Lemieux feels betrayed by lack of support for new arena
PRESTO, Pa. (AP) – Shortly after the sun poked through the clouds at Mario Lemieux’s celebrity golf tournament Thursday, the host cast a few shadows over the Penguins’ future in Pittsburgh. Lemieux, the team’s owner and star, said he still hasn’t decided whether he will play next year and expressed pessimism about the team’s future in the city if it can’t secure financial backing for a new $270 million arena.
Lemieux said he feels “betrayed” by the lack of support city and county leaders have given efforts to build an arena to replace 42-year-old Mellon Arena – the oldest and second-smallest venue in the National Hockey League.
Raising the specter of the team leaving Pittsburgh, he said the targeted 2006 opening for a new arena is “pretty much gone unless something happens in the next 30 to 60 days.”
“This franchise is a free agent in 2007. I hope they understand that,” Lemieux said. The Penguins lease at Mellon Arena will have expired by that time.
In response to Lemieux’s comments, Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy’s office issued a statement saying the mayor has worked hard to keep the Penguins in the city but that there is no tax money available for financing a new arena.
Murphy’s spokesman, Craig Kwiecinski, said there may be other money available, however, and that “any financing proposal must include significant state and private funding.”
Allegheny County Chief Executive Jim Roddey said while he will work toward keeping the Penguins in Pittsburgh, the county is unable to finance a new arena now.
Lemieux said that promises that the city and county governments would help develop financing for a new arena played a significant role in his decision to purchase the franchise out of bankruptcy in 1999. Lemieux returned to the ice as a player in December 2000 after a 44-month retirement.
He said he won’t decide for another two to three weeks whether to return as a player next season but said he is feeling healthier than he did at the end of this season, when the Penguins missed the playoffs for the second year in a row.
Lemieux said he is committed to remaining with the franchise “in some capacity” for the immediate future and was frustrated by rumors that he would sell his stake in the Penguins for a chance to play elsewhere.
He put those rumors to rest with a statement Monday, saying if he plays next season, it will be with the Penguins.
Lemieux on Thursday said he wants to play only at a high level but realizes another championship run is a long shot.
“I am not the future of the franchise. If the franchise can’t survive without me on the ice then I don’t like the chances of the franchise staying here,” he said.
However, he said he recognizes the value of remaining with the team in some capacity for the next couple of years while the Penguins rebuild and the league negotiates a new collective bargaining agreement with its players after next season.
Lemieux’s four-day golf event at the Jack Nicklaus-designed Club at Nevillewood raises money for the Mario Lemieux Foundation, which supports cancer and neonatal research.
Michael Jordan and Steelers quarterback Tommy Maddox participated in the pro-am Thursday. Charles Barkley and actors Ray Romano and Joe Pesci were among those expected to participate later in the event.