Pittsburgh Penguins Hoffman Family
NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly told Sportsnet during the European media tour on Friday that nothing is yet on paper regarding a potential Pittsburgh Penguins sale.
Yet the gathering momentum of multiple reports has led people around the Penguins organization who spoke to Pittsburgh Hockey Now to expect the sale to the Chicago-based Hoffman Family or Hoffman Family of Companies shortly.
One source used the phrase, “It feels real.”
PHN was not able to obtain confirmation that a deal was imminent.
Should the Fenway Sports Group sell the team, they stand to profit nearly double their purchase price from the Lemieux Group in 2021. The consensus sale price is the same as Forbes’s listed value, at $1.75 billion.
The Boston-based FSG paid $900 million and has run the team from Boston. Neither former alternate governor Dave Beeston, who left the group last year, nor Teddy Werner, who is currently the alternate governor, lived in Pittsburgh.
Earlier this summer, PHN confirmed that former owners Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle had an interest in reacquiring the team, but Friedman recently reported their bid was well short.
A sale would come after months of public denials and clarifications that the team was for sale. In fact, FSG communicated on the record to PHN on Tuesday that they were still looking for an equity partner, then released an official statement to media outlets shortly afterward.
FSG met with local media outlets before games twice last season to spell out development plans, including a concert venue, and to clarify that the team was looking for minority investors. PHN also obtained an email in early June from FSG to team employees advising employees to ignore media reports because the reports were inaccurate and the team was not for sale.
However, Friedman said on the most recent 32 Thoughts podcast, “When I reported this Monday, I thought the sale could get done this week.”
The Hoffman family and founder David Hoffman are worth an estimated $2 billion, according to Forbes. The company owns businesses in numerous sectors, including financial, real estate, manufacturing, travel, transportation, and small newspapers.
While the company is Chicago-based, many of the holdings are in Florida, including the ECHL’s Florida Everblades.
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Hoffman was not born with a silver spoon. According to Forbes, Hoffmann grew up in Washington, Missouri, where his dad drove a milk truck. The family didn’t have running hot water until he was in high school.
It’s yet unclear how the Penguins’ affiliation with the Wheeling Nailers would be affected, if at all, by Hoffman’s ownership of the Everblades.
On the podcast, Friedman reported that the sale would not affect the employment of current Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas, whom Friedman expects to stay on in his current capacity. Friedman also said there’s nothing he has heard that would indicate new ownership would alter the team’s current rebuilding strategy.
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