The Fenway Sports Group is selling one of its core professional sports franchises.
As first reported by hockey insider Frank Seravalli, FSG has agreed to sell the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins to a Chicago-based ownership group led by David Hoffman. ESPN is reporting the sale price is expected to come in around $1.7 billion. The deal is pending NHL board approval.Â
Asked to confirm the reporting, a FSG spokesperson told the Daily Mail there is no formal sale to announce at this time. The Daily Mail has also reached out to Penguins spokespeople for confirmation. Seravalli said an announcement is expected within a week or so.Â
FSG bought the Penguins in 2021 from an ownership group led by Hockey Hall of Famer and franchise savior Mario Lemieux for a reported $900 million. Just last week, Forbes valued the club at $1.75 billion with $230 million in annual revenue.
Owners of Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox and the English Premier League‘s Liverpool Football Club, FSG was founded by John Henry and Tom Werner in 2001. Its investors include LeBron James and his long-time business partner Maverick Carter, as well as Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy.
The Red Sox have enjoyed the most success under FSG’s ownership, ending their 86-year title drought in 2004 and adding another three MLB crowns since. Liverpool captured two Premier League trophies, an FA cup, and a UEFA Champions League title since FSG bought the team for a reported £300 million in 2010.Â
(From left) Jennifer Ashton and her husband Tom Werner, Chairman of Liverpool, and John Henry, Principle Owner, with his wife Linda Pizzuti Henry. Werner and Henry founded FSG
Kevin Hayes #13 of the Pittsburgh Penguins celebrates his third period goal against the Philadelphia Flyers with Sidney Crosby #87 at the Xfinity Mobile Arena on December 1
Things have been different in Pittsburgh, where the Penguins raised the Stanley Cup twice in the five years before FSG became owners. Since the acquisition, though, the Penguins have only reached the first round of the playoffs have missed the postseason entirely for each of the last three years.Â
News of a sale might be welcomed by all three fan bases.
The Red Sox are struggling to sign free agents in a competitive offseason market as Liverpool heads into another transfer period, so additional funding would certainly be welcome by both the Fenway and Anfield faithful.
Meanwhile, Penguins fans had grown tired of seen their front office outbid for star players. Currently the Penguins rank 28th out of 32 NHL teams in payroll.
‘FSG was never all-in on Pittsburgh,’ one fan wrote online. ‘Maybe the Hoffmann family will actually treat the Penguins like the historic franchise they are.’
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Billionaire owners of the Red Sox, Liverpool FC and Penguins ‘decide to sell one of their core teams’