The Pittsburgh Penguins are no longer for sale.
“We did look at a bunch of different things; one of them included the outright sale of the franchise. We’re not looking at that right now,” club CEO David Morehouse told KDKA Morning News in Pittsburgh. “We couldn’t be luckier to have owners like this in Pittsburgh.”
The Pens are co-owned by billionaire Ron Burkle and Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux.
It was first reported in June of last year that some or all of the team may be for sale. The asking price was later pegged at around $750 million.
Then in January came another report, this one saying that Lemieux was “miffed” at Burkle for “messing up the sale of” the franchise. (That report was quickly shot down in a joint statement.)
At the time, the Penguins did not look like a team that was going to win the Stanley Cup. They had recently fired their coach, Mike Johnston, and there had even been a report that Lemieux and Sidney Crosby were on the outs. (That report was also shot down.)
The Pens would, of course, go on to hoist the Cup in June, taking out the San Jose Sharks in six games.