Not much to agree or disagree with. If the igloo, remodeled or not, is not capable of bringing in the revenue that could be had by moving the team to damn near anywhere else, then staying in the igloo is not a realistic expectation, especially if you expect to put a competitive team on the ice. Sure in a perfect world athletes would not be rediculously overpaid and tickets could be priced at $10 a seat. Simple facts are the athletes can demand, and get huge pay checks, if not from team A, then from team B. Same goes for the franchises themselves. Like it or not, if there is not a means for the Pen’s to make more revenue in Pittsburgh (through a new arena), they’ll go somewhere else.
Is there a plan that would renovate the civic arena enough to actually generate similar revenue to a new arena? (or even an equivalent existing one in the NHL) From what I had heard renovation to that extent was either not pausible or would cost essentially as much as a whole new arena.