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Fenway Sports Officially Purchases Majority Stake in Pittsburgh Penguins

It was made official on Monday that Fenway Sports Group (FSG), a global sports, marketing, media, entertainment, and real estate company, today announced an agreement to acquire controlling interest in the Penguins.

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For those unaware, the Fenway Sports Group currently own both the Boston Red Sox of the Major League Baseball (MLB) and Liverpool of the Premier League. Early reports are suggesting that both Ron Burkle and Mario Lemieux, who had previously been the owners of the Penguins, will remain part of the ownership group moving forward. The senior management team is also expected to remain the same. Lemieux said of the deal: “This is an exciting day for the future of our franchise… This is a new beginning, not the end of an era.”

The dollar amount is said to be around $900 million. It was reported in October that the Penguins were valued at $845 million, which stood as the 15th highest total in the NHL.

Prior to this move with the Penguins, Fenway Sports Group reportedly contacted the Toronto Maple Leafs in hopes of a merger, but the Leafs were uninterested. After that, they moved on to the Penguins and have seemingly worked out a deal.

Both Lemieux and Burkle have been co-owners of the Penguins since 1999. At the time, the Penguins had declared bankruptcy. Since Lemieux and Burkle took over, the team has had major success, including three Stanley Cup wins in 2009, 2016 and 2017.

While they reportedly lost out in a merger with the Leafs, Fenway Sports Group has to be thrilled about this opportunity. Assuming this deal goes through, they will be owners of a team that have two of the league’s best superstars in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. On top of that, they are still a relatively competitive team and have not missed the playoffs in 15 straight seasons, a streak that leads the NHL by a wide margin.

Through 21 games in 2021-22, the Penguins have a record of 10-7-4. That is currently good enough for the second wild-card position in the Eastern Conference and is quite impressive given how far back they sat just a few weeks prior. It has been a tough go early on injury-wise for the Pens, who started the season without both Crosby and Malkin. Things seem to be turning around, however, and it shouldn’t surprise anybody if they are able to get back in the postseason once again this spring.

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