Saturday, July 29, 2006

Fingold signs letter of intent to buy Penguins

Sam Fingold has signed a letter of intent to buy the Pens. This gives him 30 days of exclusive negotiating rights. My understanding is that if we get to the end of the 30 days, and the purchase isn't complete, it's because something has gone wrong. If all goes according to plan, then Mr. Fingold should be the new owner of the Penguins soon. The purchase price is believed to be around $175 million.

He has changed his stance on the location of the team. Previously, he was concerned with the ability to build a new arena here in Pittsburgh (evidentally he's familiar with our politicians), but he's changed that so it now seems that he wants the team to stay here in Pittsburgh. He is, however, closely tied with Kansas City, so if the city screws this one up, the team will be on it's way out.

For Pens fans, the biggest issue is how much of a payroll will the team be able to afford under the new management. I haven't read too much yet on the financial means of Mr. Fingold, but we can only hope that the Pens can move up closer to the league salary cap (as they're currently much closer to the league minimum than they are to the maximum).

At any rate, we may have a new ownership group in place by the time the season starts.

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