The Penguins will be sold to the Fenway Sports Group, a source told DK Pittsburgh Sports, but Mario Lemieux will retain a minority stake. Ron Burkle, his longtime partner, is out.
David Morehouse will remain the team's CEO, and the front office and hockey operations will be untouched, also per the source.
Fenway Sports Group is a holding group that owns Major League Baseball's Boston Red Sox and Liverpool F.C. of the English Premier League, as well as the stadiums for both teams, and the Red Sox's Class AAA and low Class A affiliates, and 80% of the New England-based sports television network NESN.
John W. Henry is principal owner of Fenway Sports Group, owning 40 percent. Other partners in Fenway Sports Group include Pittsburgh native Larry Lucchino, billionaire brothers Ted and Bill Alfond, NBA legend LeBron James, and James' business manager Maverick Carter.
The Penguins won't have any comment on this matter, the team told DK Pittsburgh Sports, until/if any sale is consummated.
There's been no word from any direction regarding a price. The Penguins are seen as having a value in the range of $650 million-$700 million by varying publications, but those have no access to teams' financial data.
Multiple sources told DK Pittsburgh Sports three weeks ago that the Penguins were being pursued by potential suitors, but such events occur routinely with even the most stable professional sports franchises. One of those sources suggested that one party was close to buying the team, but team officials rejected that emphatically.
The source Tuesday told DK Pittsburgh Sports that any suitor that'd approached the team at any point wanted Lemieux to stay aboard, in part because no one would want to be attached to the departure of a living legend.
The Fenway Sports Group's website carries the slogan, 'Taking Cherished and Iconic Clubs to New Heights,' and the source said that's expected to be a big part of the public push once the sale's final. The Red Sox and Liverpool have both won championships under the Fenway Group, and their leadership sees the Penguins as being a premier brand in the NHL given their perennial status as the league's TV ratings leader in the U.S., the 633-game sellout streak that recently ended at PPG Paints Arena and, of course, the five Stanley Cups.
Henry, 72, always has been the central figure in the Fenway Group. He's an investment manager estimated as having a net worth of more than $3 billion by multiple publications, having bought the Red Sox for $380 million in 2002 and having accumulated multiple other businesses, including the publishing of the Boston Globe newspaper. Born in Quincy, Ill., he grew up a fan of the St. Louis Cardinals, mostly of Donora-born star Stan Musial.
Henry previously tried to get into the NHL in putting together a bid for a Florida-based expansion franchise that eventually went to Phil and Tony Esposito to create the Tampa Bay Lightning in 1992.
The Red Sox have won four World Series with Henry as owner, while Liverpool has won the 2019 UEFA Champions League title -- awarded annually to the best club team in Europe -- and the 2020 Premier League crown. It marked Liverpool's first top-flight English title in 30 years.
Lemieux, 56, moved into the Penguins' ownership in 1999, two years after his initial retirement as a player. He'd been owed more than $32 million in deferred salary, and that was converted into equity in the team, making him the first player in North American sports history to own the team for which he once played. Of course, he registered another such first when he returned to play for the team Dec. 27, 2000.
Burkle, 69, helped Lemieux through the process in 1999, contributing $22 million, and remained a steadfast partner for the two decades that followed. Although his stake in ownership wound up greater than Lemieux's, he always took a back seat to Lemieux both in public and behind the scenes.
