Inside the High-Stakes Battle: Billionaire’s Secret Bid to Own the Penguins Revealed

Here’s the scoop that’s shaking up hockey circles: a billionaire with a solid foothold in minor league hockey is throwing his hat into the ring for the Pittsburgh Penguins. David Hoffmann—yeah, the 73-year-old magnate whose family empire stretches across industries from newspapers to executive recruiting—is pushing a hefty bid of around $1.75 billion to snag the Penguins from Fenway Sports Group. That price tag? Nearly double what FSG shelled out back in 2021. It’s a bold play, no question, especially considering Hoffmann already owns the ECHL’s Florida Everblades, a team he scooped up just a few years ago. The drama deepens as previous potential buyers, like ex-Penguins legends Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle, apparently haven’t turned up the heat enough to seal the deal. Meanwhile, Fenway’s been tight-lipped, only hinting at a search for smaller, passive partners—not a full-on sale. Intrigued? There’s more beneath the surface you’ll want to dive into. LEARN MORE.

A billionaire businessman who owns an ECHL hockey team in Florida has emerged as a “serious contender” to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins from Fenway Sports Group, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.ca reported Monday.

According to the report, David Hoffmann and his family are trying to buy the team for about $1.75 billion, significantly more than the reported $900 million Fenway paid for the Penguins in 2021.

Hoffmann, 73, is worth $2 billion, according to Forbes. He owns the Hoffmann Family of Companies, which runs dozens of businesses in a wide variety of fields, including local newspapers. He started to make his fortune with an executive recruiting company and bought the ECHL’s Florida Everblades from former Carolina Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos in 2019.

Freidman reported earlier this summer that former Penguins owners Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle were interested in buying the team from FSG. His most recent report, in August, indicated Lemieux and Burkle hadn’t made a large enough offer to entice FSG to sell.

More on potential Penguins’ sale

• Tim Benz: Vibe around potential Penguins sale changes as a buyer not named Mario Lemieux emerges

Fenway has not publicly indicated the team is for sale, instead saying only that it is seeking minority investors.

“The focus is on identifying a small, passive partner, and that is the current framework under discussion with potential investors,” the company said in a statement in June.