EHM The Blue Line

Penguins have been sold to a Canadien buisness man. It looks like he would like to move the team to Canada but hopefully we get the new arena and he will have to keep the team in Pittsburgh.

Hello Winnipeg...or maybe Hamilton. Too bad it may have to be the Pens...wish it could be another team, .but at least one of those places deserves a team. THere has been a rumor around here that this fella is willing to pay the Leafs/Sabres and even Senators whatever the hell they want to put the team in Hamilton.

Well good news for Pittsburgh

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=179841&hubname=

He stated he will not move the team.

Pittsburgh will always be a football town but the Pens get a lot of support from its fan base. They not only had the hightest attendence increase (most due to Crosby) but they were selling out even after that horrible start and bottom dwelling the whole year.

Maybe the attendance last year and Malkin & Crosby this year can get a them the stadium they've needed for what 10-15 years now?

If it wasn't for all of Mario's deferred salary agreements the team would have already folded...

What price Winnipeg finally having a team back.

I really don't like how teams in North America move cities so easily. I'd be gutted if the team I'd followed all my life were uprooted and moved to a city hundreds of miles away

I'm glad he's said he won't move the team (let's hope he sticks to his word).

The Penguins belong in Pittsburgh and this city deserves a new arena. If a new arena is built and with the star power and growing fan base that they have, they could be one of the highest gross team in the league. The politicians in Steel town needs to consider the wealth a new stadium can bring. It will be costly but in a long run it's definitely worth it.

If you build it they will come.........

I think the main problem is that they just built Heinz Field for the Steelers (NFL) in 2001 and that was a major battle that was fianlly planned around 1998 as Three Rivers was built in the 70s... so any other stadium talk around that time butted up against those proposals and the Steelers like the Bears here in Chicago are one of those teams that people really feel is inherently linked with the town and people in the town feel the team really is the heart of the city, like the team really represents them as a city and is part of the cities' image. The Pens? Not so much... and they certainly weren't going to get a stadium built before the Steelers at least not in Pittsburgh

I can't see the team moving to Hamilton, the amount of cash they would have to pay to the Leafs/Sens and possibly even Sabres would be enormous.

Why would they have to pay the Leafs/Sens?

Minstrel wrote:Why would they have to pay the Leafs/Sens?

My guess would be territorial infringement...

Yeah I agree archibalduk I hope he sticks to his word and Minty pretty much summed up the situation in Pittsburgh. The Pens did make a mistake when the Steelers and Pirates (who will never contend and are the worst run team in sports) were getting their deals they asked the Pens to jump on board. The Pens declined cant realy remember what the main reasons were.

gbasalmon wrote:

Minstrel wrote:Why would they have to pay the Leafs/Sens?

My guess would be territorial infringement...

Yup, just look back at how much the Devils had to pay the Rangers and Islanders.

Rumor has it he has a fleet of loyers checking to see if he can make a case for territorial rights being an Anti-trust infringment

I forget where I heard this. I think on the radio about a month ago. It has been rumored in some places (Hamilton--not the most trustworthy in this case) that Balsille will work hard to get the team there. And that he would negotiate in good faith for the $ the Leafs and Sabres would be entitled to (honestly not sure if the Sens fall into this compensation area for territorial rights for Hamilton) and if T.O. and Buffalo did not, he would say "here is the $ you want, now go away and watch my team steal your players and win the cup before either of you do"

Course if you are stealing Leafs players me thinks you might only win the Calder Cup, notwithstanding the surprise of tonight.

Can we please save all the talk of him moving the team. It is making me very nervous.

We'll save it all just for this thread Just try to pretend it doesn't exist...

I really don't think it can/will happen however; I think the next team in a new town would have to be an expansion team and I doubt we'll see talk of that any time soon.