Prospective Penguins Owner Mario Lemieux removed the
"largest remaining obstacle" to his takeover of the team by
completing a deal with SMG for a new lease at Civic Arena,
according to Ann Belser of the PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE. But
reaching an agreement "wasn't easy," as the deal "nearly
fell apart" Tuesday night when the lease talks reached an
"impasse." The problems stemmed from "differences"
regarding SMG's $5M investment in Lemieux's ownership group
and "converting the single lease SMG had with the team into
two new documents, a lease and a building management
agreement." SMG President Wes Westley: "I'll be very happy
to sign it and get on to running the team and running the
building." The lease still has to be approved by U.S.
Bankruptcy Judge Bernard Markovitz, but once this occurs,
"all that will remain is for the [NHL] to approve
[Lemieux's] investors." In other news, Penguins co-Owner
Howard Baldwin "agreed to pay" the team's unsecured
creditors $250,000 over two years "to settle their claims he
took" $2M from the team a year before it filed for
bankruptcy (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 8/26).
