Mario Lemieux cleared the "last major hurdle" he needed
to save the Penguins from bankruptcy with the announcement
Saturday that he had reached an agreement on a new lease
with SMG, according to Ostendorf & Barnes of the PITTSBURGH
POST-GAZETTE. Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy: "There was a big
missing piece of the puzzle that we needed to answer." The
deal, which "erases the possibility of prolonged litigation
between the Penguins and SMG," calls for the firm to invest
$5M into the team and have a seat on the Board of Directors.
SMG also agreed to lease concessions that will reduce the
Penguins' yearly payments from $6-7M to $1.8M. The lease
will extend through 2004, after which SMG "will enter into a
management contract that will run through 2012." The terms
of the management contract are still being negotiated.
Meanwhile, the Penguins sold more than 500 season-ticket
packages in 24 hours after Lemieux's plan was approved. The
team has sold 4,874 season-ticket packages for next season.
In an effort to reach sales of 12,000 packages, Lemieux said
that he will hire a marketing firm and put on a push through
reduced ticket prices (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 6/26).
Penguins GM Craig Patrick: "I think we anticipated
(increased sales). We had all been hopeful and were praying
that Mario would get the team" (TRIBUNE-REVIEW, 6/26).
BUILDING A NEW IGLOO? Lemieux's plan for the Penguins
"calls for" the team to play at Civic Arena until 2004 and
then move into a new arena. But Murphy said that he "would
prefer" making improvements to Civic Arena and keeping the
team there. Murphy: "I understand the economics of how
these things work. I've been through it twice before (with
the Pirates and Steelers). If we need to build an arena,
we'll work with the Penguins on it." But City Council
President Bob O'Connor said formal discussions about a new
arena are "at least a year off" (Jeff Stacklin, TRIBUNE-
REVIEW, 6/27). In Pittsburgh, Timothy McNulty wrote that
Murphy has been "secretly studying plans for new arena sites
for the last six months." The city and county have already
"committed to put a financing and development plan in place
for a new hockey arena by 2003" (POST-GAZETTE, 6/27).
SUPER DUPER MARIO: In Pittsburgh, Mark Madden called
Lemieux a "savior" and said that losing the Penguins would
have "hurt a lot." Madden: "They say that when you almost
die, your life flashes before your eyes. When your favorite
sports team almost dies, only part of your life flashes
before your eyes. But it sure seems like a pretty important
part" (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 6/26).
