Penguins Sale Falling Through?

Sure looks like it.

This got buried by the holiday weekend and Malkin hoopla. So who is going to own the team and where are they going to play? And just who is the "secretive group from Canada" that lost out before Fingold????

What is starting to become obvious, even with Governor Ed Rendel switching course and putting Plan B on the table, is that the Penguins as a franchise are worth more as a potential relocation candidate than they are as a team anchored to Pittsburgh, even with a new arena.

One has to wonder why the NHL would step in and tell an owner that they can't move after Al Davis proved that a league couldn't stop him. One also has to wonder what kind of businessmen would take a significantly lower offer simply because that offer vows to keep the business where it is.

Why are these businessmen selling the business in the first place? If they can't make it work where they are currently located (and in this case, the Penguins clearly can't) what makes them think that somebody else could? Are all of these guys trying to doom the Penguins into their fourth third bankruptcy?

After all, we're talking about Mary-oh!'s retirement here. Mary-oh! deserves all the $$$$$ he can get from this sale because it would be a shame for Mary-oh! to become destitute because Mary-oh! has no other way of possibly making $$$$$ to live off of...

Finally, why would the NHL take an action that would devalue all of their franchises? By forcing a lower price for the Penguins, by insisting that they stay in Pittsburgh, the NHL is dragging down the value of all its franchises. That isn't smart league economics. But then again, Gary Bettman hasn't been the greatest Commissioner either.