News Article: Lebreton

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

Is the bottom line that we'll have a higher payroll out of this? That's really all I care about to be honest

It locks up their long term future in Ottawa for the next 30-40 years and gives them an opportunity to thrive unlike out in Kanata.

 

[West Coast Eagles]

As a Mets fan, seeing the Wilpons being involved sullies this great news slightly. I think they are just with the development though? Please no team ownership thank you very much,

 

[Mingus Dew]

Is the bottom line that we'll have a higher payroll out of this? That's really all I care about to be honest

I don't think so, no. There's no indication of any new investment in the team itself.

I suppose once the new arena is built and gate revenues potentially increase?

As a Mets fan, seeing the Wilpons being involved sullies this great news slightly. I think they are just with the development though? Please no team ownership thank you very much,

All indications are that they're doing project management. They still know real estate despite their other failings.

 

[Tap on the Ankle]

5mins of googling into the listed partners

Populous - American architecture firm who has designed sports arenas all over the world
Live Nation - major promoter, merged with Ticketmaster
Tipping Point Sports - looks like it's run by a guy named Mitchell Ziets who claims to have advised all kinds of team owners/governments/etc. on these types of deals
Sterling Project Development - appears to be a large real estate project management/advisory firm with offices all over USA and in London, UK

looks like a serious attempt is being made here

 

[West Coast Eagles]

I don't think so, no. There's no indication of any new investment in the team itself.

I suppose once the new arena is built and gate revenues potentially increase?



All indications are that they're doing project management. They still know real estate despite their other failings.

Yeah and I'm totally ok with that. Just don't want them in team ownership/operations. Otherwise it's another ownership group that treats employees like crap and Jeff will probably just stuff everything up.

 

[Mingus Dew]

Again you can hire anyone if the fees are large enough.

Will any of these "partners" actually have skin in the game? If not they aren't partners lol.

 

[SPF6ty9]

Looks fine and all, but artist’s rendering is missing the bronze statue of Alfie eating nachos.

Would be sweet if they put the statue up for a fan vote. I'd go with immortalizing the fake stick toss.

 

[Tap on the Ankle]

Again you can hire anyone if the fees are large enough.

Will any of these "partners" actually have skin in the game? If not they aren't partners lol.

Live Nation seems to me like the only one who might be doing an equity play here. The architects, project managers, and consulting guy are probably hired professionals.

 

[Ralph Malfredsson]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SO AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[branch]

Golly I'm glad I was fortunate enough to buy a house within a 10 minute drive to this. Season tickets baby.

 

[Ralph Malfredsson]

Congratulations Ottawa! Man I wish I still lived there!!

 

[RosensRug]

Congrats! Glad to see things are trending in the right direction for y'all. The fanbase deserves it.

 

[DrEasy]

So we finally get our new library, given how quiet Sens fans are at the rink!

 

[branch]

So we finally get our new library, given how quiet Sens fans are at the rink!

It's going to be a completely different atmosphere. No more sleepy Kanata families and junior high dance party vibes. This place is for adults to get wasted and scream.

 

[Stylizer1]

Or…. He didn’t like your cheap ass entitled ways, and so he tied hockey expenses to revenues, told you he was doing it and why at the time, and then watched you tank you own team by being cheap.

That’s more vindictive than selfish, and it made a ton of folks squirm for years, while he continued to be fabulously wealthy and still owned the team.

He then sold everything off, oversaw an awesome new crop of kids to build a new team with, then up and died before any fantasy vengeance could be extracted by those who care about that kind of thing.

Asshole to the end!

He also seems to have set things up just fine for his daughters, and the majority of the fanbase and business community has already turned the page now that he has passed.

Seems like it could be an epic troll job in the end, a huge poke in the eye to the Melnykout crowd perhaps?

It’s choose your own adventure really, buuuut it’s also all old news now. The king is dead, long live the queens and such.

Thing is he did that well before he said he was doing it. The Hossa Trade/ Heatley trades where evidence he was cutting costs. After Roy Malakar left he continued to down size the front office. These things happened before he was crying poor.

 

[AchtzehnBaby]

It's going to be a completely different atmosphere. No more sleepy Kanata families and junior high dance party vibes. This place is for adults to get wasted and scream.

Now we'll see coked up and wasted MPs all suited up at games.

