Getting involved

Burkle’s passion for the Penguins — and his pride in all they have accomplished during his time with the franchise — is readily apparent.

Nonetheless, he was mostly detached from the operation of the team during his early years of ownership.

That changed when he had major philosophical differences with then-CEO Ken Sawyer, who previously had been chief financial officer of the NHL.

“I thought we were headed in the wrong direction,” he said.

Plus, the team wanted a new building to replace Civic Arena.

“I thought we were headed in the wrong direction because Mario, like almost everybody who’s got an incredible talent — whether it’s in business and you’re a great operator or whether it’s as a great player — when they get in the top position, they tend to lean on the CFO a lot, and the CFO doesn’t have a commitment to win,” Burkle said.

“The CFO has a commitment to try to end up with the most amount of money in the bank. And most of the time, just due to their personality, they have the wrong strategy, so their idea of how to end up with the most money in the bank doesn’t build the most value. I’d rather build value than put money in the bank, because value is ultimately what you’re after.”

Sawyer retired after the 2010 season, replaced by Morehouse, a man Burkle hired three years earlier.

Burkle took an active role in the negotiations that eventually resulted in construction of the facility now known as PPG Paints Arena, and in abandoning — or, at the very least, accelerating — what had been management’s five-year plan for constructing a competitive franchise.

“I just felt that we had a commitment to ourselves, because that’s the only reason, to me, to be in this business, if you want to call it a business, or passion, or whatever, is to win,” Burkle said.

“We had it to the community and, as much as anybody, we had it to the players, who were led by [Crosby], who are taking less [money] than they could take. The whole idea of a five-year plan, I thought, was silly. I said, ‘We’re either going to win, or we’re going to get caught trying.’ ”

Burkle put his more aggressive approach into practice in 2008, when he approved upping the