Breakaway: The Inside Story of a Hockey Team's Rebirth

by Andrew Conte

Breakaway transcends Americans passions for sports and casino gambling as it follows two professional hockey team owners who run the table from bankruptcy to a lucrative new arena and the most-storied trophy in all of sports.

Already the Pittsburgh Penguins were unconventional. One former owner, a Hollywood producer, used the team as backdrop for a blockbuster movie with terrorists attacking during a championship game. Then after the Penguins won two real championships, its star forward Mario Lemieux took ownership of the team when it could not afford to pay the $32.5 million he was owed. Rather than skating off to a richer market, he stayed in Pittsburgh, a city going through its own transformation from gritty steel to clean, high-tech industries. To make payroll, Lemieux partnered with California billionaire Ron Burkle, a Page Six celebrity and pal of President Bill Clinton.

None of that changed the fact that no one wins without cash. To make that money, a team needs a modern arena with luxury boxes, club seats and concession stands serving quality cuts of beef and micro-brewed beers. Defying conventional wisdom about sports and gambling, Lemieux rolled the dice on slot machines. When that idea became an uncertain prospect, Lemieux threatened to unload the team, nearly selling it to the Canadian business mogul who makes BlackBerry wireless devices. Finally, Lemieux forced politicians into doing what he wanted all along: They came up with money for an arena that would keep the team in Pittsburgh. In a meeting so secret that it took place in the back room of a New Jersey roadside hotel, Pennsylvania s Gov. Ed Rendell worked out a deal for using the state s slots proceeds to pay for the building. The moment brought together two old friends from Democratic circles: the governor and Burkle, a major party benefactor.

Then Lemieux and Burkle hit a hockey lottery jackpot, winning rights to draft the hottest phenomenon in a generation, Sidney Crosby, 17, who, like basketball s LeBron James, had been marked for greatness since grade school. The owners already had picked up another hot prospect: Evgeni Malkin, a Russian who played for the Steelers of the Ural Mountains, snuck away from his old team s owners in a late-night escape with the drama of a Cold War spy novel.

Breakaway brings the hockey fan into the action of the behind the scenes intrigue and high stakes action in the front office of a major league sports franchise.

Genres: Sports, Hockey, Nonfiction

248 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2011

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Good look at the decline and rise of the Pittsburgh Penguins, from 2004 through the beginning of the 2010 season when the new arena opened. I started reading this shortly before GM Ray Shero was fired and finished it the day before Coach Dan Bylsma was fired (although after Shero was fired, I assumed Bylsma would go, too). So I read this from an odd, sort of cynical place...

[Jon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had grown up going to occasional games at the Civic Arena and had a fondness for the place. At the same time, Sidney Crosby is three days older than me, so I've been watching him play my whole adult life (while I graduated high school, he was starting his rookie season). It was really interesting to see how the end of the Civic Arena, a team near bankruptcy unable to make payment on the contract of its star player, the drafting of Sidney Crosby (and Malkin and Fleury), and the legalization of gambling & the political battle of Pittsburgh's casino license all were dots on a timeline of continued, determined effort by Mario Lemieux and the ownership group to keep the Penguins in Pittsburgh. There was so much fascinating history here that I don't want to spoil, so suffice it to say, if you are a Penguins fan then this book is well worth the read!

[Brendan Morphett · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting read detailing the rebirth of the Pittsburgh Penguins after being purchased out of bankruptcy by Mario Lemieux and the role of the legalization of gambling in the area allowing them to fund the new arena. Highly recommend to sports fans or those who are interested in the business behind how sports teams are run

[Jon]

Almost as much of a book telling the tale of the Pittsburgh Casino project as it is the Penguins, though both are entwined. A good sports business book.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book not only because I am a Penguins fan and love my hometown of Pittsburgh, but I am interested in sports economics. When I worked for the City of Norfolk, I helped put together the financial plan for a new arena in the city's bid to lure the Charlotte Hornets to the city. I find the whole economics of major league sports to be fascinating.

I didn't live near Pgh during the casino/arena bidding process but would catch bits and pieces of information from the news and my family. I enjoyed reading about the whole process.

I also learned so much about the NHL draft policies as well. I am so glad that the Pens ended up with Malkin and Crosby and not Ovechkin :)

[Joe Dykta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book with a lot of in depth discussion about the arena and things that I had forgotten over the years. Mario assembled a good team around him that pulled this off. Goes to show you, if you are a good person and work hard, good things happen to you. Merci Mario,.

[Tom D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific book that looks at the business of sport and its impact on community as well as fans.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Behind the scenes of the Penguins and the building of the new arena.

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a very good book, especially the chapter on Geno getting out of Russia.

[Natasha Andjelkovic · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must

[Brian Sandor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as in depth as I hoped, but still a good review of the Pens during those dark days of bankruptcy, the casino fiasco to the Cup and the new arena.