Samueli will give Mighty Ducks room to fly.

Henry Samueli and Arturo Moreno have a few things in common. They're both billionaires, Republicans and Orange County pro sports team owners.

But don't look for Samueli, who with his wife bought the Anaheim Mighty Ducks from Walt Disney Co. for a reported $75 million, to follow Moreno's hands-on ownership tack with his Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim baseball team.

"Henry will indeed be a hands-off owner," said Tim Ryan, chief operating officer of the Mighty Ducks and Anaheim Arena Management, which runs the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim, where the Ducks play.

Samueli's detached style isn't surprising. After all, he has a big day job as chairman and chief technical officer of Broadcom Corp., the Irvine-based chipmaker giant he co-founded.

Though the Samuelis are "huge sports fans, huge entertainment fans," Ryan said the couple is "going to put people in place so that Henry can have what we refer to as 100 percent laser focus on his activities at Broadcom."

The Ducks' team includes Ryan, Chief Executive Michael Schulman (who's also managing director of the Samueli Family Office), Chief Marketing Officer Bob Wagner and General Manager Brian Burke, who is the former general manager of the Hartford Whalers (now Carolina Hurricanes) and Vancouver Canucks.

"The Samuelis were pretty clear at the press conference (about) what the fans are going to see. Number one, the face and voice of the Mighty Ducks will, indeed, be Brian Burke," Ryan said.

Samueli, who was born in hockey-crazy Buffalo, is a self-described "lousy skater" whose favorite sport is basketball. That interest has fed speculation that Samueli is hoping to lure an NBA team to the Arrowhead Pond.

The Ducks are Samueli's first foray into sports ownership, which is seen as a rich man's hobby, often a money-losing one. His first order of business was to calm an anxious Orange County sports base: The team's name will feature Anaheim as long as the Samuelis own it.

Moreno irked locals by changing his team's name from Anaheim Angels to Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The city and team are battling over the name change in court.

Samueli said he may change the name of the Mighty Ducks, which took its moniker from a Disney movie. But he said he'll put the decision in fans' hands. "We'll do what the fans want," Samueli said in an earlier interview. "lf they want to change the 'Mighty Ducks' name, we'll do it. But we absolutely, 100 percent, will not change 'Anaheim.'"

Samueli's got some challenges. For one, there's the season-erasing NHL lockout that as of late last week was nearing a settlement. Secondly, the Ducks had a poor 2003-04 season--the last played before the lockout--when they didn't make the playoffs.

The team spent a reported $54 million on salaries during the 2003-04 season. But with an NHL-imposed salary cap expected to be set in the $30 million-to-$40 million range, Samueli could be limited to spending far less.

Will Samueli back Burke if he decides to pursue a star player, someone to replace former fan favorite Paul Kariya? In interviews, Samueli has talked about the concept of the successful team as star, not the individual.

But Samueli also said management would have carte blanche to spend for whatever player it wants, as long as the Ducks stay within budget.

Samueli also said he will drop ticket prices by 5 percent during the next two full seasons. The team received about 200 season ticket inquiries in the first 36 hours after the Samuelis officially took over, Ryan said.