Mario Lemieux said yesterday that he would "consider
adding" Penguins co-Owner Roger Marino to his investment
group after the two reached an out-of-court settlement in
Lemieux's lawsuit over the unpaid portion of his $32.5M
contract with the team, according to Ann Belser of the
PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE. Lemieux did not reveal terms of
his settlement with Marino. Meanwhile, the Penguins said
that their lease at Civic Arena with SMG, which stipulated
that the firm receive "substantial revenue" from hockey
operations through 2012, "in fact was a loan" stemming from
Howard Baldwin's purchase of the team in '91, and that the
loan is "nearly paid off." Penguins attorney Robert Sable
said that "although the Penguins-SMG deal was written as a
lease that would run to 2012, it was actually" a $24M loan.
Sable filed a motion "asking" U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Bernard
Markovitz to "terminate" the lease, and Markovitz has
scheduled a hearing on the matter for tomorrow. If Sable's
claim holds up in court, "it would substantially diminish
the value of the lease," which Lemieux has offered to buy
out for $15M (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 5/27).
WESTLEY'S RESPONSE: SMG President Wes Westley, on the
team's motion seeking to reject the SMG lease: "Can they
reject the lease? I will say this: No. I'm not a lawyer.
This is based on some fallacious arguments and I would only
say this. It is very sad when there is some very positive
movement ... that the lawyers are wasting time with these
motions and rejections of lease" ("Sports Beat," 5/26).
NOT IN IT FOR THE MONEY: Lemieux, asked why he changed
offer terms for the team, including forgiving much of the
money owed to him by team ownership: "I've been talking to a
lot of people and listening to them. There was a lot of
concern that I was just in it for the money" (POST-GAZETTE,
5/27). In Pittsburgh, Ron Cook calls Lemieux's new plan
"bold": "By offering to convert $20 million of that $27.5
million into equity in the club and writing off the rest,
he's banking on his ability to cure a dying team in what
very well might be a dying league" (POST-GAZETTE, 5/27).
