EDITORIAL – Prodigal Penguins to stay in nest

So the march of the Penguins has ended.

The city decided to give a puck, and now… So the march of the Penguins has ended.

The city decided to give a puck, and now Pittsburgh and the much-argued-over franchise have finally hammered out a deal that would allow them to stay in the city – and get a new stadium to boot.

The deal announced at 5 p.m. yesterday, includes a $290 million facility and a brand new 30-year lease. What makes this deal even better is that no local taxpayer will end up paying for the team’s new digs, since most of the money will come from annual $15 million contributions in gaming funds and Don Barden’s PITG Gaming – which will also contribute $7.5 million annually toward the new arena’s construction.

The Penguins will also have to pay their share and cough up $4.2 million for the new arena to be located near Mellon Arena’s current place in Uptown.

The National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman pointed to only one man as the one responsible for keeping the Penguins in the city – Mario Lemieux.

“What can be said about Mario Lemieux that hasn’t been said,” Bettman said. “What [he has] done for Pittsburgh, the Penguins and the NHL is nothing short of remarkable. We always believed in Pittsburgh, and the Penguins belong here.

But Democratic Governor Ed Rendell attributes the final deal to the recent introduction of slots into the state.

“Were it not for gaming, the first puck drop for the Penguins next year would be in Kansas City,” Rendell said. “Make no mistake. The deal in Kansas City was a great deal for the Penguins. In the end, it was the strength, loyalty and support the fans have given their team over the years, through good and bad.”

But recently those times have been mostly bad. Although the deal is a great way to keep the Penguins in the city, the ‘Burgh has much bigger fish to fry. The city and state have decided to allocate funds that could have been used elsewhere to keep hockey in Pittsburgh.

The problems of low attendance, paltry television rights and general national disinterest in the sport make shelling out this amount of money for the team a tough dose to swallow.

Since the lockout, the Penguins haven’t been in the black, and throwing the team money may end up putting all of us into the red. However, despite that cautionary note, the city has lived with the Penguins for more than 40 years, and with this new deal they will stay here for 30 more.

Although penguins can’t fly, this deal might. So in the coming years we may see casino money contribute less to various services and programs in the area and see the Penguins play more.

So for the most part, we’re glad that the team and our elected officials scored this hat trick and struck the best bargain that anyone could have hoped for. Whether it works out in the long term is anybody’s guess.