Penguins stay in Pittsburgh

[ManNamedTruth]

breaking news
For those of you who may not know, this has been a long and ridiculous process. But now its official. Penguins stay in Pittsburgh and get the new arena. Better luck next time, Kansas City. Wheres that tears of joy emoticon? Heres some details:

NHL Penguins to Stay in Pittsburgh
Mar 13, 04:37 PM

It looks like the Pittsburgh Penguins won't be migrating to Las Vegas or anywhere else for decades.

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell Tuesday said the NHL hockey team reached an agreement with officials from Pittsburgh, Allegheny County and the state on construction of a new arena that will keep the Penguins in the city for the next 30 years, the Tribune-Review said.

Details of the $290 million package were to be announced before the Penguins' Tuesday night game against the Buffalo Sabres at Mellon Arena, the only home the team has known since it came into the league in 1967.

The city-county Sports & Exhibition Authority will own the new arena but it will be operated by the Penguins, who will retain all revenue and pay all operating costs. The state will pay $7.5 million a year from an economic development fund and slot machine revenues, while Don Barden of Majestic Star Casino will kick in $7.5 million a year and the team, owned by Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle, will pay a total of $4.2 million annually.

The long-awaited deal was reached Thursday and details were hammered out during the weekend.

[red]

Winnipeg shall rise once more!

[aMD]

I know pittsburgh is cold, but can penguins really survive there?

[Jaimoe]

This is great news for the city and great news for the NHL. With young stars like Sidney Crosby, Malkin and Staal, fans will once again see a Stanley Cup parade through Pittsburgh - but it won't come for a few years.

[dragonboy]

I saw penguins @ the zoo only yesterday.
The student that I took remarked upon how bad the water in their enclosure smelt. We then watched 5 penguins race each other whilst holding our noses.

[aMD]

I heard penguins in captivity are quite raunchy, so they should feel at home in Shittsburgh!

March of the Penguins is a great movie, btw!

[dragonboy]

I want to see that.
Did you see it with the original French narration or Morgan Freeman?

[dragonboy]

F**k Happy Feet - it's all about Big Z!!!
http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/surfsup/

[aMD]

Morgan Freeman.  You should definitely check it out.  I dig documentaries but this one is a real gem.

[ManNamedTruth]

I heard penguins in captivity are quite raunchy, so they should feel at home in Shittsburgh!

March of the Penguins is a great movie, btw!

>:(

[joey_rogo]

in all seriousness, im glad the pengins are staying in pitt. i'd be super pissed if i was a pengin fan and had to see crosby and malkin and roberts leave.

[ratsprayer]

in all seriousness.......hockey




:-/ :-/

[.Walt]

i just don't get why they have hockey teams in the south. every arena is half full, unless theyre winning. give canada more teams, and give more northern states a couple teams.    the league fucked themselves. why would you move a team outta minnesota in the first place?  why would you put a team in phoenix? etc...the nhl has to realize that its not a national sport, although there are fans all over the nation.

[Jaimoe]

i just don't get why they have hockey teams in the south. every arena is half full, unless theyre winning. give canada more teams, and give more northern states a couple teams.    the league fucked themselves. why would you move a team outta minnesota in the first place?  why would you put a team in phoenix? etc...the nhl has to realize that its not a national sport, although there are fans all over the nation.

Well put. Most of your comments echo what Canadian and US hockey fans and the hockey media believe. The NHL used to know that hockey isn't a national US sport, but it still, through all of its broadcasting woes, remains competetive with the NBA at the gate - Mavericks owner Mark Cuban feels that the NHL is more popular than the NBA on national TV. His arguement is fascinating, but that's for another day.

It's all pretty confusing and complex why their are so many teams in traditional non-hockey markets. Some places like North Carolina bent over backwards to lure the owner of Hartford down south. Florida has a lot of 'snowbirds' that love hockey and certainly the Tampa Bay team has done well, but the Panthers can't draw flies. Atlanta has been a big failure, but they sure have lots of money. The south flashed a lot of money the NHL's way during the last expansion when hockey was pretty hot . At that time, the Canadian dollar was really low (65-70 cents to the US dollar) , making expansion into Canada a bad business decision. All NHL teams pay their players in US dollars. In fairness, the NHL has always been a gate-driven league and does well at the gate. However, what is alarming are the declining gates at core cities like St. Louis, Detroit and Boston.

