Civic Arena operator SMG is joining with FSN Pittsburgh
"in an attempt to pull the team out of bankruptcy and keep
it in Pittsburgh," according to Ann Belser of the PITTSBURGH
POST-GAZETTE. Attorneys for both groups worked on details
yesterday of an SMG/Fox plan that they "hoped" to submit
today, in time for tomorrow's hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy
Court on the NHL's proposal to dissolve the franchise and
sell it to an owner in another city. The "joint effort" by
SMG and Fox would mark the third reorganization plan filed
for the team "and would be a direct rival" to Mario
Lemieux's plan. Belser writes that SMG officials "have been
clearly frustrated by how they were being painted by the
team," who has repeatedly "characterized" its Civic Arena
lease as "one of the worst in the NHL" (POST-GAZETTE, 5/18).
The SMG/Fox plan "is expected to protect" the Civic Arena
lease, which guarantees SMG around $10,000 per day or as
much as $7M each year. The plan would also protect Fox's
broadcast rights. Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy is expected
to announce the joint proposal today (TRIBUNE-REVIEW, 5/18).
PACKED IGLOO: Last night's final game of the Maple
Leafs-Penguins series at Civic Arena drew a "standing-room"
crowd of 17,087. It was the Penguins' fourth sellout in six
home games during the playoffs (POST-GAZETTE, 5/18). In
Toronto, Stephen Brunt writes that while hockey fans in
Pittsburgh are "real" and "true," the game "is hardly the
pulse of the town." Brunt, on if the team left: "Something
would be missing, something to which people have grown
accustomed, to which they've sometimes turned their full
attention. But not something for which they're willing to
go to the barricades" (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 5/18).
