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.[5] 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.[6] 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.[7]
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).[8] In 2011, rumours surfaced of Aquilini wanting to purchase the then-New Orleans Hornets;[9] 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.
