Lemieux threatening to be the next Modell
PITTSBURGH – Twenty years ago Mario Lemieux was going to be the next Wayne Gretzky. Now he’s threatening to become the next Art Modell. Modell was the owner who moved the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore in 1996 when Cleveland was slow to deliver the new stadium he said was necessary for economic survival.
Lemieux last week reiterated his matter-of-fact promise that the Pittsburgh Penguins are as good as gone in 2007 if a new arena isn’t being constructed.
“As I’ve said, in 2007, we’re free to go and we’ll just have to do what’s best for the business,” Lemieux said.
Lemieux doesn’t shout, and his comments came amid fluffy talk about having rookie Sidney Crosby as a boarder, but that doesn’t diminish the reality. To dramatize his case, Lemieux said the Penguins are guaranteed to lose money this season, even if they sell out every game and go deep into the playoffs.
That makes you wonder what was accomplished by the NHL’s season-long lockout, given that the Penguins payroll projects roughly to a midpoint on the salary cap scale that ranges from $21.5 to $39 million.
The Penguins’ spin is the franchise is willingly overspending to reward fans with a good team, a strategy that should resonate in a town where the Pirates have frustrated fans with the opposite approach.
There’s more at work here, though. The Penguins don’t just want a new arena; they lust for the slots license. If projections are correct, holding a slots license will be something like winning the Powerball every year.
Lemieux and his partners will be happy to leave the hockey business behind in a few years, but gambling is the kind of no-risk, low-maintenance investment that lasts. Vice is a steady business. The stakes are huge and Lemieux is using every bit of leverage that’s available to him.
A week earlier, his charitable foundation made a $2 million grant, which allowed him to be cast as Mario, pillar of the community.
It’s a much more appealing persona than Art Modell.
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Jim Leyland wants the Pirates’ managing job much more than the Pirates want him.
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The New York Mets, contenders three weeks ago, have sunk like a rock and ex-Pirate Kris Benson has been a significant contributor to the collapse.
In his last five starts, he’s 0-5 with a 7.36 ERA. He’s allowed 36 hits in 25 2/3 innings with five walks, four strikeouts and seven home runs.
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Local television doesn’t get much worse than the debut of WTAE-TV’s Sunday night sports discussion show. It looked like somebody spent all of five minutes designing the format and set.
As KDKA-TV’s long-running Sunday night shout-fest has shown, those matters require 10 minutes.
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All the best to former Penguin Ron Francis, who retired last week as the NHL’s career leader in class.
John Mehno can be reached at johnmehno@lycos.com.