Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Arena deal keeps Penguins in Pittsburgh

[Penndems]

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The puck stays here.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have reached an agreement with state and local officials for construction of a new arena that will keep the team here under a 30-year lease.

The basics of the agreement were reached in a make-or-break meeting last week in Philadelphia, where both sides reported that significant progress was made. Most remaining details were worked out over the weekend, according to sources close to the negotiations.

A formal announcement will be made later today, prior to the Penguins 7:30 p.m. home game against the Buffalo Sabres. Gov. Ed Rendell is expected to be on hand for the announcement.

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Link: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07072/769032-85.stm

[LisaM]

1. Great news!

I hate when teams move. I'll be going to Pittsburgh myself in a few weeks. Maybe I'll get something that says Penguins to show I support this.

[jschurchin]

2. Grab a hat or a Shirt.

I've got to admit, I am not a huge Red Wings fan but I do have a Stevie Y jersey. Greatness has no team, and make no mistake Steve Yzerman was a great hockey player.

Who knows maybe the Pens and Red Wings might play for the Cup, that would make us mortal enemies though, LOL.

Thanks for the support. GO PENS!!!!!!!

[Penndems]

4. This is great news for Penguins fans and for the Pittsburgh Metro area, but

I've gotta say one thing (and I'll probably get hammered for it): Mario Lemieux has been a certified prick throughout the entire negotiating process. His foot-dragging and obstinacy were bad enough, but the fact that he's a Santorum supporter and a Republican made me loathe him even more.

Lemieux's attitude was "Give me an area, or I'll take my toys and go home". He held an entire city hostage with his little games. While he deserves some credit, Mario certainly shouldn't reap as much as he's been getting from Pens fans.











(updated to correct typo)

[LisaM]

5. You couldn't be anything like the F lyer fans were in 1997

I was on a fan forum at the time and they had this thing where you could talk to fans of the other team. The fans of the Western teams were OK, even the Avalanche ones (of course, at that time they'd only had their stolen team for one year). HOWEVER, when we got to the finals, and the Philly fans showed up, it was a different kettle of fish! I was on a fan for Michigan at the time too, and a Philly fan emailed me AT WORK and told me to "pull out my blue tampon". It was quite shocking. Worse, I think he was trying to strike up a relationship - strange way of doing it - but they were all kind of like that. I thought I was a tough sports fan, but I have to take a backseat to those people from Philly.

[Penndems]

3. There are stores all over the Pittsburgh metro area that sell Pens merchandise, but

if you'd like to order via Internet, here's their official website:

http://shop.nhl.com/pittsburghpenguins

:)

[Captain Hilts]

6. Yet another taxpayer-funded sports arena?

I just LOVE seeing my tax dollars at rest 357 days out of the year in the form of Ravens Stadium.

Welfare for the wealthy.