Notebook'' (2004), '' Alpha Dog'' (2006), and '' My Sister's ...
' 2012 movie, ''
Yellow
Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In the ...
''.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:McNall, Bruce
1950 births
Living people
American numismatists
American people convicted of fraud
American racehorse owners and breeders
Lester Patrick Trophy recipients
Los Angeles Kings owners
Toronto Argonauts owners
National Hockey League executives
National Hockey League owners
People from Arcadia, California
Owners of Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winners