Mellon Arena Articles
Mellon Arena Articles
PENGUINS BRING IN HOK, TURNER FOR NEW ARENA
May 27, 2001
By Suzanne Elliott, SportsBusiness JournalThe Pittsburgh Penguins have hired HOK Sport, the architect of the Pirates' recently opened PNC Park, to work on plans for a new arena.
Several sources clost to the Penguins confirmed that Kansas City-based HOK Sport and facilities veteran Turner Construction Co. are working with the Penguins on plans to build a new arena at the former St. Francis Central Hospital site across from Mellon Arena.
The team bought the former hospital site last fall for $8 million. At the time, the Penguins said they were making the purchase to keep their options open for a new arena.
Sources said one scenario involves tearing down Mellon Arena to make way for a new development tied to a new arena that would be built on the hospital site.
Officials from HOK Sport could not be reached for comment. Turner declined comment.
Built in 1961, Mellon Arena is now the oldest hockey arena in the NHL. The 17,000-seat venue has come under criticism for being outdated and not having enough luxury boxes.
Since buying the former hospital site, the team has been mum on its plans for a new arena except to say it will discuss the matter in the off-season.
According to sources familiar with the team's plans, Mellon Arena would be torn down, a new arena would be built and the land surrounding the site would be developed. Team officials previously have said that they would like to have a new arena by the 2003-2004 season.
It's expected that a new arena will take two years to build and cost about $200 million.
PENGUINS BUY LAND FOR NEW ARENA
November 30, 2000
Copyright 2000 MediaVenturesThe Pittsburgh Penguins have purchased a closed hospital site as a possible home for a new arena. The $8 million tract would be used for the arena and possible other development. The land was purchased by a development firm headed by Mario Lemieux, the Penguins¹ primary owner.
The land is near Mellon Arena where the team now plays. Team officials say they could keep Mellon Arena and renovate it, using the new land for other projects, or build a new arena and keep Mellon open for other events. The team estimates it would cost about $200 million to upgrade Mellon Arena for its needs, plus it would leave them without a place to play for several months.
PITTSBURGH, Dec. 20, 1999 - Mellon Financial Corporation and the Pittsburgh Penguins today announced the signing of a letter of intent under which the Civic Arena will be renamed Mellon Arena, effective immediately. The agreement, which the Penguins were able to make under rights granted by the Sports & Exhibition Authority, provides Mellon with a variety of marketing, advertising and merchandising opportunities at all Mellon Arena events, including the exclusive right to offer financial services and products at the venue.
ìThis exciting announcement further enhances our investment in and support of the Penguins, along with our commitment to the economic vitality and quality of life in western Pennsylvania,î said Martin G. McGuinn, Mellon chairman and chief executive officer. ìThis sponsorship is an excellent fit for us as we continue to expand our presence in the city of Pittsburgh, our capabilities and our brand recognition.î
ìMellon has strong historic ties to this entire region, and we are thrilled to be a part of their continued growth,î said Mario Lemieux, principal owner of the Penguins. ìLast December, Mellon supported the Penguins in the form of a marketing alliance that helped the club build a solid financial foundation for its future. Mellonís further commitment to us is a clear indication of their willingness to remind others of how much can be accomplished through teamwork.î
Financial terms of the 10-year agreement were not disclosed. The agreement also must be approved by the Sports & Exhibition Authority.
Under the agreement, Mellon will acquire additional signage throughout the area, including the center ice logo, building marquee, parking lot entrances, building entrances, directional signs and highway signs. Among the programs currently being planned are promotions at Mellon Arena events and special promotions to be offered through Mellonís network of traditional and supermarket offices.
Mellon Financial Corporation is a global financial services company with approximately $2.5 trillion in assets under management, administration or custody, including approximately $450 billion under management. One of the worldís leading providers of wealth management and global investment management for individual and institutional investors, as well as global investment services for businesses and institutions, Mellon also offers a comprehensive array of banking services for individuals and small, midsize and large businesses and institutions in selected geographies. Its world-class asset management companies, which include Dreyfus Corporation in the United States and Newton Management Limited in the United Kingdom, provide investment products in virtually every asset class and investment style. In addition, Mellon is a top global provider of custody, retirement and benefits consulting services through its Mellon Trust and Buck Consultants affiliates. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Mellon has operations or joint ventures around the world.
LEMIEUX EXPECTED TO CLEAR FINAL HURDLE FRIDAY ON PENGUINS' PURCHASE
September 2, 1999
Copyright 1999 MediaVenturesThe NHL has extended its blessing and an agreement with arena manager SMG has been reached, clearing the way for Mario Lemieux to get the final approval from a bankruptcy court judge for his purchase of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
If approved by the court, the action will pull the team out of bankruptcy, restructure its lease at Civic Arena and pave the way for a new arena. In addition to raising $52 million in capital, Lemieux struggled to work out an agreement with SMG, which manages Civic Arena. The team's lease with SMG was a sticking point in the bankruptcy procedure with the judge ultimately ruling that the lease was really a loan to former owner Howard Baldwin. With that issue resolved, Lemieux sought to work with SMG on a new lease and a plan for the new arena.