Since the current Canadian dollar remains strong and with the new salary cap, we will probably see the NHL add a couple of Canadian expansion teams or a club relocating like Atlanta or Carolina. I'm glad Pittsburgh didn't move to Kansas City, even though that town has a strong minor league hockey history. I think the NHL will move back to Quebec City and perhaps Winnipeg. Eastern Canada doesn't have the population to support an NHL team, but if they do move there it will be to Halifax, Nova Scotia (a beautiful town with a rich hockey history).

[.Walt]

id like to hear what mark cuban has to say, do you have an article or website?

[Jaimoe]

id like to hear what mark cuban has to say, do you have an article or website?

It shouldn't be too hard to find. He compares the total television markets and population demographics. His insights caught Canadian hockey experts and fans off-guard. Here's one quote (by the way, he certainly "gets" the tradition and significance of Hockey Night In Canada):


Cuban:  "People in the States underestimate hockey. More people watch Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday nights than watch NBA basketball on Thursday night in the States. People in the U.S. don't realize that there are more hockey fans in a country of 32.8 million than there are NBA fans in the U.S."

[.Walt]

id like to hear what mark cuban has to say, do you have an article or website?

Cuban:  "People in the States underestimate hockey. More people watch Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday nights than watch NBA basketball on Thursday night in the States. People in the U.S. don't realize that there are more hockey fans in a country of 32.8 million than there are NBA fans in the U.S."

well this person in the u.s. didn't realize that either.  :o basketball is getting watered down and shitter every year. is saturday night hockey like monday night football?

[Jaimoe]

id like to hear what mark cuban has to say, do you have an article or website?

Cuban:  "People in the States underestimate hockey. More people watch Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday nights than watch NBA basketball on Thursday night in the States. People in the U.S. don't realize that there are more hockey fans in a country of 32.8 million than there are NBA fans in the U.S."

well this person in the u.s. didn't realize that either.  :o basketball is getting watered down and shitter every year. is saturday night hockey like monday night football?

The program Hockey Night In Canada and hockey is a part of the fabric of Canada, so it's bigger even than Monday Night Football. I know that football, baseball and basketball is a religion in regions of the States (large regions at that), but hockey is a religion for the entire country of Canada - it's part of what defines my nation historically and what in part defines Canadians. It's hard to explain. There's only a very small percentage of Canadians that don't watch hockey. Jim Rome get's what hockey means to Canada, which surprised me. For example, the Stanley Cup playoffs are on every night no matter who's playing on national TV - on the government funded Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). If it wasn't, there would be a revolt. I'm not talking cable either. You can get the CBC via antenna, basic cable and HD.

Come up for a visit during the hockey season Captain Tripps - it won't matter what city you visit either. If you come to Toronto, I'll meet-up with you and I'll crank up some Dead during the second intermission. No one misses HNIC's first intermission - Coach's Corner is the #1 watched weekly segment on television.

[.Walt]

i knew hockey was big in canada, i had no clue it was that HUGE. i am a leafs fan. (and wild) so that would be cool to see a game in canada. do most canadian hockey fans, hate the canadians, cause i do?

[Jaimoe]

i knew hockey was big in canada, i had no clue it was that HUGE. i am a leafs fan. (and wild) so that would be cool to see a game in canada. do most canadian hockey fans, hate the canadians, cause i do?

No, most Canadians do no hate the Canadiens, but most Leaf fans do - or did. Things changed somewhat when the Habs moved into another division in the 70's and coinciding with the bad Leaf teams from the 70's onwards. Nowadays, most Leaf fans hate the Ottawa Senators and vice-versa. However, I think Montreal fans still have a deep-seeded hate of all things Toronto.