Quote:
Penguins officials today declared an impasse in negotiations for a new Uptown arena and said they will "aggressively explore relocation."
"Unfortunately, we still don't have a deal and are faced with mounting uncertainty that an agreement can be reached in a time frame that is realistic for our organization," the team said in a letter this afternoon to Gov. Ed Rendell, Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato and Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl.
"After reading the letter, it sounds like they're frustrated, but they didn't close it all down," Onorato said, suggesting he believes there is still room to negotiate. "We'll keep moving to get this done. My goal is to get this done. I thought it was close. I thought we were moving in the right the direction."
The team had agreed to pay $3.6 million in annual rent at a new arena and $400,000 a year in additional capital expenses. But team officials said that wasn't enough to satisfy state officials. The state recently withdrew an offer for the Penguins to pay $2.86 million a year, and negotiations broke down after that, officials said.
Team officials intend to notify the National Hockey League today that they are aggressively looking to relocate.
"Unfortunately, we still don't have a deal and are faced with mounting uncertainty that an agreement can be reached in a time frame that is realistic for our organization," the team said in a letter this afternoon to Gov. Ed Rendell, Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato and Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl.
"After reading the letter, it sounds like they're frustrated, but they didn't close it all down," Onorato said, suggesting he believes there is still room to negotiate. "We'll keep moving to get this done. My goal is to get this done. I thought it was close. I thought we were moving in the right the direction."
The team had agreed to pay $3.6 million in annual rent at a new arena and $400,000 a year in additional capital expenses. But team officials said that wasn't enough to satisfy state officials. The state recently withdrew an offer for the Penguins to pay $2.86 million a year, and negotiations broke down after that, officials said.
Team officials intend to notify the National Hockey League today that they are aggressively looking to relocate.
Ok putting aside the fact that I love hockey and love the Penguins. The deal that they were offered here in Pittsburgh is arguably one of the sweetest deals in hockey. 2.86 million dollars a year from the team for a brand new arena and they are rejecting it saying they want to pay less. That is absolutely fucking disgusting to me.
Right now the Penguins are rolling in money. Every single home game has been standing room only sell outs. They were offered a deal where they would be paying less money than both the Steelers and the Pirates and they rejected it. I'm quite angry right now.
