Ottawa Senators for sale (upd: sold to Michael Andlauer)

[AchtzehnBaby]

 

[StreetHawk]

Not shocking. It’s a big price tag for them plus needing funds to go and finance a new arena. Only so many billionaires in that area. Are the pens locally owned? No.. the days of local ownership may be nearing an end for the smaller markets as the valuations keep increasing. Nfl teams are worth $4.5 bill. Nba teams like $2 billion.

 

[Gil Gunderson]

Great headline by ol' Brucie.

 

[AchtzehnBaby]

Great headline by ol' Brucie.

Bruce knows how to get your attention.

"Newly elected Mayor Mark Sutclliffe can expect a call from Crowe and LeBlanc regarding the LeBreton bid, as the city of Ottawa is expected play a role in the development of the rink.

The Senators may look to model the project after the Ice District in Edmonton, where the city and the province of Alberta both provided funding for the arena. The sense is Sutcliffe is at least willing to listen to any proposal."

 

[Crosside]

Ryan Reynolds Interested in Buying Ottawa Senators If the Team Comes Up for Sale: Source

Owning a professional sports team is not uncharted territory for the actor, who along with Rob McElhenney purchased the Welsh football club Wrexham AFC in 2021

news.yahoo.com

 

[LadyStanley]

32 Thoughts: Senators preparing for a sale to new ownership

With an arena deal being worked on, the Ottawa Senators are preparing for a sale that could go north of $655 million. Plus, Elliotte Friedman shares thoughts on the Leafs, Blues and Shane Wright.

www.sportsnet.ca

Friedman with some general speculation on sale. Sounds like all the ducks will be aligned (future stadium organized, resolution on lawsuits, etc.) before sale is consumated.

 

[discostu]

Bruce knows how to get your attention.

"Newly elected Mayor Mark Sutclliffe can expect a call from Crowe and LeBlanc regarding the LeBreton bid, as the city of Ottawa is expected play a role in the development of the rink.

The Senators may look to model the project after the Ice District in Edmonton, where the city and the province of Alberta both provided funding for the arena. The sense is Sutcliffe is at least willing to listen to any proposal."

There has always been a lot of roadblocks to getting taxpayer subsidies on an arena in Ottawa, but the situation is lined up pretty well to land concessions.

Downtown Ottawa is facing a crisis. The federal government telework situation has drastically altered the downtown economy (also not helped by the damages inflicted by the convoy).

If you're trying to build up the economic development in the core and someone is coming in with a big entertainment draw and condo developments during a housing shortage, there's some ability to negotiate there I'm guessing.

 

[DaGap]

There has always been a lot of roadblocks to getting taxpayer subsidies on an arena in Ottawa, but the situation is lined up pretty well to land concessions.

Downtown Ottawa is facing a crisis. The federal government telework situation has drastically altered the downtown economy (also not helped by the damages inflicted by the convoy).

If you're trying to build up the economic development in the core and someone is coming in with a big entertainment draw and condo developments during a housing shortage, there's some ability to negotiate there I'm guessing.

Lmfao

 

[tank44]

Ryan Reynolds Interested in Buying Ottawa Senators If the Team Comes Up for Sale: Source

Owning a professional sports team is not uncharted territory for the actor, who along with Rob McElhenney purchased the Welsh football club Wrexham AFC in 2021

news.yahoo.com

Even if just a partial owner or the face of the franchise, if he can do what he did for Wrexham already that would be pretty awesome

 

[tarheelhockey]

Only so many billionaires in that area. Are the pens locally owned? No.. the days of local ownership may be nearing an end for the smaller markets as the valuations keep increasing.

Another example, maybe a closer comp to the Sens -- the Canes were sold to non-local Dundon at a time when it seemed like relocation might be on the table. For some people that was a sign that they were abandoning the market, but the league was explicit during the sale process that it was a priority to keep them in Raleigh and grow the product. Everything since then has been stability and growth, even with COVID disruptions.