The final deal calls for Lemieux to pay SMG $1.5 million at closing and SMG agreeing not to seek damages from the team. The company will also sit on the team's board of directors, but will not have an equity stake.
Lemieux, the team's largest creditor, invested $25 million in the team and hopes to line up more investors to add another $10 million to $15 million to the cash pool. Some of that money is expected to help fund a new arena that Lemieux hopes to begin building in the next few years
PITTSBURGH'S RAD BOARD APPROVES CIVIC ARENA LEASE
August 19, 1999
Copyright 1999 MediaVenturesThe Regional Asset District's board this week approved a change in the Civic Center Arena that will support Mario Lemieux's bid to pull the Penguins out of bankruptcy. The vote will allow a portion of sales tax money collected in the area to be used to reply debt incurred when the arena was remodeled. The vote provides $22 million to be paid between 2000 and 2018. The team was previously saddled with some of the debt while SMG, the company that manages the venue, was responsible for the balance. SMG agreed to lower the payments it requires from the team as part of the agreement.
Lemieux also reached an agreement with County Commissioner Bob Cranmer who opposed using public money to pay off the debt. The agreement calls for Lemieux to pay an initial repayment of $200,000 on the bonds, plus additional funds, if the team becomes profitable. Lemieux also backed away from a provision that the city and county come up with a financing plan for a new arena by 2002.
Friday, May 7, 1999
Portland deserves the NHL's Penguins
By JIM TAYLOR, CALGARY SUN VANCOUVER -- Today, a tiny, historical tale of a now-deceased NHL winger, a bathtub and a penguin.
In the telling, you will come to understand why, should the NHL follow through on its threat to disband the Pittsburgh franchise and move the team to another city if the U.S. Bankruptcy Court doesn't accept the Mario Lemieux takeover bid by May 31, the logical destination is Portland, Oregon.
Hang in there. It all fits, eventually.
We begin in 1948-49 in the city of Portland, where one Jimmy Ward, who had 12 fine years with the Montreal Canadiens and Maroons from 1927-39, is coaching the Portland Penguins in the old Pacific Coast Hockey League.
But he is more than a coach. On road trips, he is also the custodian of the official team mascot, a live penguin whose name has been buried with the years.
These were simpler times, when teams travelled by car and there was no one at the border demanding to know whether or not you were transporting underage birds across state lines. The penguin rode in Jimmy's car, was carried into the hotel, and deposited in the bathtub until it was time to go to the rink.
Jimmy Ward must have wondered sometimes how a player with his sterling professional record had come to this, a coach-cum-birdsitter. But there weren't teams all over the country then, and a job was a job.
So, every game night, he carried the bird to the rink and set it carefully down on the ice, where it waddled around for a while as a living symbol of the team that bore his name.
If anyone picked up the subtlety of a visiting coach who was, in effect, giving the opposing audience the bird, it went unrecorded, as did the maid's reaction after the team checked out, when she first saw the bathroom in which the bird had spent the night.
Whatever. Jimmy Ward and the penguin did their thing for two seasons before the team changed its name to the Eagles and the penguin went wherever penguins go when you wake up in the morning as an unemployed mascot in Portland.
Apparently the eagle didn't work out. After one season, the team folded and Portland was without pro hockey until (does this sound familiar?) Canada's New Westminster Royals moved south for better pickings in 1960 and became the Portland Buckaroos.
The point - aha! You thought there wasn't one? - is that should the Pittsburgh franchise be moved, Portland has a historical claim to the name. It also has a glorious arena, built by former Microsoft megabucker Paul Allen (now owner of the Seattle Seahawks) in 1993 for a tidy $262 million US to house his NBA Trailblazers, that is hockey-ready and seats 18,506.
Rumour even has it that the Rose Garden's name was something of a bow to a Portland hockey franchise back in the '20s or so called the Rosebuds.
Besides, the whole Penguin thing in Pittsburgh was a mistake.
When the NHL franchise was awarded in '67, one of the reasons the name was chosen was that the arena, already in place, had always been called the Igloo because of its shape. But there are no igloos at the South Pole where the penguins live, and no penguins at the North Pole where there are igloos.
Come on, Mr. Bettman. Clean up this mess. Given the Penguins back to Portland. On opening night, carry the new penguin to centre ice yourself. If the bird does unto you, the first laughter you hear will be the ghost of Jimmy Ward.
STUDY SUPPORTS PENGUINS' BID FOR NEW ARENA
May 6, 1999
Copyright 1999 MediaVenturesA University of Pittsburgh study shows the NHL Penguins could add up to $6 million a year to their profits if they moved into a new arena. The study says better seats, more concession stands and the energy created by a new facility would make the increase possible. The amount is nearly equal to what the team now pays in rent at Civic Arena.
The Penguins say they need a new arena or, at the very least, a much better lease on Civic Arena to be profitable. The team is now in bankruptcy and several buyers are considering making offers.
