There are five groups that have put together bids to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins. All of them have offered more than $150 million for the club. A group headed by Mark Cuban and Dan Marino offered $170 million. Two groups bid about $175 million, and one of them is from a guy who wants to put a hockey team in Kansas City, and another is buy a guy who wants to put a team in Hartford. The Cuban/Marino bid, which would certainly keep the Pens in Pittsburgh, has been rejected.
I guess that’s how it goes. The current owners are businessmen, and I was never a great student in any of my accounting courses, but I know that $175 million is more than $170 million. I don’t blame them, certainly, for selling to the highest bidder. But at the same time, I’d hate to see the city of Pittsburgh lose a hockey team that could be very good in the near future, because the current owners wanted to squeeze $5 more million out.
mc
Crosby looks like he’s put on a bit of weight.
July 24, 2006 at 2:34 am
Mr. Bojangles
Isn’t Mario Lemieux majority owner of the Pens? Very surprised, if he is, as I’d think the possibility of getting Cuban onboard and keeping the team in Pittsburgh as a matter of loyalty would supercede a paltry 5mil. But it may not be his call.
That said, relocation is a no-brainer if you want this team to prosper. Pittsburgh has been in the shitter for the past several years, mostly due to financial retardation from the 90′s that forced them to make a lot of terrible decisions and lose key players like Jagr and Fluery.
Now you have a salary cap, a budding superstar in Crosby, a new coach, but you’re still stuck breaking even or losing money in a small market city now thoroughly enraptured by their NFL team. I’d bail for greener pastures, too, as Pittsburgh is the gateway to the great steel mill and industrial plant graveyard that is western Pennsylvania and Ohio, and the fan base there peaked a long time ago. If you still love your Penguins, set them free!
July 24, 2006 at 1:07 pm
Kaw
Geez…that would be terrible if the Pens were allowed to leave Pittsburgh for Hartford. I’m all for it, though, if they leave for Kansas City.
July 24, 2006 at 1:39 pm
The Nick
Mr. Bojangles is a moron
the only reason they lose money is the old stadium….and by fluery do you mean marc-andre fluery the starting goalie
also the jagr move wasnt money…he was gone no matter what…kovalev lang and straka were moved because of money not jagr
July 24, 2006 at 1:58 pm
The Nick
also how is relocating to kansas city and hartford 2 smaller markets than pittsburgh going to help?
July 24, 2006 at 2:01 pm
DaveR
Aren’t the Pens in Chapter 11 bankruptcy? If so, it would actually be illegal to take a lesser $ offer unless you can demonstrate that the net economic value of the lesser offer is greater than that of the offer that has more nominal dollars. (For example, you wouldn’t take a $175M offer to move to Yellowknife over a $170M offer to move to KC, because you wouldn’t sell any tickets up there in the sub-polar tundra, so the whole value of the deal over the long term is less.)
My cat’s breath smells like cat food.
July 24, 2006 at 2:16 pm
Biff
If (when?) the Penguins move out of Pittsburgh, I will actually weep. As much as I, being a Capitals fan, hate them, I think it would be a damn shame to have them end up anywhere else.
July 24, 2006 at 2:51 pm
Marky Mark
Yeah, Bojangles don’t post if you don’t know what you’re talking about.
As long as the Pens are stuck in their shitty arena, they have to move. They’ve got the worst, oldest rink in the league, and can’t get public funding for a decent one.
Just because a market is smaller dosen’t mean you can’t make more money there.
It seems like a hell of an investment to buy this team now. Crosby, Malkin, Fleury, Staal. No one has a better group of young players.
What’s wrong with Hartford? It’s one of the only areas of the country where people care at all about hockey.
July 24, 2006 at 6:17 pm
Jimmy
Theo Fleury never played for Pittsburgh. And I’m pretty sure Marc-Andre Fleury is still there. If they move to Hartford, I hope Carolina allows the new team rights to be the Whalers. Bring back the Whale!
July 24, 2006 at 6:47 pm
Mr. Bojangles
Hey morons, Fleury was sent to second tier Wilkes-Barre in 2004 because the Pens couldn’t afford to pay him and had to save money. The only reason he’s back is because the cap freed up enough money to pay him. Go look it up and stop talking out your asses because you saw a fucking game on OLN this year.
July 25, 2006 at 6:03 pm