 

[OttawaSenators11]

It locks up their long term future in Ottawa for the next 30-40 years and gives them an opportunity to thrive unlike out in Kanata.

Yup, I love the location personally!! Great news today!

 

[Mingus Dew]

Live Nation seems to me like the only one who might be doing an equity play here. The architects, project managers, and consulting guy are probably hired professionals.

Agreed, which would be great given they're about as blue chip as they come in the live entertainment industry.

Would be really positive if some of these third parties were actually putting money into the deal and not just collecting checks. Otherwise I may have to retract my snarky statement about how attractive this development opportunity is lol.

 

[NorthCoast]

Great news for the city!

It will be interesting to hear the full details. I assume it's something like Wilpons will put up the cash and build the arena and live nation has assured them that between the Sens and other events they can turn an operating profit... and that combined with property value increase will deliver ROI on the initial investment over 10-15 years.

One would assume that if there was any equity involved then that would have been announced. Therefore, IMO It is also a potential indication that ownership is not changing, since one would assume a new owner would want control over the stadium process.

So in this scenario the sens are a tenant. Not necessarily a bad thing but TBD how much increase in HRR is realized vs one owner owning it all. As a citizen though, I want the project done properly. So maybe outside help is not such a bad thing (LTR, Lansdown, etc)


On the whole, it's progress. I think the team will continue to operate within an annual budget that has to break-even including debt. Revenues will continue to increase naturally as the business is run better by a professional management team vs EM. A new stadium will help revenues regardless of the details and help the brand.

 

[Mingus Dew]

Great news for the city!

It will be interesting to hear the full details. I assume it's something like Wilpons will put up the cash and build the arena and live nation has assured them that between the Sens and other events they can turn an operating profit... and that combined with property value increase will deliver ROI on the initial investment over 10-15 years.

One would assume that if there was any equity involved then that would have been announced. Therefore, IMO It is also a potential indication that ownership is not changing, since one would assume a new owner would want control over the stadium process.

So in this scenario the sens are a tenant. Not necessarily a bad thing but TBD how much increase in HRR is realized vs one owner owning it all. As a citizen though, I want the project done properly. So maybe outside help is not such a bad thing (LTR, Lansdown, etc)


On the whole, it's progress. I think the team will continue to operate within an annual budget that has to break-even including debt. Revenues will continue to increase naturally as the business is run better by a professional management team vs EM. A new stadium will help revenues regardless of the details and help the brand.

Nothing to suggest that Sterling will be putting up the money. At the moment it looks like Sens will write the whole equity check.

 

[cudi]

exciting day for the city. The vibes been changing for the better last few months. Lezgo!

 

[Neil Patrick Harris]

Even if groups like Sterling and Populous aren't putting any equity in, I think what's good for the goose is good for the gander.

I imagine that having proper heavy hitters attached on the development side will be good for bolstering investor confidence, however that may come. This isn't some rinky-dink local arena project, but a proper entertainment venue in the heart of a major Canadian city.

 

[Mingus Dew]

Even if groups like Sterling and Populous aren't putting any equity in, I think what's good for the goose is good for the gander.

I imagine that having proper heavy hitters attached on the development side will be good for bolstering investor confidence, however that may come. This isn't some rinky-dink local arena project, but a proper entertainment in the heart of a major Canadian city.

100%. Hiring the right people is always important and will give the development credibility.

It's totally possible that the Sens didn't want outside investment here because they intend to capture all of the returns. It's not like they needed someone else to bring them the deal.

Just given the history it would be nice to have an institutional third party sign a check and show some confidence.

 

[Golden_Jet]

So, none of the partners announced are related to any equity in the Sens. They are all related to building, designing and managing entertainment (live nation is ticketmaster). What the hell was Brucie talking about with HUGE partner announcement.

I believe those builders did, Edmonton and Vegas rink, and maybe another one, along with some MLB I think.
Obviously not building the arena for free, so we don’t t really know yet.

 

[Tap on the Ankle]

It's possible the cost-cutting of recent years and Melnyk's stock windfalls during COVID could have translated into paying off a lot of the team's debt and they are in a position to secure financing on their own. Also possible that securing an arena deal is/was one of the conditions of a potential sale and we could see news on that front soon.

Regardless of what it is this is a good sign because there's no doubt the NCC did their homework on this bid after what happened with the Senators last time. That it has gotten to this phase shows they have confidence it won't happen again.