Almost Kansas City's Penguins Update.

The soon-to-be Kansas City Penguins are 17-15-6, good for 40 points. They are in fourth place in the Atlanic Division, 1 point behind the Islanders, 4 points behind the Rangers, and 8 points behind the first place Devils.

The Pens play the Sabres in Buffalo Friday night.

From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

Pens start year in style
The Penguins couldn't have started 2007 off much better than they did Tuesday night in a near-perfect win over the defending Stanley Cup champions.

Lemieux in Kansas City today

Experts like offer to Penguins
A new Uptown arena could mean millions of dollars a year for the Penguins -- and might be enough to keep the team from leaving Pittsburgh.

Compared to a building as old as Mellon Arena, a new one with luxury suites, concessions and non-sporting events could bring in as much as an extra $20 million a year, said Andrew Zimbalist, a sports economist at Smith College in Massachusetts.

That's not all profit, but that money should go a long way toward covering the team's contribution for the building, experts said. Under the current 30-year offer, the team would have to pay $8.5 million up front and $2.9 million a year, while forgoing $1.16 million a year in naming rights.

"It's rare that another city can make that offer," said Darren Rouvelle, a CNBC sports business analyst. "Even with that up-front fee, that's still very much a sweetheart deal."

Team officials have agreed to sit down late Thursday afternoon with Gov. Ed Rendell, Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato and Mayor Luke Ravenstahl to talk about how to pay for an arena. Team owners also plan to look at relocating.

Although the Penguins likely would have to help pay for an Uptown building, the team could make more money from an arena here, too. All of the revenue from a new Pittsburgh arena is available to "help keep the team viable," Onorato said recently.

"We're going to be able to put together a very competitive package because we have that flexibility," Onorato said. "We know there are a lot of revenues that are going to come out of a new building."

That could be a better offer than those of so-called "free arenas" in cities such as Kansas City or Portland.

Scheduled to open in September, Kansas City's Sprint Center does not have a main tenant, and is offering a guarantee that all luxury boxes will be sold through the first season for a National Hockey League franchise.

But the operator, AEG, a subsidiary of the Anschutz Company, invested $54 million toward the cost of the $276 million Sprint Center, allowing it to determine how much money would go to a main tenant.

"Revenues are certainly key to the sports franchise," said Neil Irwin, a sports analyst at Bryan Cave in Phoenix. "If they're not able to tap into other revenue sources, the sports side of it will usually not support itself."

Even without counting new revenues, the public seems to be making a fair offer to the Penguins, experts said. An average deal would require the team to put up 35 to 40 percent of the arena cost, Zimbalist said.

Under the latest offer, often called Plan B, the team would have to come up with 20 percent.

The state would pay $7 million a year from an economic development fund backed by gambling money, and Majestic Star Casino would pay $7.5 million a year from its profits at a new North Shore slot machine parlor. That would allow the city-county Sports & Exhibition Authority to borrow $230 million toward the $290 million arena cost.

ACK!

"This is a better than average deal that the Penguins are being offered," Zimbalist said. "It's hard to imagine available cities out there that are better hockey cities than Pittsburgh. But I don't know what is the starting point for the Penguins."

Amen to that, Brother.

Both of Kansas City's hockey fans declined comment for this story.

Portland's hockey fan is vacationing in Hawaii.

The city offers the Penguins an established hockey market with a rich tradition and strong fan base. That can be a priceless commodity, especially in the National Hockey League.

"There is real concern when you have to start from zero season tickets," said Marc Ganis, president of Sportscorp Ltd. in Chicago. "Pittsburgh doesn't need to be dollar-to-dollar with the other markets."

Help paying for an arena?

As the Penguins prepare to negotiate terms for a new arena, the public is still paying for the old one. The Allegheny County Regional Asset District is obligated to make the following payments for debt and improvements at Mellon Arena:

Year -- Amount
2007 -- $1,000,000
2008 -- $1,000,000
2009 -- $1,000,000
2010 -- $965,000
2011 -- $925,000
2012 -- $893,000
2013 -- $849,000
2014 -- $817,000
2015 -- $788,000
2016 -- $741,000
2017 -- $991,000
2018 -- $685,000
Total $10,654,000

Double ack!

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