Mario Lemeiux Reportedly Trying To Buy Back The Pittsburgh Penguins
Lemeiux was part-owner of the Penguins from 1999 to 2021.
There's no one more synonymous with the Pittsburgh Penguins than Mario Lemieux (although that Crosby guy he used to let crash at his house is giving him a run for his money, huh?), and it sounds like No. 66 might be interested in getting back into owning the team.
Lemieux was part of a group that purchased the Penguins after the team went bankrupt in 1999, and saved them from moving out of town.
He and his co-owners, Ron Burkle and David Morehouse, sold the team to Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Boston Red Sox, Liverpool, and part of NASCAR's RFK Racing, in 2021.
However, as of late, there have been reports that Fenway Sports Group was mulling over the possibility of selling off part of the team, which it bought from the Lemieux/Burkle/Morehouse group for $900 million, but is now valued at $1.75 billion, according to Forbes.
TSN's Pierre LeBrun reports that the Lemieux group is looking into the idea of buying back into the team.
It would certainly be cool to see Super Mario owning some or all of the Penguins again, and it would be a pretty wild way to end the aforementioned Sidney Crosby era, seeing as Lemieux owned the team when Crosby entered the league and the two were teammates early on.
Lemieux and the other prospective owners in his group did not comment on this report, but it will be interesting to see how it all pans out.
The most recent sale of an NHL team was the Ottawa Senators in 2023. The team sold for just a little under a billion dollars, and there were plenty of parties interested. Actor Ryan Reynolds was part of one group and attended several games during the process, while Snoop Dogg was part of a completely different group interested in buying the team.
In the end, the team was purchased by Canadian businessman Michael Andlauer.