Penguins, again, threaten to leave Pittsburgh

[winters in buffalo]

W.I.B., do you have a link to that story?

From bizjournals.com. Looks like it first appeared May 28th in KC.

NHL's Penguins may top KC list of arena goals

Charlie Anderson

Staff Writer

If Kansas City is serious about wooing another town's hockey or basketball team, one target rockets to the top of the list.

The National Hockey League's Pittsburgh Penguins.

Penguins spokesman Tom McMillan said the team is not for sale -- but he was quick to echo ownership's statement that the team becomes a "free agent" in 2007, when its lease ends at aging Mellon Arena.

Downtown Kansas City's proposed Sprint Center is to open the same year.

Sports business experts said this is crucial, given that other struggling teams are locked into long-term leases that would be difficult to escape.

"Pittsburgh is the one that comes most immediately to mind," said John Mansell, an analyst at Kagan World Media of Carmel, Calif.

Another source familiar with the team's situation gave a similar assessment: "They're your No. 1 candidate."

Jack Bondon, president of Berbiglia Wine & Spirits and a longtime Kansas City hockey booster, said area leaders would be wise to target the Penguins.

"I absolutely see that," Bondon said.

Pittsburgh's struggle to keep its hockey team stems from several factors: Poor performance on the ice, modestly wealthy ownership, dried up public financing and the aging arena.

The Penguins ended this season with the NHL's worst record, at 23-47-8. It marked the third-straight year Pittsburgh has finished last in its division.

McMillan said attendance has been down for three consecutive years. During this season's rebuilding campaign, the team drew only 12,000 fans a game.

Without the amenities of a modern arena, he said the Penguins lost $5 million for the year, disputing Forbes magazine's assessment that the team made an operating profit of $4.5 million.

"I don't know where they got their numbers," McMillan said.

Mario Lemieux, who led the Penguins to two Stanley Cup victories in the early 1990s, led an investor group that bought the team out of bankruptcy in 1999.

Almost immediately, he began lobbying for a new arena.

But Lemieux's group may have been beaten to the punch by Pittsburgh's other sports franchises. Baseball's Pirates and football's Steelers have drawn public money to help pay for new stadiums built within the past three years.

Those stadiums cost more than $250 million each to build. The University of Pittsburgh also has opened a $100 million basketball arena during Lemieux's campaign for a new home.

"We have a home that was designed during the Eisenhower administration," McMillan said. "Sometimes you have to say things like that for it to sink in."

Even without a new arena, analyst Mansell said the team may need new ownership. Lemieux made millions as a player, but his war chest is thought to be much smaller than those of some of the league's billionaire owners.

"You have to question it," Mansell said.

Paul McGannon, president of NHL 21, the Kansas City-based group trying to build support for an NHL team, said he's talked with ownership in Pittsburgh but offered no further details.

"We've had inquiries," McMillan said. "You can't stop inquiries."

Aside from the Penguins, experts said a handful of other NHL franchises could move to Kansas City, namely Canadian teams such as the Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers and Ottawa Senators.

Those franchises' future will be determined by what kind of collective bargaining agreement the owners and players reach in the summer. If an owner-friendly deal isn't struck, the NHL might seek larger markets.

"I think relocation is a possibility," said Gordon Saint-Denis, president of Triton Sports Associates LLC, which has done financing deals for NHL teams.

Luring a National Basketball Association franchise might be more difficult.

Hadrian Shaw, a consultant based in Monterey, Calif., who compiles financial statistics on NBA teams each year, said he doesn't see any teams on the move or envision expansion in the near future.

"There's a chance that you water down the league," he said.

The league's newest team, the Charlotte Bobcats, will play for the first time in the 2004-05 season. The team is new, but the market isn't; the Hornets left Charlotte for New Orleans in 2002.

One factor in Kansas City's favor is its 875,090 TV households -- more than NBA cities Milwaukee, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, New Orleans and Memphis. Shaw said a team here could generate about $7 million a year in local broadcasting revenue.

"If a team can succeed in San Antonio, one should be able to do well in Kansas City," Shaw said.

Reach Charlie Anderson at 816-421-5900 or clanderson@bizjournals.com.

© 2004 American City Business Journals Inc.

[gojetsgo]

This speculation is interesting, but no one is buying any team until the CBA is worked out. And who knows what's going to happen with that.

I am quite happy that Winnipeg is on everyone's list. When I talk to hockey fans, people always say that the Jets should have never left. Too bad it's not up to hockey fans as to who gets a team. It's up to evil greedy old men in suits. I'm still going to keep dreaming though...

www.jetsowner.com