Fenway Sports Group in Talks to Buy Pittsburgh Penguins

soxhop411

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He should move the team so Hartford can have an NHL team again

Fixed my wording.
 
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EvilEmpire

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John Henry should spend all his money making the Penguins a strong, competitive team. Really pump up the value of his investment.

Just good business.
 

SoxinSeattle

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John Henry should spend all his money making the Penguins a strong, competitive team. Really pump up the value of his investment.

Just good business.
Well done. As a fan of all New England sports I hate this. Its not really a big deal its just weird.
 

BaseballJones

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Definitely weird from a fan perspective. The Boston teams have done so much to show support for one another. Let's say it's the spring of 2024 and the Bruins are playing the Penguins in the playoffs. Usually the Red Sox would be putting out messages on social media supporting the Bruins. But now...? Go Bruins (oh and the Penguins too!)! How would this work, exactly?
 

bankshot1

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Were there rumors that the Penguins were up for sale? Generally it seems some I-bank gets to broker the deal and shops it hard and it generally takes a few months to vet bidders and go through rounds etc. This one seems to have come out of the blue.
 

Greg29fan

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Were there rumors that the Penguins were up for sale? Generally it seems some I-bank gets to broker the deal and shops it hard and it generally takes a few months to vet bidders and go through rounds etc. This one seems to have come out of the blue.
Yes the Penguins have been for sale for quite a while (since at least 2015).

Lemieux is going to keep a minority stake but the other owner, Ron Burkle, is getting out.
 
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JimD

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Definitely weird from a fan perspective. The Boston teams have done so much to show support for one another. Let's say it's the spring of 2024 and the Bruins are playing the Penguins in the playoffs. Usually the Red Sox would be putting out messages on social media supporting the Bruins. But now...? Go Bruins (oh and the Penguins too!)! How would this work, exactly?
I don't see the issue - it's not as if the Pittsburgh fanbase would even want a supportive message from Yawkey Way.
 

Spelunker

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Makes NESN extra weird, no?

And I'm sure it makes sense from a financial standpoint. As a Boston fan, I hate it.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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I don't see the issue - it's not as if the Pittsburgh fanbase would even want a supportive message from Yawkey Way.
It's not about the Penguins. It's about the message from one longtime Boston team to another longtime Boston team. How could the owners of the Pittsburgh Penguins send a "we're rooting for you!" message to the Bruins if they're playing the Penguins in the playoffs?
 

YTF

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Definitely weird from a fan perspective. The Boston teams have done so much to show support for one another. Let's say it's the spring of 2024 and the Bruins are playing the Penguins in the playoffs. Usually the Red Sox would be putting out messages on social media supporting the Bruins. But now...? Go Bruins (oh and the Penguins too!)! How would this work, exactly?
Just as it has been I would hope.
 

RedOctober3829

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The Red Sox, Liverpool, Rousch Fenway Keselowski Racing, and now the Penguins?

Talk about diversifying your assets.

So uh, I guess they weren't too money poor after all, huh.
I took a course last fall offered by FSG and this is the exact kind of investment I'd expect them to make. They made it clear in all the sessions I listened to that they wanted to be involved in anything and everything in the world of sports.
 

Archer1979

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Were you unaware of The New England Penguins years at the Civic Center?
Remember those years well. One game brought the roof down with their rendition of the Arctic Brass Bonanza...

I don't understand the move though. I wouldn't see much ROI on this one. Is there that much growth in an NHL franchise to justify JWH's investment?
 

JimD

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It's not about the Penguins. It's about the message from one longtime Boston team to another longtime Boston team. How could the owners of the Pittsburgh Penguins send a "we're rooting for you!" message to the Bruins if they're playing the Penguins in the playoffs?
I agree it's definitely weird,, but I always like it more when the players on one Boston team support their peers on another. I really could care less about some generic show of support from the PR flacks - I'm sure they of all people can figure out how to make it work.
 

joe dokes

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It's not about the Penguins. It's about the message from one longtime Boston team to another longtime Boston team. How could the owners of the Pittsburgh Penguins send a "we're rooting for you!" message to the Bruins if they're playing the Penguins in the playoffs?
Just wait til he trades the Penguins to the Jacobses for the Bruins like John Y Brown and Irv Levin.
 

santadevil

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Remember those years well. One game brought the roof down with their rendition of the Arctic Brass Bonanza...

