Interest in Arena Memorabilia "Tremendous"

The first phase of the sale of Civic Arena items concludes tomorrow. The Sports and Exhibition Authority (SEA) and the Penguins are selling off seats and memorabilia. In the first round, 4,800 pairs of seats are available at a fixed price of $495 plus $120 shipping to season ticket holders. The seats become available to the general public December 1. Also starting that day, 4,300 "commemorative" single seats will be put on sale for the same price.
Shawn Allen is the Chief Operating Officer of AssetNation which is handling the sale. His company ran the sale for 3 Rivers Stadium seats ten years ago...

"That was a pure auction where we started at a low price and auctioned them up because it was a short period of time. Since we have a longer period of time for the Civic Arena, we decided to go out on a a "buy it now" sale price rather than an auction."

Allen says there is already tremendous interest in non-seat memorabilia which will be auctioned online December 8...."Some of the banners....the Ring of Honor around the Civic Arena. That is such a unique item that we really thought an auction was the best way to not only generate revenue for the city and the Penguins, but allow that piece to go to the most interested party."

The high bidders are responsible for removing the items from the arena. The sale is projected to bring in $1.6 million for the SEA and $800,000 for the Penguins. The SEA could use that money to pay for razing of the arena. Most of the Penguins' share is expected to go to the team's foundation to support youth hockey.