The key is that the NHL commits to each market, so the potential owner pool is limited to those who have stability in mind. This pays off in the long run for the NHL because they can squeeze the Vegases and Seattles for massive expansion fees every so often.

 

[Nordskull]

Of course. A gift for the league. Take that small canadian market and move that in a eastern US market, a gift for Gary.

Montreal and Toronto would not cry at all if the Sens move south. Theres some nice places available, Baltimore, Jacksonville, Atlanta...

 

[blueandgoldguy]

While the proposed real estate development would help mitigate the financial pressures of private financing for the arena, I don't think it is realistic to expect 100% private funding for the sports aspect of the project. Generally, I have found the larger the market, the larger the percentage of private financing involved in the sports facility. Given Ottawa's size and small corporate base, I could see this being a 50-50 split between the public and private spheres.

 

[LadyStanley]

Officially for sale

 

[Takuto Maruki]

Of course. A gift for the league. Take that small canadian market and move that in a eastern US market, a gift for Gary.

Montreal and Toronto would not cry at all if the Sens move south. Theres some nice places available, Baltimore, Jacksonville, Atlanta...

Officially for sale

lol

 

[powerstuck]

Exactly this. Most of the value of the Sens right now comes from the fact that the city has awarded and set aside a piece of land (Lebreton Flats) in an excellent location close to downtown, right on a newly built LRT.

The problem was that Melnyk couldn't afford to build anything on it, and so vultures have been circling the Sens for a few years now, salivating at the opportunity to scoop up both the team and a real estate opportunity of a lifetime on the cheap since Melnyk was f***ed and couldn't afford to keep the team.

Basically, all I'm saying is that the Sens don't need some local billionaire to save them. The opportunity to build an arena downtown will have prospective owners lining up for the rights to build said arena. Getting an NHL team on top of the new arena is just a bonus.

While I agree that the new owner doesn't need to be local, it does take someone with cash.

Team is going to sell for what...at least north of 500 millions. Now you need to build an arena. And recent projects haven't been cheap. Quebec City one was for 370 millions and opened 7 years ago.

Detroit which could be comparable with Ottawa in the type of construction came at 860 millions two years after Quebec. I don't wanna use Seattle as the most recent exemple because it was more of a rebuild and modernize so not quite the same type but still over 1,1 billion.

Now, every single nail costs more like at least 25-30% more today that it used to cost in 2020 before the pandemic. I don't see a new Ottawa arena built for under 900 millions. So with the price for the team and the cost for the arena, you are looking at least at 1,5 billions, which is a lot. I mean Habs would definitely sell for more than that, but they are currently valued at 1,6 billions.

 

[branch]

Of course. A gift for the league. Take that small canadian market and move that in a eastern US market, a gift for Gary.

Montreal and Toronto would not cry at all if the Sens move south. Theres some nice places available, Baltimore, Jacksonville, Atlanta...

Better luck next time...enjoy those Remparts season tickets!

 

[LadyStanley]

 

[NorthCoast]

While I agree that the new owner doesn't need to be local, it does take someone with cash.

Team is going to sell for what...at least north of 500 millions. Now you need to build an arena. And recent projects haven't been cheap. Quebec City one was for 370 millions and opened 7 years ago.

Detroit which could be comparable with Ottawa in the type of construction came at 860 millions two years after Quebec. I don't wanna use Seattle as the most recent exemple because it was more of a rebuild and modernize so not quite the same type but still over 1,1 billion.

Now, every single nail costs more like at least 25-30% more today that it used to cost in 2020 before the pandemic. I don't see a new Ottawa arena built for under 900 millions. So with the price for the team and the cost for the arena, you are looking at least at 1,5 billions, which is a lot. I mean Habs would definitely sell for more than that, but they are currently valued at 1,6 billions.

I don't think you are far off, but I think you have the values reversed. The team is projected to go for north of 800 million.

