Despite the team being valued at $650 million - and despite their owners being multi-millionaire Mario Lemieux and billionaire Ron Burkle - the Pittsburgh Penguins are the only team team in the big four leagues that received a loan under the USA's Paycheck Protection Program. That's according to a report by the New York Post, which states the Penguins received a $4.82 million COVID relief loan, the only team to do so in the NHL, NBA, NFL and MLB.
The Paycheck Protection Program is a loan designed to provide a direct incentive for small businesses to keep their workers on the payroll. The New York Post contacted for the Pittsburgh Penguins for a statement. It received the following:
"With our arena being ordered closed since March and without any event revenue, we requested that our landlord, the Sports & Exhibition Authority (SEA), consider a temporary deferral of our annual rent payment due in September. This request was denied. Accordingly, we borrowed $4.8M under the CARES Act program in mid-August and applied the funds to our $6.1M September rent payment to the SEA, which was used by the public agency to make its required bond payment.
Pittsburgh furloughed 40 employees over the summer, although those workers did maintain their health benefits. Staff were brought back on September 1st to start preparing for the 2020-21 season.
Burkle, estimated to be worth $1.4 billion by Forbes, recently purchased Neverland Ranch, once owned by Michael Jackson. The price tag was $22 million.