I don't understand the move though. I wouldn't see much ROI on this one. Is there that much growth in an NHL franchise to justify JWH's investment?
Maybe NHL franchises are poised to be growing in value?
Red Sox were bought for $660M in 2002. It's had a bit of growth since then
 

bankshot1

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Maybe NHL franchises are poised to be growing in value?
Red Sox were bought for $660M in 2002. It's had a bit of growth since then
I think the new TV contract with TBS and ESPN will be a real positive for viewer growth. NBC seemed a little lost with the asset.
There's probably also a play on legalized sports gambling too
 
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RG33

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Now we see why they didn’t sign that very reasonable EdRo contract. . . . .
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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I took a course last fall offered by FSG and this is the exact kind of investment I'd expect them to make. They made it clear in all the sessions I listened to that they wanted to be involved in anything and everything in the world of sports.
So I thought about this more and the obvious and facile Mookie issue isn’t what bugs me about this.

FSG just bought a franchise that is in direct competition with another local franchise. Liverpool isn’t, RFK Racing isn’t. But the Penguins are. And maybe it’s naive of me but I don’t like that the owners of the Red Sox are now heavily incentivized to want the Bruins to fail. I don’t think that’s right or cool.
 

bankshot1

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So I thought about this more and the obvious and facile Mookie issue isn’t what bugs me about this.

FSG just bought a franchise that is in direct competition with another local franchise. Liverpool isn’t, RFK Racing isn’t. But the Penguins are. And maybe it’s naive of me but I don’t like that the owners of the Red Sox are now heavily incentivized to want the Bruins to fail. I don’t think that’s right or cool.
As FSG owns 80% of NESN and presumably benefits from high ratings when the Bruins perform well, I'm not sure that they are incentivized to want the Bruins to fail, (except in H2H on the ice competition) But where the issue gets tricky is two competitors, Delaware North, owner of the Bruins also owns the remaining 20% stake in NESN and FSG through its pending ownership of the Penguins are both competitors and have aligned self interests through joint ownership in NESN.

I think this is a blurred line offsides.

The possibility for collusion or tampering or worse while remote, seems possible.

But on its face it doesn't seem quite right.
 

P'tucket rhymes with...

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So I thought about this more and the obvious and facile Mookie issue isn’t what bugs me about this.

FSG just bought a franchise that is in direct competition with another local franchise. Liverpool isn’t, RFK Racing isn’t. But the Penguins are. And maybe it’s naive of me but I don’t like that the owners of the Red Sox are now heavily incentivized to want the Bruins to fail. I don’t think that’s right or cool.
You're not naive, but you don't have the mentality of someone who is in the business of owning these things rather than rooting for them. These are assets, not teams.
 

scottyno

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So I thought about this more and the obvious and facile Mookie issue isn’t what bugs me about this.

FSG just bought a franchise that is in direct competition with another local franchise. Liverpool isn’t, RFK Racing isn’t. But the Penguins are. And maybe it’s naive of me but I don’t like that the owners of the Red Sox are now heavily incentivized to want the Bruins to fail. I don’t think that’s right or cool.
They aren't heavily incentivized to want a team that they're going to face in the playoffs on average a couple times a century to fail.
 

mauf

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Am I right in thinking the reason FSG sold a 10% minority stake earlier this year was to be ready to jump on an opportunity like this? Or was that money used to buy out existing owners? (At the time, I thought it was just musical chairs among the ownership group; now I’m thinking it was more strategic than that.)
 

Marbleheader

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Gut reaction is that I don't like it. I don't think anyone should own more than one franchise between MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL. Certainly not in different markets. Feels wrong.
 

Cesar Crespo

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Does anyone else own 2 franchises from 2 different locations similar to this? I'm pretty sure the NFL doesn't allow it unless it's in the same city.
 

HowBoutDemSox

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Does anyone else own 2 franchises from 2 different locations similar to this? I'm pretty sure the NFL doesn't allow it unless it's in the same city.
Stan Kroenke owns two franchises in Denver (Nuggets and Avalanche) and one in Los Angeles (Rams), so there’s some precedent (also owns a Premier League club as well).