The Pittsburgh Penguins sale is kaput, no longer happening, or it is simply more complicated and still pushing forward.
Those are the conflicting reports in the public sphere Thursday, though current owners Fenway Sports Group, haven’t commented since June. Last week, Pittsburgh radio host with close ties to the organization, Mark Madden, reported that the sale to the Hoffman Group was off.
“I’m hearing the Penguins sale to the Chicago group is dead. Not enough cash on hand. I’m also told FSG is OK with that,” Madden tweeted.
News of a potential sale first broke over the summer, and initial estimates expected the team to sell for $1.75 billion and the deal to be wrapped up around Labor Day. First, the Lemieux Group, led by former owners Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle, failed in a bid to purchase the team from FSG in June.
However, the Hoffman Group appeared to make a strong bid, but the sale or lack thereof has extended into its fourth month. Thursday, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, who first reported the Hoffman interest in August, put forth a different report in his 32 Thoughts column.
“What I can confirm is this process has taken longer than expected and is more difficult than the current owners Fenway Sports Group hoped,” wrote Friedman. “The Hoffmans do remain in their exclusive negotiating window and are moving forward to close. We will see.”
According to published reports in Forbes and elsewhere, the Hoffman Family of Companies and former CEO David Hoffman have a net worth of about $2 billion.
Additional complications have arisen since the first reports of a potential sale. The Penguins’ soft attendance is toward the bottom of the NHL this season, and FSG boldly chose not to extend their exclusive development rights on numerous plots of land around the arena, thus returning ownership to the Sports and Exhibition Authority and the Urban Redevelopment Authority.
The parcels of land that have been developed, including where the First National Bank building sits and the soon-to-be completed concert venue, remain property of the Penguins.
Tags: fenway sports group fsg hoffman family of companies mike hoffman Pittsburgh Penguins
Categorized: Penguins News