Bussiness
Penguins dismiss multiple business staffers
The Pittsburgh Penguins dismissed multiple front office staffers on the business side of operations Wednesday.
The precise number of cuts is not publicly known.
Penguins president of business operations Kevin Acklin issued a statement regarding the dismissals:
“This season, we have taken time to evaluate our business operations and concluded that a restructuring was necessary, which included some difficult personnel decisions. While change is never easy, we believe our plans to reinvest and bolster critical areas of our organization will allow us to build on the high standard of excellence that our fans, players, and partners have come to expect.”
A phone call requesting further specifics was not returned.
In addition to dealing with the lingering economic hardships brought on by the pandemic, the Penguins have missed the postseason for two consecutive seasons. Playoff home games are typically a boon financially for any professional sports franchise.
While the franchise’s finances aren’t publicly known, the team did enjoy a healthy home attendance figure of 734,252 over 41 home games for the 2023-24 season. That figure equates to an average attendance 17,909 per contest or 97.4% of potential capacity.
That figure represented a slight improvement from the 2022-23 season in which they hosted 730,458 fans over 41 home games. That equated to an average attendance of 17,816 per contest or 96.9%.
The seated capacity for hockey at PPG Paints Arena is 18,187.
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.