Penguins for sale - still and again

Two schools of thought on this.
1.) If the state, city and county haven't blinked by now, can't expect them to come through in the clutch.
2.) Rendell likes being the savior, and there is a new (younger than me!) mayor. Believe Oronato, the county exec, may be relatively new to the job, too. Maybe the dynamics change.

I'm surprised Mario is so out front on this. I thought he'd let the blood stain Ken Sawyer's hands. Maybe this is his way of telling the city, "last call!"

 

Is Houston even in play?

 

Here's the potential new home of the Pens, the under-construction Sprint Center:

 

It's fucking beyond stupid on his part. He has guys in suits to do the dirty work. He shouldn't be out there doing this personally.

 

What's the difference between whether he makes the trip or the suits? Either way, it's his job to make an informed decision about the future of the franchise. A first-hand look probably wouldn't hurt given how much this one decision means.

 

The decision is not being made now. This is all for show, to pressure the people in Pittsburgh. The decision will be made by businessmen, not by a former hockey player who didn't finish high school.

Imagine Cal Ripken with an ownership stake in the Orioles, then heading to some other city to shop the franchise. What better way to trash all the goodwill you've built up over a long career?

If Lemieux doesn't care about any of that, fine. If this gets settled and he plans to stay in Pittsburgh, he's a fool for doing this.

 

We all know it's to pressure Pittsburgh, I mentioned that earlier on this page (OK, now the previous page). But if the franchise stays because the Pens get a new arena, there won't be any goodwill ruined because he took a trip a two. The end would have justified the means.

Now, if they move, he could obviously forget about it.

 

Even if the Pens end up moving with Mario being the point man on the deal, He still can't be held responsible for moving them. He has don e everything in his power to keep them there, even putting his name on the line. However, it is the smart move on his part to be the front man here. He may sit in on the dirty work, but he's not physically doing it. Besides, having Lemieux as the public face here actually puts more weight into the process than just having some non-discript lawyer as the face. Lemieux has been the front man in any ownership or arena talk since he took over in the late 90's or whenever it was. For him to all of a sudden to take a back bench role would do more damage than good. To say because he didn't graduate high school that he doesn't know what he's doing is foolish, he has been living this situation for seven or eight years. He is more than knowledgable in what he is doing. Besides I don't think he is too worried about his reputation. One of the big reasons he assumed his ownership role of the Penguins was to one day try to recoup the millions of dollars owed him by the team (I believe it was something like $12-million). At some point he is going to want to cash in on his investment instead of continually pouring money down the drain.

 

Good points, Beef. Lemieux is the reason the team hasn't already moved. The Penguins filed bankruptcy and Lemieux was the largest creditor. I think he would have been owed a lot more than $12-million, but if he didn't do something to try and make the team go he probably wouldn't have collected any money.

Mario may not have finished high school, but a lot of people in the entertainment industry lack great educations but have really good advisors. It's a lot easier to find bright MBAs than people who can have a big financial impact.

 

Are those the same really good advisors who told him to take deferred payments from a business that was headed to bankruptcy?

 

He got all of his money in the end and so did everyone else that was owed.

Now he can do whatever he wants with the franchise and, if he sells it, put a pretty hefty profit in his pocket. Sounds like smart business to me.

 

No, he didn't get all his money in the end and, no, neither did everyone else who was owed money.