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March 07, 2007
March of the Penguins
From the If At First You Don't Succeed Dept.: Pittsburgh Penguins officials are set to meet with Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman today, two days after declaring an "impasse" in arena talks with Pittsburgh and saying they'd "aggressively" explore relocation. The Pens owners pulled this same stunt with Kansas City back in January, you'll recall, a move that succeeded in getting public officials to start renegotiating their arena proposal; Mario Lemieux and Co. must figure, why mess with success?
Meanwhile, on the other side of the negotiating table, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell has said he'll appeal to the NHL to block any relocation of the Penguins; NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has previously said he won't allow franchises to move unless they can't reach an arena deal in their hometowns, though he's also said he'd let the Penguins move if their arena prospects in Pittsburgh are "uncertain." Leading Kremlinologists decipher this as "We don't want to look like we're stealing anybody's team out from under them, but of course I'm not going to stand in the way of one of my franchises' blackmail attempts" - so the governor probably shouldn't get his hopes up about the cavalry skating to the rescue.
It's still unclear, meanwhile, what the sticking point is in negotiations, as the Penguins and public officials have reportedly agreed on most of the key terms. Asked what the holdup was, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "Numbers are numbers, and they present numbers perhaps in a different way than we present numbers." The Kremlinologists are still working on that one.
I figured Rendell to be brighter than that. Who does Bettman work for? Rendell or Lemieux?
The NHL may have its own reasons for wanting to block this move. But Rendell's opinion means squat to them. But then again if the NHL did block it for their own reasons, people might be foolish enough to credit Rendell.
Posted by Anonymous on March 7, 2007 12:55 PM
Word on the street in Tilley is that the Penguins will be setting up shop in Brooks, Alberta come Fall, 2007.
Brooks, Alberta folks- You heard it here first.
Posted by Don from McDonalds on March 7, 2007 06:34 PM
"Numbers are numbers, and they present numbers perhaps in a different way than we present numbers." The Kremlinologists are still working on that one.
I translate this as...
Their numbers show the project being a cash cow, our numbers show it as being a bust.