Penguins deny NY Post report that ownership feud killed sale

The Pittsburgh Penguins released a statement on Thursday, disputing a New York Post* report that a dispute between co-owners Ron Burkle and Mario Lemieux “called off the sale” of the team.

According to the Post’s sources, Burkle, who owns about 20 percent of the team, turned down a bid to sell the team that Lemieux, who owns 40 percent, wanted to accept. The two had “different asking prices.”

No word if the bid in question came from those Flyers fans on GoFundMe.

Via Howard Burns of Pittsburgh Business Times, the Penguins deny the report:

"Contrary to a media report regarding the potential sale of the Pittsburgh Penguins, there is no disagreement between us and we remain completely aligned in both approach and philosophy. We continue to explore all of our strategic options, including a possible sale," said a statement released Thursday by the team. "There is not, and has never been, an established price for the team, and we are still in conversations with potential buyers."

News of the Penguins’ sale broke during the Stanley Cup Final, with subsequent reports estimated that the sale of the team could be as much as $850 million when the land at the former site of the Igloo is factored in.

The Post believes it’s Burkle who set the asking price at over $700 million. “I think what they asked for was just ridiculous,” a source told the paper. “They thought they had NBA pricing, but the NHL doesn’t even have a significant national US television contract.”

The Business Times’ sources said the price had been set at $700 million.

(* Please keep in mind that the Post report is from Josh Kosman, who … well, has been a bit unreliable in his scoops.)

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