A united front of local and state leaders now faces a team bitter toward officialdom and ready to run, with the fate of an arena and a hockey team sitting like a loose puck between them.

		Listen In Listen to excerpts of a joint press conference with Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato and Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl on PITG Gaming's selection for the Pittsburgh casino: Onorato: "Time to move forward" Ravenstahl: "An exciting day for Pittsburgh" Ravenstahl: Creating a casino impact task force Onorato and Ravenstahl: Reach out to the Penguins

Gov. Ed Rendell, Allegheny County Dan Onorato and Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said yesterday that they are ready to start talking today with the Penguins about the team's need for a new arena.

"We're going to do everything that we can responsibly do to keep the Penguins in Pittsburgh, and we're going to try to do it quickly," the governor said. Mr. Onorato said demolition on a Hill District arena site controlled by the city and county will start next month, and noted that they've already spent $16 million in state money buying the property.

But the team and the National Hockey League issued statements suggesting that negotiations over an arena deal could occur against the backdrop of credible threats to leave town.

One sports financing expert who helped craft Pittsburgh's stadium deals a decade ago called the situation "very difficult.

"This one is not going to be easy," said Marc Ganis, president of Sports Corp. Ltd. Events of the last few days "put the Penguins in play like they've never been before."

Those events include NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman's reported insistence that a new buyer do everything possible to keep the team in Pittsburgh; Friday's announcement by Canadian businessman Jim Balsillie that he was dropping his bid to buy the team (although he backed away from that position yesterday); state rejection of the Isle of Capri's plan to win a casino license and build an arena; and Mr. Bettman's terse statement of yesterday.

"The future of this franchise in Pittsburgh is uncertain and the Penguins now will have to explore all other options, including possible relocation," Mr. Bettman wrote.

The team would not go much beyond a statement saying it was entering "a period of uncertainty, with our lease at Mellon Arena set to expire this summer. We will re-evaluate all of our options before deciding on a course of action and making further comment."

"The sooner the Penguins are willing to sit down with us, the sooner that uncertainty goes away," Mr. Ravenstahl said. "We do have the ability to sweeten Plan B."

For a year, the team hadn't talked with officials about arena funding, hitching its star to the Isle of Capri Casinos and its promise to fund a new $290 million arena if it won the slots license.

That license instead went to PITG Gaming. That firm reiterated its pledge to contribute $7.5 million a year, for 30 years, toward the cost of an arena.

That's what Mr. Rendell sought as part of a financing plan that also includes $7 million a year from the state Gaming Economic Development and Tourism Fund, and $4 million a year from the team and arena operations or naming rights payments. The team would also pay $8.5 million up front.

County Councilman Matt Drozd took it a step further last night and called on Don Barden of PITG Gaming to buy the Penguins and keep the team in Pittsburgh. Mr. Drozd also urged Mr. Barden to underwrite the cost of a bond issue for a new arena.

Plan B as formulated now would generated $315 million for a new arena. But Mr. Ganis noted that sports facility prices are "spiralling" upward, and officials have to be ready for cost overruns.

"If [the team] can demonstrate to me where the plan falls short, then I'd consider where we could help," Mr. Rendell said.

Mr. Balsillie's reported $175 million purchase price was likely based in part on what the team would be worth in a publicly funded stadium like the $276 million Sprint Center, set to open in Kansas City in October, sports insiders have said.

Venture capitalist William "Boots" Del Biaggio III, who came close to buying the Penguins last year, has a deal with Sprint Center's management to own and operate an NHL team in Kansas City if he can get a franchise. He called the Penguins "an attractive franchise" in an article this week in the Kansas City Star.

Under Mr. Rendell's plan, the team's contribution would total $128 million over 30 years, noted Councilman William Peduto, a likely mayoral challenger who backed the Isle of Capri's efforts.

"If you have the opportunity to go to Kansas City, where they already have an arena built, or to Portland, where they already have an arena built, or to Houston, where they already have an arena built, why would you come to Pittsburgh and pay $128 million?" he asked.

He said he doesn't believe state law permits the use of the Gaming Economic Development and Tourism Fund to back an arena in Pittsburgh.

Emotions may also complicate the effort. Penguins owner Mario Lemieux said Monday that he's frustrated with the uphill battle for a new arena deal.

"Let me reach out to Mario here," Mr. Onorato said. "I know he's been frustrated. I know he's been quoted as saying it's been seven years, and he hasn't had any success dealing with elected officials."

NHL bylaws and Mr. Bettman's preference for keeping teams in cities with loyal fans may work in the city's favor, said Jeffrey L. Kessler, a New York attorney who has successfully sued to keep teams from leaving their homes.

"There may be a whole variety of legal barriers to them moving," he said. And there's this question: "If hockey can't make it in Pittsburgh, where can it make it?"