Pittsburgh city officials and Allegheny County execs
said it is "too late to revise" Plan B and build a new arena
for the Penguins, according to Tom Barnes of the PITTSBURGH
POST-GAZETTE. Mayor Tom Murphy: "We have no plans to build
a new hockey arena." Penguins co-Owners Roger Marino and
Howard Baldwin have "been holding out hope" that the team
would be included in Plan B. Marino was unavailable for
comment (POST-GAZETTE, 8/11). Meanwhile, Public Auditorium
Authority (PAA) Chair Tom McCargo denied the Pengiuns'
charges of unfair treatment compared to that of the Pirates
and Steelers on the issue of venue naming rights. The Pens
criticized Civic Arena owner-PAA for allowing the Pirates to
sell naming right to PNC Bank while their deal with
Allegheny Energy has not been approved. McCargo said that
the "largest obstacle" in the Pens' deal is not the PAA, but
arena landlord SMG, which is entitled to share naming rights
revenues, along with the PAA. McCargo: "The Penguins and
[SMG] didn't agree on how much to share. That's something
the Pirates and Steelers don't have to worry about. They
are the tenants in their new buildings. The Penguins are a
subtenant" (Dejan Kovacevic, PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 8/11).
