NEW YORK -- The NHL Monday approved the sale of the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins.
The formal transfer to former Minnesota North Stars owners Howard Baldwin and Morris Belzberg ends the dispute over who actually would be purchasing the team.
Both had to agree to let former owner Edward DeBartolo retain a small percentage of the team. Approval required a three-quarters affirmative vote from those Board of Governors members present.
The amount paid for the Penguins was $65 million, $35 million of which will be used for the team. The other $30 million will go toward Civic Arena, whose lease will now be assumed by Spectacor Management Group of Philadelphia.
Two previous meetings by the Board of Governors failed to ratify the sale. But NHL President John Ziegler said Baldwin and Belzberg agreed to put up more money and reduced their debt on a bank loan.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette had cited an NHL source as saying the sale of the team had been delayed because of financial questions concerning Baldwin and Belzberg.
Paul Martha, the former Penguins vice president and legal counsel, leads a group that had an agreement with Baldwin and Belzberg to buy 50 percent of the team once the pair had control. That agreement, apparently, was scrapped by Baldwin and Belzberg last month, and Martha threatened to sue.
Baldwin said a news conference will be held Tuesday when Martha's role with the team will be discussed.
There had also been concerns the duo was planning to sell some of the team's assets, including players. One such player was rumored to be star defenseman Paul Coffey, who has a $1.2 million annual salary.
Ziegler said Baldwin and Belzberg repeated their assurances that they would not sell players to help finance their acquisition of the club.
Said Baldwin: 'Craig Patrick is the general manager, and all player transactions will be made by him. There are no plans of selling off Paul Coffey.'
