Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik has sold a majority stake of the National Hockey League (NHL) franchise to an investor group led by Doug Ostrover and Marc Lipschultz.

Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik announced he has sold a majority stake of the NHL team but will retain control of the franchise for the next three years.

Jeff Vinik says new owners Doug Ostrover and Marc Lipschultz will maintain the team's winning legacy for "generations." Vinik will still run the show for three years and remain an active minority owner after that.

The NHL’s Board of Governors approved a partial sale of the Lightning from majority owner Jeff Vinik to a group of investors led by Doug Ostrover and Marc Lipschultz.

The sale of the Lightning comes just over a year after Vinik exited Strategic Property Partners, the developer of Water Street Tampa, by selling his share of the firm to Kirkland, Washington-based Cascade Investment LLC. Cascade is Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates' investment fund and was Vinik's partner from the inception of SPP in 2014.

Back in 2010, the Lightning were a franchise in disarray. The new owners had run out of money, fans had run out of patience and the organization was teetering on the edge of disaster. That is, until a low-key Wall Street investor from Boston saw something promising in this mess and decided to buy in.

The Tampa Bay Lightning are making some changes in the control room, with a portion of the franchise being sold to a group of investors led by Doug Ostrover and Marc Lipschultz, the team announced on Thursday.