Penguins Become Lame Ducks
The promotional calendar has an omission. April 7 is billed as Fan Appreciation Night, but it is also the FINAL NHL GAME IN PITTSBURGH. Thought you might want to mark down, or start to hoard tickets.
The Penguins are expected to announce the sale of the team today to Jim Balsillie for $175 million. It's not a letter of intent, it's an agreement pending the NHL's approval.
Basille, the CEO of Research in Motion, has said he intends to keep the team in Pittsburgh. Basille has also said in the past that he'd like to place an NHL team in Hamilton, Ontario.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review quotes NHL commish Gary Bettman: "Why would we want to leave a hockey hotbed like Pittsburgh?...The only thing that could drive us out of town would be the inability of those in charge of government entities to provide a new building, as was provided for the Steelers and the Pirates."
There's the rub. If the PA State Gaming Control Board does not select the Isle of Capri to win the city's sole slots parlor license - a plan that promises to build a $290 million arena - there's no commitment to buy into the Plan B proposal.
Plan B is not a safety net to keep a team from moving.
A wise prostitute will tell you that business is tough when the girls across the town are giving it away for free. In Pittsburgh, the IOC plan includes a free arena, the same for Hamilton and Kansas City.
On the surface, Hamilton doesn't make sense because of the proximity to Buffalo and Toronto. What folks don't understand is that the NHL could really market this idea.
Building new rivalries and selling Sidney Crosby in Canada is a license to print money. Don't forget, the Air Canada Center is packed with fans more loyal than Steelers' fans. Tickets are at a premium. Adding a team with Crosby and Malkin two hours away gives viability to adding another Canadian team. This could turn into a battle pitting a city against national pride. When a Canadian team gets bounced from the playoffs, a remaining Canadian team gets adopted.
The only insurance available to keep the Pens in Pittsburgh is the Isle of Capri plan.
The IOC plan is not going to happen. Everyone knows it. Former Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy knew it too when he said "the fix was in." It was the only time in his 12 years he had a set of balls to speak candidly, yet he withdrew his comments after getting pressure for Gov. Ed Rendelphia.
Election day is exactly five weeks from today. Ed Rendell couldn't be happier the gaming control board's decision isn't expected for two more months. Lynn Swann is not savvy enough to think tonight's battle between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh is only on the ice and not for Harrisburg.
The team's lease at the Mellon Arena expires at the end of this season. April 7th will be the Pens last game (unfortunately no playoffs this year). It will not be a Great Day for Hockey.
The Penguins are expected to announce the sale of the team today to Jim Balsillie for $175 million. It's not a letter of intent, it's an agreement pending the NHL's approval.
Basille, the CEO of Research in Motion, has said he intends to keep the team in Pittsburgh. Basille has also said in the past that he'd like to place an NHL team in Hamilton, Ontario.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review quotes NHL commish Gary Bettman: "Why would we want to leave a hockey hotbed like Pittsburgh?...The only thing that could drive us out of town would be the inability of those in charge of government entities to provide a new building, as was provided for the Steelers and the Pirates."
There's the rub. If the PA State Gaming Control Board does not select the Isle of Capri to win the city's sole slots parlor license - a plan that promises to build a $290 million arena - there's no commitment to buy into the Plan B proposal.
Plan B is not a safety net to keep a team from moving.
A wise prostitute will tell you that business is tough when the girls across the town are giving it away for free. In Pittsburgh, the IOC plan includes a free arena, the same for Hamilton and Kansas City.
On the surface, Hamilton doesn't make sense because of the proximity to Buffalo and Toronto. What folks don't understand is that the NHL could really market this idea.
Building new rivalries and selling Sidney Crosby in Canada is a license to print money. Don't forget, the Air Canada Center is packed with fans more loyal than Steelers' fans. Tickets are at a premium. Adding a team with Crosby and Malkin two hours away gives viability to adding another Canadian team. This could turn into a battle pitting a city against national pride. When a Canadian team gets bounced from the playoffs, a remaining Canadian team gets adopted.
The only insurance available to keep the Pens in Pittsburgh is the Isle of Capri plan.
The IOC plan is not going to happen. Everyone knows it. Former Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy knew it too when he said "the fix was in." It was the only time in his 12 years he had a set of balls to speak candidly, yet he withdrew his comments after getting pressure for Gov. Ed Rendelphia.
Election day is exactly five weeks from today. Ed Rendell couldn't be happier the gaming control board's decision isn't expected for two more months. Lynn Swann is not savvy enough to think tonight's battle between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh is only on the ice and not for Harrisburg.
The team's lease at the Mellon Arena expires at the end of this season. April 7th will be the Pens last game (unfortunately no playoffs this year). It will not be a Great Day for Hockey.
posted by Igloo Insider at 9:35 PM
1 Comments:
The Hamilton and Kansas City arenas are not "free", so to speak.
If ownership wants to move the team to Hamilton, there are serious indemnification costs (estimated to be at least $100 million) to the Toronto and Buffalo markets. A team in Hamilton will infringe upon the television markets of both clubs and you can bet that Toronto will not go quietly into that night. In addition, it's going to cost an estimated $100 million-plus to bring Copps Coliseum up to viable NHL standards (adding seating, luxury boxes, expaning concourses and concessions, etc.) Even then, it's expected that a new owner would have to endure several seasons of losing $15-20 million a year.
http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=hamilton/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1159998618578&call_pageid=1112274690688&col=1112274690734
As far as the Sprint Center in Kansas City goes, it's been stated that the lease agreement governing that arena is less than favorable to ownership because AEG (the operating entity of the arena) controls most of the revenue streams associated with arena events. If the anchor tenant like the hockey team cannot pull revenues from concessions, parking and non-hockey events, it becomes a much less profitable venture.
These are very, very far from what you may consider to be "free" arenas.
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