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Philadelphia Flyers fan starts GoFundMe to purchase Pittsburgh Penguins

By Tasha St. Pierre

Jan 20, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Flyers center Sean Couturier (14) and Pittsburgh Penguins center Brandon Sutter (16) during the first period at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 20, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Flyers center Sean Couturier (14) and Pittsburgh Penguins center Brandon Sutter (16) during the first period at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports /
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A Philadelphia Flyers fan takes in-state rivalry to an all-time high when he creates a GoFundMe account in order to raise money to buy said team, the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Whether it is the National Football League, Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, or any other professional sports league, there is always going to be an intense sense of competition in the air. In any form of competitive atmosphere, there are bound to be rivalries.

In College Sports you have rivalries like the Auburn Tigers and the Alabama Crimson Tide or teams like the Florida State Seminoles and the Florida Gators (Go Gators!). In baseball, you have teams like the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees; however, it is a National Hockey League fan that took the term in-state rivalry to a whole new level.

A Philadelphia Flyers fan by the name of Jeromy Lee Spencer actually started a GoFundMe account to assist him in his journey to become a National Hockey League team owner. Which team is he looking to purchase? Who else but the Flyers’ in-state, and rather bitter, rival…the Pittsburgh Penguins.

We’re sure the first question on the top of your mind is where someone, even a diehard fan like Spencer, would get an audacious idea like this one. Well, it just so happens that Pittsburgh Penguins owner Mario Lemieux has stated that he would be willing to sell the Penguins franchise for a whopping $750 million dollars. Raising that kind of money should be simple enough, right?

Some of the changes they would make would start with painting the inside of the CONSOL Energy Center orange and black, putting a giant photo of Claude Giroux on the outside of the building facing the highway, repainting the parking stripes in orange, and much more.

Let’s be real here…the likelihood that they are going to raise the kind of cash that would be needed to not only secure the purchase of the team, but to make the “changes” they seek to make would take a lot more money than they are likely to raise from the campaign; however, they are receiving a surprisingly high amount of donations for what is ultimately a pipe dream. In just one day, the fund had already received $628 from a total of 32 donors; some pledging $50 towards the cause.

The good news is, while the GoFundMe campaign has very little chance of actually reaching the $750 million goal the money donated (now and future donations) will be going to a good cause. If they fail to reach their goal, which as we have said before is highly likely, 100% of the money raised will be donated to the Flyers Wives charities.

While this may have been a halfhearted effort, and actually more of an effort to take a stab at their in-state rivals, it definitely sparks the competition between these two teams as they prepare to head into the 2015-16 hockey season.

If you think this is a righteous cause worth donating your hard-earned money to, you can check out the campaign in all its competitive goodness right here.

The 2015-16 hockey season officially kicks off on October 8th. The Philadelphia Flyers will kick off their season on the road as they travel to the Amalie Arena to take on the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Pittsburgh Penguins will start off their season on the road as well as they travel to the American Airlines Center to take on the Dallas Stars.

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