Where are the Pittsburg Penguins going?

Question

Well after this season their lease is up in Pittsburg anyone known where they might be looking to relocate?

Answer 1

According to Daly now that Mario has taken the Penguins off the market and is looking to relocate them the top three contenders are.......................

Cities believed to be in the mix to acquire an NHL franchise:

- HOUSTON: Houston Rockets owner Les Alexander is looking for a higher-profile secondary tenant for the Toyota Center and just so happens to have deep pockets. American Hockey League's Aeros average just under 5,000 fans per game.

- KANSAS CITY: The city that once featured the Scouts in the NHL has plans to build a new $250 million US arena by 2007 and a conglomerate, NHL21, that is hoping to attract a team to be the primary tenant.

- WINNIPEG: Already has the 15,015-seat MTS Centre and an established hockey market with passionate fans. Manitoba Moose are third in AHL attendance, averaging more than 7,500 fans per game.

The only one that makes any sense is Winnipeg!

BRING BACK THE JETS!!!!!

Answer 2

Not as far as I know. They are still talking to city and state officials about keeping the Penguins in Pittsburg. They are expected to make a decision about the plans in the next week or so.

Answer 3

*If* Mario Lemieux does move the Pittsburg Penguins hockey club, here are the potential candidate cities:

Portland:
- this city has the state of the art Rose Garden Arena which can seat 17,500 for hockey
- the greater Portland population is 2 million

Houston:
- this city has the Toyota Center which can seat 17,000 for hockey
- the greater Houston population is 5.2 million

Winnipeg:
- this city has the state of the art MTS Centre which can sit 15,000 for hockey
- the greater Winnipeg population is 700,000

Kansas City:
- there is no current NHL size and NHL quality arena in Kansas right now but there is a proposal to build a new arena potentially called the Spirit Center in Kansas for hockey
- the greater Kansas City population is 1.9 million

Hamilton:
- this city has the Copps Colesium which can seat 17,500 people for hockey
- the greater Hamilton population is 660,000

Answer 4

Up until a week ago, I really thought they would land in Hamilton...then that fell through.

Winnipeg has a new arena, though it is small but with a lot of revenue potential in box suites.

Las Vegas has no chance. Reason is that the local books never allow betting on local teams...a Las Vegas team would hurt the betting revenues which is not good for any pro sport.

Oklahoma City/Houston...maybe. Both seem to have decent arenas and both would finally give Dallas a geographic rival that they will need for the Stars to remain viable as well.

Grand Rapids, Michigan. Let's call this the wild card. Grand Rapids is just the type of city that might work...similar to Winnipeg or Quebec City, it is a medium sized city with no other pro sports competition. All you have to do is look how successful teams in cities like Columbus, Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton have been when they have all gone through times with horrible teams.

Answer 5

The best bet right now seems to be Kansas City. They have already built a $220+ million dollar arena (Sprint Center). The local owners have stated that they want an NHL team in the building.

After that I would say Las Vegas (IMHO), as it seems to have an untapped base of hockey fans.

Other Cities rumored:

Kansas City
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Houston
Las Vegas
Seattle
Portland, Ore
Oklahoma City

Answer 6

Kansas City look no further, they got an Owner, New State of the Art Facility, and a Strong Sports Market too.

Try to Move to Winnipeg, Houston, Portland whatever it going to be the Same Junk as they got in Pittsburgh Right Now

Answer 7

HONORARIU...>>>>you most be a new fan to hockey eh! Winnipeg just needed a new arena just as all other NHL team, what you don't know that the government in Canada doesn't help build arena's in Canada like they do in the U.S. isn't it funny the Jets where a better team then what the Coyotes are and also hade a way bigger attendance then they do in Phoenix hockey is not working there and it should move back to Canada. at least we had around 16,000 fans compare to the avg, attendance in the U.S which is between the 12,000 to 15,000 a game in the U.S. we have six team in Canada and most teams sell out every game and the smalest arena is just over 18,000 and the Montreal Canadiens arena is the biggest in the NHL and sell out every game.


GO HABS GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Answer 8

Hartford Penguins!! Would love to see Crosby and company playing at "The Mall" to the Brass Bonanza...why not Hartford?

Answer 9

If the pens get lucky even though what Lemieux said today, they might just be moving a mile across the street or stay in the burgh. im a pens fan, i hope they stay but if they move, what the others said.

Answer 10

I agree with Habitant and wbyrdie here... Honoaluwhatever... you are WAY off base.

The argument that Americans won't pay to see Canadian teams play hockey in America is probably the silliest and baseless point I've heard.

First of all, if an American actually does like hockey (which many factors indicate that they don't), they would most definitely pay to see a Canadian hockey club, because often the Canadian teams are exciting and fun to watch (their fans demand it).