The study analyzed receipts from venues in Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Montreal, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Tampa and Vancouver to show that $4 million in profits would come from additional ticket sales while another $2 million could come from luxury suites and club seating. During the 1997-98 season the Penguins reported $40 million in revenue, meaning the new arena could result in a 15% increase in revenue alone. The study did not include revenue from parking, concessions or naming rights sales.
Pittsburgh just completed a drive to build new stadia for the MLB Pirates and NFL Steelers. Both venues are about to begin construction. The success came after voters rejected a plan to raise taxes to fund the venues and other public projects. The new plan came without a tax increase.
Local officials say they may be willing to consider a new arena, but are waiting to see the results of the bankruptcy proceedings and if a new owner will take over the team. They have already said they expect significant private money to be invested.
The NHL has also weighed in, saying it may dissolve the team, then award a new franchise to a new owner as a way of breaking the lease at Civic Arena.
December 27, 1998
By AL STRACHAN -- Toronto Sun Although the Penguins will remain in Pittsburgh for a year, their future after that is very much in doubt.
Because the team is operating under the protection of Chapter XI U.S. laws, a bankruptcy judge has to be involved in all the major decisions. A loan from a French bank, which will make sure that the team can get through the season, was accepted, but the judge also has ruled that, for the time being, the team must not consider moving to another city.
But the Penguins probably can't make money in Pittsburgh, so barring sudden changes -- such as a decision by the city to build a new arena -- the team eventually will have to find a new home.
The financial problems are numerous but even leaving those aside, there's also the matter of timing. If the judge decides in the summer that the team can move, there's hardly enough time to set up a new operation. As a result, another money-losing season is guaranteed.
But if he were to make his decision while the Penguins are still playing, fan interest would drop off and the financial woes would be compounded.
There are no easy solutions to this one. In the long run, look for the Penguins to wind up in Kansas City.
December 24, 1996
MARIO MOMENTS
TORONTO - There was a feel to Maple Leaf Gardens last night, an excitement gone missing in this season of hockey despair. By STEVE SIMMONS
Toronto Sun
You could hear it in the sounds along Carlton Street in the early evening. You feel it with a rare buzz inside the National Hockey League's oldest and second-smallest building.
It wasn't about the Leafs, who responded to the feeling with their second straight impressive effort.
It was all about Mario Lemieux.
It was all about saying goodbye to a legend.
Kids wore Lemieux jerseys. So did adults. The price of tickets from the crooks on Carlton was steep. It was a hockey night to anticipate in a dreadful season with too few.
And Lemieux, who has brought so much skill and so little emotion to the best of all games, didn't disappoint. He danced just enough of the dance. He showed, in this, his final season, that despite his protestations there is little he has lost along the way. He showed us the reach, the wrist shot, the perimeter play, the low-panic point, the innate ability to pass, and he did that all in one shift last night.
There never has been a forward who could do all Lemieux can, not Wayne Gretzky, not Gordie Howe, not Rocket Richard. There never has been one with so much in the package and so much unexplained.
Owning all the records
Gretzky will retire with all the records, but he was never the solo act Lemieux was. Gretzky worked best in tandem with others, bringing up the level of those with whom he played. Gretzky conducted the orchestra.
Lemieux was a one-man band.
Gretzky always has brought a boyish love to hockey - the rink always was where he was most comfortable.
Lemieux was forever pragmatic. He played when he wanted to, where he wanted to, but his eyes never showed a similar kind of love. His eyes, too often, said he rather would be someplace else, doing something else.
Never warmed to him
Canadians always have understood this and haven't necessarily resented Lemieux for his indifference, but never have warmed to him the way they warmed to so many other superb players.
That attitude changed briefly after the Canada Cup in 1987 and again after Lemieux's difficult bout with cancer. But there always has been more appreciation of him than love for him, and more respect for his abilities than admiration for his ways.
There have been so many bumps along the way, from the miscommunications over the draft day mishap to the failures on different occasions to represent Canada in international hockey when asked to do so.
And each time, he became more the villain for it. The anti-Gretzky.
That comparison always was there. It was impossible to avoid. For the past decade there have been only two.
Mario Lemieux, the flamboyant one. And Wayne Gretzky, the author of hockey subtlety. He invented new angles, new ways to play, changed the way others skated, others thought, others played.
Gretzky won more. Lemieux was better to watch. And, no matter what, Mario Lemieux never has given us enough.
He will retire much as he lived out his career, with a lot of us asking for more, another dance, another deke, another season to dominate.October 11, 1996 - PITTSBURGH - The Pittsburgh Penguins will meet with Allegheny County officials Tuesday seeking more improvements to the Civic Arena and financial relief from past work. The Penguins want $10 million in short-term improvements to the 35-year-old Civic Arena, the NHL's second-oldest. They also are seeking relief from $10 million in debt resulting from a 1994 improvement project. Team owner Howard Baldwin already has paid $2.3 million toward retiring that debt, including a $700,000 payment this week that originally was due September 1, 1996. The Penguins are counting on money from the Allegheny County Regional Asset District tax to finance the additional improvements. They also have formed a development group that will study whether to renovate the arena or build a new one.
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