Pens Sale: Cuban Not Interested, Others Will Be
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- When talking about prospective suitors of the Penguins, one name inevitably rises to the top of the list.
Billionaire and Mt. Lebanon native Mark Cuban has always regretted not bidding high enough on the franchise the last time it was on the block.
"It probably will go down in history as one the biggest mistakes I've made in not buying the penguins," he said.
That was Cuban in 2006 -- today KDKA spoke with Todd Reidboard -- the local developer who partnered with Cuban in that unsuccessful bid says Cuban, now a father of three and spread very thin, is not interested this time around.
But that he, Reidbord, the president of Walnut Capital, might be.
"I'm always looking for great opportunities in Pittsburgh," he said. "We were very bullish on Pittsburgh, we've invested many millions of dollars here and a lot of new construction over the past five years. We're real excited about the opportunities in Pittsburgh, so this would be a great continuation of that if we could put something together."
The daunting question for Reidboard and others will be the price -- the Lemieux group paid $107 million for the team in 1999 and will likely be asking for six times as much.
If he were to get involved, Reidboard said he would be a smaller investor and not the principal owner. But he said the team is likely worth as much considering it it has the development rights to the old arena site. Something Walnut Capital -- which is undertaking massive construction project in the city's East End -- would be intrigued by.
Reidboard: "The NHL's hot, Pittsburgh's hot, the market here is hot, so I think it's probably they're looking at their options."
Sheehan: "So they're selling at the high end?"
Reidboard: "I would think so. From everything I read and everything I see, I think now's a great time."
But his time you can scratch Cuban's name off the list of potential buyers.
As this process unfolds the Pens will likely have many interested suitors, but few if any, will have pockets as deep as Mark Cuban's or as strong a local connection
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