Pittsburgh Penguins Sale: Latest News and Rumors on Potential New Owners

The Pittsburgh Penguins are up for sale and reportedly have a massive asking price for prospective buyers.

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Forbes Staff Member Examines Report Stating Penguins Owners Want $750 Million to Sell Team

Saturday, Sept. 5

TSN's Rick Westhead reported on Sept. 2 that the Penguins may have difficulty finding a suitor to sell to for $750 million because of the uncertainty over the Canadian dollar.

"While there have been reports in recent days that owners Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle want $750 million for the NHL team, those reports are wrong, written by folks who know nothing about how team sale prices are calculated," Mike Ozanian of Forbes.com noted Saturday. Ozanian added the following:

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The $750 million figure being thrown around now includes $400 million of real estate development on the land where the team played before it moved to Consol Energy Center. Including the value of that real estate in the sale price of the team would be like selling your house and a lot of land in another part of town that is being commercially developed for total of $1 million and saying you sold your house for $1 million.

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Westhead spoke to a league executive who estimates one-third of the NHL's revenue on tickets comes from Canadian teams. Even though Pittsburgh is in the United States, a banker explained to Westhead why Canada's currency bears relevance to the impending Penguins sale:

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I know some NHL teams are nervous. They may have banked on getting $13 million American per year from the Canadian TV money. But if the Canadian dollar keeps falling, and the NHL expands by two more teams, your share is 1/32nd instead of 1/30th. So maybe you’re looking at less than $10 million a year. The Canadian TV money is the single biggest revenue for some teams, so this is a big deal.

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One positive sign for future revenue is the Penguins led U.S. teams in TV viewership for the sixth straight season in 2014-15.

Although NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told Westhead the Canadian dollar would have little to do with the Penguins sale, that does seem to be a major factor. The Canadian dollar currently converts to 75 cents in the U.S., according to the Bank of Canada, but it may fall to as low as 65 cents by the end of next year, per Westhead.

Legendary Penguins player Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle are the current co-owners and have hired a partnership of Don Cornwell of PJT Partners advisory firm and Morgan Stanley to facilitate the sale. Patty Tascarella of the Pittsburgh Business Journal reported in July the Penguins could sell for anywhere from $700 million to $850 million.

Whatever the financial details are, Pittsburgh presents an exciting franchise to invest in. The team added Phil Kessel in a trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs this summer, supplying the Penguins with a trio of magnificent scorers as the 27-year-old joins Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

The Penguins have qualified for the playoffs in nine straight seasons. It stands to reason Kessel's arrival will only help the cause as Pittsburgh pursues its first Stanley Cup since 2009.