PITTSBURGH -- Pittsburgh Penguins owner Mario Lemieux still
may ask for a new arena, but the team is now considering renovating
the Mellon Arena.
Lemieux addressed the team's needs Wednesday after he joined the
Penguins Hall of Fame.
"For the franchise to survive long-term here in Pittsburgh, we
need to either rehab (Mellon) Arena or get a new arena," Lemieux
said. "But for right now, we're just trying to make this a viable
franchise over the next couple of years and are in the process of
looking at all our options."
That includes altering Mellon Arena and considering other sites.
"Right now, there's a couple different firms we're looking at
to see if it's feasible or something that makes sense to rehab this
building, but it's a very early process right now," Lemieux said.
The Penguins may be unable to conduct major renovations on
Mellon Arena. It would take about a year to do those, so the club
would need to find an alternative arena for at least part of not
all of a season.
The new arena being build by the University of Pittsburgh will
be large but would not have space for an ice rink without major
design changes. And the school's athletic department appears to be
unwilling to make those.
Gund Arena in Cleveland is the next closest place, and that
doesn't seem to be a logical choice for the Penguins.
"We just started on this a couple months ago," Lemieux said.
"Everybody knows that it takes time to do research and go to
different people to get the right answers."
Lemieux said the team was close to its projections concerning
sponsorship this season, and players costs are slightly under
budget.
If attendance rises the second half of the season, a lengthy
playoff run would mean a major financial boost for the team.
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