July 23, 2006
The last time Pittsburgh got this much help from Hartford, general manager Ed Johnston sent Ron Francis and Ulf Samuelsson to the Penguins in a trade that Richard Gordon, then owner of the Whalers, recently called the worst in the history of hockey.
That deal put the Penguins over the top for two Stanley Cup championships. That trade made the Penguins the toast of the NHL. That trade also made Hartford the toast of the NHL. Burnt to a crisp, the franchise never recovered and six years later moved to Raleigh, N.C., where one day - believe it or not - the Whalercanes became champions of the world.
But that's a tune you already know as well as "Brass Bonanza."
The vital point today is that 15 years after delivering that care package, more help is on the way from the west bank of the Connecticut River.
Either way, somebody from Hartford is saving the Penguins.
And unless our sources are wrong, neither way are the Penguins moving to Hartford - at least not any time soon.
One man - Sam Fingold - has zero intention of moving the team to Connecticut.
Zero.
Zilch.
Nada.
The last one is for the benefit of Mayor Eddie Perez, whom Fingold seems to have enjoyed kicking around publicly.
The other man - Larry Gottesdiener - would move the Penguins to Hartford in a heartbeat if he could. He already has led a pep rally downtown and House Speaker James Amann has assured him he'd lead the charge for state funding of a new arena. Gottesdiener, who has more than a half-billion dollars invested in downtown, wants to develop a new arena to house a major league franchise and UConn basketball and to become the jewel of the capital city.
"It's a two-horse race," a source close to the negotiations said Saturday after the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette identified Fingold as the leading candidate to buy the Penguins.
Either way, the finish line does not appear to be in Hartford.
Not any time soon, anyway.
Is Gary Bettman a hurdle?
Are the Bruins?
Are the Rangers?
Or is it more a prevailing wisdom in NHL circles that Hartford is the past and not the future?
Don't know.
And don't know how insistent that party line is.
What we do know is Gottesdiener has the money to land a team and - push come to shove - there's a good chance he could outbid Fingold for the Penguins. Without an agreement to team up with former Whalers owner Howard Baldwin, what Gottesdiener lacks is automatic admission to The Club. He's not in the tent of NHL insiders. He didn't know that originally. He knows it now. And if he buys the Penguins, he will gain admittance.
Just like John Henry.
Remember that name.
No, the Red Sox owner isn't involved in this, too.
We're talking about a little history here. Remember how Henry got involved in the ownership of the Florida Marlins? He waited his turn. He played the game. He made his friends. And eventually Major League Baseball came through for him, Tom Werner and Larry Lucchino with the keys to the Red Sox and Fenway Park.
There's a chance here that Gottesdiener could buy the Penguins, get into the tent and someday buy into another team or - down the line - get an expansion franchise and bring it to Hartford. Or there's always the chance Pittsburgh's Plan A (Isle of Capri slots pay for a new arena) and Plan B (another gaming company helps finance it) could fall apart. That would put a move from Pittsburgh on a faster track. That could put Fingold on the same road to K.C. as Gottesdiener wants to take to Hartford.
Although he has lived in Hartford a number of years, we don't know Fingold. We don't know his game. We do know for some time he was talking as if he was going to move the Penguins to a new arena in Kansas City, but now he's found the Western Pennsylvania religion. In the process, he has taken some cracks at Gottesdiener and Perez.
All of a sudden, Fingold is coming off as loyal to Pittsburgh as Bill Cowher.
Saying he'd keep the team in Pittsburgh.
Saying he doesn't know what Gottesdiener's angle is.
Saying Perez doesn't understand all the economics of an NHL team and suggesting Hartford ought to first fix its school system and cut down on crime.
That's an endless debate, of course, the ol' sociological circle game. On one hand, you can argue with conviction that visionary development will eventually help cure what ails a city. On the other hand, you can argue with equal conviction that more money will solve the problems. Around and around we'll go ... and in the meantime, after dropping that public anvil on Perez, here's Fingold running off and trying to buy a team in another city. What? Pittsburgh has no problems? Kansas City has no problems?
So far, we haven't said boo about Fingold.
He's 34. He grew up in Toronto. His dad, David, has oodles and oodles of money. Gottesdiener has his own money and that of his investors to forward. Fingold is a businessman and if he believes the family hockey business is good in Pittsburgh or Kansas City and not in Hartford - fine. Go for it. But at some point, enough folks in Hartford, where he lives and where he runs a real estate business, might say, "Hey, you're working against our best interests." Fingold got into it with Perez over the sale of 101 Pearl St. a year ago. He and Eddie aren't pals. And we've got to wonder: How big a pal is Fingold of Hartford?
A New York firm is brokering the sale and Fingold reportedly has made an offer of about $175 million. Unless Gottesdiener outbids him - and he might - it could put him in position to sign a letter of intent and give him 30 days to seal a deal. The winning bidder would be bound to Pittsburgh if Isle of Capri is given a slot license in the city - expected to be awarded as early as November. That gaming company has pledged $290 million for a new arena. If Isle of Capri doesn't get the license, Plan B, proposed by Gov. Ed Rendell, would require another company to contribute $7.5 million a year while the Penguins would contribute $4 million a year toward a new building.
So there you have it. Two Hartford businessmen, both starting with the idea to keep a team in Pittsburgh.
If that falls through, one would try to move the team to Hartford.
If that falls through, you've got to figure the other would try to move the team to K.C.
In the meantime, this is what Hartford has to ask itself:
UConn basketball is the golden goose that must be served eventually with a new arena downtown. How long do we wait to build it? And how badly do we want a major league team to share it? The time has come for answers.
