Rendell: Offer To Pens Sweetest In NHLPOSTED: 12:11 am EST January 18,
2007 PITTSBURGH -- Gov. Ed Rendell, Pittsburgh Penguins officials and city leaders talked again Thursday night about a new arena to replace Mellon Arena.After meeting for three hours, the Penguins' representatives left with no comment.The governor's representative said Rendell and city officials, including Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato, had no comment as well.Team owners are still considering an offer to move the Pens to Kansas City, Mo., where they would play rent-free at the Sprint Center and contribute no money toward construction of that arena.But Rendell said he has been revising the so-called Plan B for a Pittsburgh arena, and he hopes the latest offer will work for the Pens.In Rendell's opinion, the deal is the sweetest offered to any of Pennsylvania's professional sports teams when it comes to upfront money put up by the teams."It's better than what any state or city has offered an NHL team for a new stadium in the last several years," said Rendell.Neither side is disclosing the hard numbers that shape the proposal."The goal here is to get a long-term lease and build a new arena," said Onorato. "When that deal is finalized is anyone's guess.""The Pirates. The Steelers. The Eagles. The Flyers. The 76ers," said Rendell. "Significantly better in regards to team participation. It would be significantly lower than the other six teams.""The Penguins are still going to participate and put up some of the money themselves, but it's a very attractive proposal -- even better than the Pirates and the Steelers or the Eagles and the Phillies got when they built their new stadiums," Rendell said before the meeting.The new Plan B should have the Pens ponying up about $8.5 million for the new arena. Some of that payment could be covered by the team selling land for the project to the city Sports and Exhibition Authority.The Pens are also expected to pay less than $3 million a year for its share of the new arena's cost.Don Barden has pledged $7.5 million a year for a new arena. Last month, his PITG Gaming group won a state license to operate a slot machine casino in Pittsburgh. Previous Stories:
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