Some interesting developments out of Pittsburgh as the Penguins have announced the hiring of Morgan Stanley to explore a partial or full sale of the team by partners Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle. They released a statement on their website:
“We conduct periodic reviews of our business and, because we have received several inquiries about the franchise in recent years, we decided to engage Morgan Stanley for their insight and counsel,” Lemieux and Burkle said in a joint statement. “After buying the team out of bankruptcy, ensuring its long-term future in Pittsburgh and creating a strong foundation for continued success, we believe it is time to explore our options.”
“Our goal all along was to solidify the franchise both on and off the ice.” Lemieux said. “Our star players are signed to long-term contracts, they’ve got a deep and passionate base to support them, and I believe the Penguins are well-positioned for the future. Regardless of what happens, I plan on staying involved with the team in some capacity, and Ron and I plan to retain an ownership stake.”
Penguins fans probably can’t imagine their team without Mario Lemieux involved in some capacity, so for him to say that he’s going to retain an ownership stake should be comforting. And it isn’t a sure thing that a sale will happen soon or at all.
Franchises do explore sales only to have nothing happen. But if it does happen, the comforting thing for Penguins fans is that Lemieux will be stepping away from majority ownership with the Penguins in better health than when he found it. And the amazing thing is that he did this twice. First as a player when the Penguins were in danger of folding in the early 80’s, and again as an owner when the Pens were close to relocating to Kansas City. With a little help from a ping-pong ball that landed them a guy named Crosby, Lemieux changed the Penguins from a team that had to practically sell players like Jaromir Jagr and Alex Kovalev, to a franchise in good health and a state of the art new facility.
One with a statue of Mario Lemieux in front of it.
(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