Secondly, the reason that Winnipeg couldn't keep a team before was due to:

1. Poor management at the commissioner's level,
2. A lack of a proper arena,
3. A Canadian government that didn't support it's hockey teams, 4. A collective bargaining agreement that didn't support small-budget teams,
5. A poor Canadian dollar.

These factors are no longer an issue. The Canadian government has sinced recognized the importance of hockey in Canada, the Canadian dollar is vastly stronger than in the past, the new collective bargaining agreement would assure a competitive team, and there are hockey fans all over Winnipeg - and the rest of Canada for that matter.

Winnipeg would have a larger fan base than in markets such as Nashville for example. They already do. Attendance would certainly not be an issue.

But Hamilton/Kitchener-Waterloo would be the real gem here. It wouldn't cut into Toronto's market. Toronto's market is already so crammed with hockey fans that it's practically absurd that there isn't another team in the area. You can hardly walk in the streets in Toronto without tripping over the throng of hockey fans. The Maple Leafs' season sells out in like 12 minutes every single year, and people practically beat each other up just to get a ticket. There are 2 teams in NY. Toronto has 18 times as many hockey fans as NY. It would be a no-brainer.

Kansas City is absurd. Yes, they have an arena. But, nobody gives a rat's *** about hockey in KC. They might enjoy a novelty for a few years, probably they would win a cup (with Crosby), and then eventually, reality would kick in, and the same pathetic occurence would arrive in KC as it did in Raleigh, and that's that there are no fans despite the team being the "best" in the world.

So why put a team in KC if nobody really wants it?

Las Vegas might make sense economically. But it makes a mockery out of a league that is already dying for some sort of stability. While the team might work in Las Vegas, the implications on the rest of the league would be negative.

As a matter of fact, moving the team now to ANY American city would have a negative impact. I understand that you Americans out there feel like Canada is merely a second-class entity attached at the hip. But that's a whole other issue.

The issue that's at stake here is that %60 of all hockey players are Canadian, and most of the entire NHL's revenue comes from Canada. Canadians live, breathe, dream and die by hockey. So it would not only be an insult not to move the team to Canada, it would be foolish business sense as well.

It would be paramount to us Canadians have a discussions about where to move baseball's Kansas City Royals. Yeah, I think that they should re-locate to Vancouver. That would be cool. Well, okay, maybe that would be cool for me, but it isn't my dying dream. It isn't like my world depends on this.

That's why this debate is particularly frustrating for a Canadian. I died when the Winnipeg Jets and Quebec Nordiques moved. I cried all night long, and still do when I think about Gretzky getting traded to the Kings. For you Americans, it's like Disney World, or just some silly, fast and violent game that doesn't really mean much more to you than an interesting side note, and possibly a topic of conversation for 2-3 minutes. For us, it is much more.

Hockey is practically religion to Canadians.

After Edmonton's game 7 loss to the Hurricanes' in the finals last year (after a dirty and unfair victory I might add), there was widespread depression not just in Edmonton, but in the rest of Canada as well. 7 times more Canadians called in sick to work the next day than regular. Coincidence? I think not.

I'm not angry at Americans! I'm angry at the mistaken mentality that Canada can't support a hockey team (that's totally untrue), and the idea that expanding to the US is going to increase revenue in the league. It isn't. It hasn't. And it won't.

Take the product to the people who want it most. CANADIANS. And there, you will have your profits. Bring the passion back into the game, and into the hearts of the people who actually care about it. The NHL has lost countless fans in Canada because we feel like we are being over-trumped by greedy, fat, rich oil tycoons, who are feeling bored and want to somehow drop a billion dollars in a crazy "fun" ice hockey league. (Witness Bruce McNall).

There should be no team in: Tampa Bay, Florida, Nashville, Raleigh, Columbus, to name a few. These teams play to less than capacity crowds every single night, and the league is having a difficult time selling tv rights because no one in these areas wants to watch it. And these are some of the most competitive teams in the league! Obviously, there is no market here. Americans prefer American Football, and darts, and NASCAR. Whatever.

Bettman's chasing away of Balsillie is completely counter-productive, it greatly hurts the credibility of the league, further alienates fans that care (ie - Canadians), and puts possibly the next greatest player's career in uncertainity as the team cannot possibly stay in Pittsburgh barring a miracle.

Where this team lands is practically a lottery to award the Stanley cup directly to that city within 4 years. It hurts that Colorado won the Stanley cup the year it moved away from Quebec, mostly on the strength of Quebecois and Canadian players. It should not happen again.

Have I made my point yet? I hope that this gets through to all you Americans out there reading this. As much as you'd like to see a team in KC, or Seattle, or whatever, please think about your Canadian neighbours to the north. We want that team badly. And we deserve it much more than any American city. It would be great for hockey, it would be great for Canada, it would even be great in terms of $$$$$$$$.

This is our game. You can have baseball, bowling, tennis, football, cheerleading, darts, poker, I'll even give you field hockey! But... Hockey is our game. Let us make sure that it stays that way.

Merry Christmas everyone.