PITTSBURGH - The Pittsburgh Penguins are getting a new owner, and he arrived on the day a new season started. That soon-to-be owner, Canadian businessman Jim Balsillie, said it's obvious what has to follow: a new arena.

Canadian business executive Jim Balsillie delivers a speech in Toronto, in this Sept. 18, 2006 file photo. Balsillie, whose company makes the BlackBerry wireless messaging device, signed an agreement to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins, the team announced Thursday Oct. 5, 2006. (AP PHOTO/CP, Adrian Wyld)

Balsillie, whose company makes the BlackBerry wireless messaging device, signed an agreement Thursday to buy the Penguins from Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux's group for approximately $175 million.

The deal, which must be approved by the NHL, was completed two months after Toronto-based business executive Sam Fingold reached a preliminary agreement to buy the team but could not complete it.

Balsillie promised he is committed to keeping the Penguins in Pittsburgh — the NHL had all but mandated that the franchise cannot move as long as a new arena is built. Mellon Arena, opened in 1961, is the NHL's oldest and least fan-friendly, a 1950s design still in use a half-century later.

"I really hope we get it done quickly," Balsillie said, though he said it's not realistic to expect an arena deal until next spring. "I wish it was done now. It should have been done a long time ago. It's of urgent priority. ... There's a certain standard (of arena) a city like this should expect."

However, the Penguins' agreement with the Isle of Capri casino chain to build a $295 million arena at no expense to the team or taxpayers is part of the holdup. To build the arena, Isle of Capri must gain the rights to build a new slots machine parlor in downtown Pittsburgh, and the state agency that will award the license is not expected to make a decision until the end of the year at the earliest.

Balsillie said the Penguins are contractually obligated to maintain the partnership with Isle of Capri until a slots license decision is made.

"The contracts and commitments are not only legal, but moral. It would be very presumptuous of me to come in and reconsider those deals," he said in a news conference between periods of the Penguins' season opener with Philadelphia. "At the end of the deal, these are the cards I've been dealt and I am going to respect them and play them as people expect them to be played."

Gov. Ed Rendell and county and city officials prefer the Penguins agree now to an alternate plan to fund the arena — if Isle of Capri doesn't get the license — so preliminary work, such as the clearing of the arena site, can begin. The state already has designated money for that project, partly on property the Penguins acquired in anticipation of a new building.

"It's kind of a moving target," Balsillie said of the so-called Plan B. "I just can't comment because it's all so very fluid on a bunch of stuff. Clearly the focus right now is the Isle of Capri stuff."

Regardless of how it is financed, Allegheny County chief executive Dan Onorato said earlier this week that a new arena will be built.

Balsillie's company is based in Waterloo, Ontario, not far from Hamilton — a city that has been seeking an NHL team. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said Wednesday night the league is intent on keeping the Penguins in Pittsburgh as long as a new arena is built.

"We believe the Penguins should be in Pittsburgh, and as long as there's a new building coming, our goal and objective will be to keep the team there," Bettman said.

Asked if he is confident that Balsillie will keep the Penguins in Pittsburgh, Lemieux said, "Yes."

Lemieux said he won't retain any share of the team, but may accept an advisor's role.

Balsillie apologized for taking the spotlight from Lemieux, whose No. 66 banner was raised again to the arena roof minutes before the game. Lemieux retired as a player for the second time in January after a bout with an irregular heartbeat.

"Jim is a tremendous businessman and a passionate hockey fan, and I think he is going to be a great owner for the Pittsburgh Penguins," Lemieux said.

The Penguins, two-time Stanley Cup champions in the 1990s, were purchased in federal bankruptcy court in 1999 by a group led by Lemieux.

The 45-year-old Balsillie is co-chief executive officer of Research in Motion Ltd. He has not mentioned any prospective partners, and he apparently intends to purchase the team by himself.

Fittingly, Balsillie's BlackBerry went off midway through his introductory news conference. As he shut it off, he raised it to show his new screen saver: the Penguins logo.