By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

Turns out Mario Lemieux and the Pittsburgh Penguins used and abused KC and the Sprint Center to get a new arena in Pittsburgh.

In today's Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Lemieux said the team he co-owns was never going to leave that city.

"We had to do a few things to put pressure on the city and the state, but our goal was to remain here in Pittsburgh all the way," Lemieux said about his visits in 2006 and 2007 to KC, ostensibly to negotiate a potential deal to bring the Penguins to the Sprint Center.

"Those trips to Kansas City and Vegas and other cities was just to go and have a nice dinner, and come back."

In other words, the Penguins held a gun to the head of local and state officials in Pennsylvania -- and those politicians caved in.

They found the public funds needed to help the Penguins build their new $290 million arena, which broke ground this week.

Meeting with KC leaders "was just a way for us to put more pressure, and we knew it would work at the end of the day," Lemieux said.

Of course, these tactics are common in situations like this one. It's just that Lemieux said out loud what a lot of people say in private.