While construction costs have risen. They may come down some over the coarse of the project. I don't see the sens building anything more elaborate than what Edmonton built, which cost 530 mil in todays dollars. Plus, the arena is part of a much larger redevelopment of the land where the city, and other development projects around it, will share if not cover a significant portion of the necessary land prep, infrastructure, etc. that other arena projects have to pay for themselves. Prices have gone up, but they haven't doubled. I see the arena costing around 600 mil, and the team paying about a 3rd of that with the city/fans/developers picking up the rest.

If you can get the sens and a new arena for around a billion, and then see the value increase similar to Edmonton the past ten years...and ride the revenue growth of the NHL as a whole at the same time...I can see why this is an attractive asset for those that can afford it.

 

[Nordskull]

lol

Well, lets see in a 18 months who will be laughing ;-)

The so called fortunes in Canada are now pee wee compare to the US people ready for a venture. That team's going south.

Have a good day.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Well, lets see in a 18 months who will be laughing ;-)

The so called fortunes in Canada are now pee wee compare to the US people ready for a venture. That team's going south.

Have a good day.

Condition of sale is to stay in Ottawa. So 18 months doesn’t matter.

 

[Barclay Donaldson]

Well, lets see in a 18 months who will be laughing ;-)

The so called fortunes in Canada are now pee wee compare to the US people ready for a venture. That team's going south.

Have a good day.

One of the legal conditions for the sale is that they stay in the Ottawa market.

The only way you are going to have a good day is if you take off the tin foil hat and join reality for the rest of it.

 

[No Fun Shogun]

The literal most recent NHL relocation, which was over a decade ago mind you, moved a team from a massive American media market to the currently smallest Canadian NHL market.

I mean…. I get fans in a few markets still upset at the relocations of the 90s, but the NHL has shown zero interest or desire in yanking Canadian teams out of their markets for a very long time. And, truth be told, they never did. The NHL just previously didn’t have the ability or desire to halt past relocations (though they notably did facilitate a sale of the Oilers to an ownership consortium specifically designed to keep the team in Edmonton).

The NHL wants to keep the team in Ottawa, and the current owners seem to want to sell the team to people that want to keep the team in Ottawa.

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

I don't know how Ryan Reynolds can afford the Sens with his net worth unless he wants to be a minority owner.

I just hope whomever the new owner may be they decide to put the franchise in a better and healthier direction.

 

[Takuto Maruki]

The literal most recent NHL relocation, which was over a decade ago mind you, moved a team from a massive American media market to the currently smallest Canadian NHL market.

I mean…. I get fans in a few markets still upset at the relocations of the 90s, but the NHL has shown zero interest or desire in yanking Canadian teams out of their markets for a very long time. And, truth be told, they never did. The NHL just previously didn’t have the ability or desire to halt past relocations (though they notably did facilitate a sale of the Oilers to an ownership consortium specifically designed to keep the team in Edmonton).

The NHL wants to keep the team in Ottawa, and the current owners seem to want to sell the team to people that want to keep the team in Ottawa.

This is what gets me about the hatred towards Bettman and this somehow blinkered belief that Bettman (really, the owners considering how commissioners across all sports are figurehead leaders, with Bettman being no different) is being preferential towards American teams. No shit he is, the US is an infinitely larger market then Canada is! Adding yet another Canadian team is basically splitting the revenue pie even further, and a revenue pie that is increasingly up to the whims of the loonie in the stock markets.

But what really gets me is people ignoring what you have brought up, that more then anything else the NHL has been rather preferential towards keeping Canadian teams in Canada and supporting them, much like they have done with American teams, because they want to protect their pieces for as long as possible. And if there is no recourse left, then they'll cut bait.

 

[DueDiligence]

I don't know how Ryan Reynolds can afford the Sens with his net worth unless he wants to be a minority owner.

I just hope whomever the new owner may be they decide to put the franchise in a better and healthier direction.

Reynolds would be a minority owner (under 10%) but be a great social face of the franchise.