Confirmed with Link: Senators are for sale - and it’s a Gong Show

[IpsoPostFacto]

What, exactly, led Remington to believe this? From everything I've followed, there seem to be numerous legitimately interested parties

"Sources say that, when the request was denied, the people at the Remington Group took time for sober second thoughts and walked away. They didn’t feel anybody else involved in the process would come close to matching the bid they were poised to make.



“They felt they were negotiating against themselves,” a source said."

well, it could be all smoke of course. The problem is, we don't seem to really know anything. It does seem to hinge on "...come close to matching our bid...".

We are led to believe that before joining Remington that RR has spoken with a few of the other bidders, so he may have an idea.

a couple of the bidders were said to have no interest in moving from Kanata right now. That could be a negotiating tactic on their part. Does that make their potential offer for the team higher or lower than a group that has said they want to move downtown - because they can make a pile of money on development other than the rink.

Now we have several groups, blind bidding on different things. I guess they asked themselves, who they were really bidding against. Is it a team, is it team and land, will the city offer incentives to build something special they want on the old land? who knows.

if all the reporting of their reason for exiting the bidding are accurate and the 1b+ amount is accurate, the team probably screwed themselves by a few hundred million.

The process was overplayed. Everyone knew it was a land/development deal and the NHL/Team/GPS did not ensure that there were some sort of agreements in place with NCC for the flats and with the City for some piece of land the city owns. Instead the bidders got some casual meetings with the mayor and some ncc folks.

 

[thinkwild]

Yeah that GSP group still looking to be striving for a bidding war which i guess is the best shark tank type strategy to get the highest bid. I still find that opening round non-binding bid thing really weird though. It does allow me to wonder if the complaints over the process are justified.

Paying too much for the franchise could be like paying too much for a UFA. Hopefully someone is focused on the smart, right fit.

 

[Loach]

Hypothetical situation.

The Sparks group wins. It goes to the owners to pass. They don't like a 15 person consortium...feel it is too risky. They reject the sale to them.

What happens then?

 

[Sun God Nika]

Hypothetical situation.

The Sparks group wins. It goes to the owners to pass. They don't like a 15 person consortium...feel it is too risky. They reject the sale to them.

What happens then?

It goes up for bidding again

 

[PlayItAgain]

It goes up for bidding again

Doubt they would go through all that again. They’d just go to the 2nd strongest bidder and then see if the NHL board approves them

 

[Gil Gunderson]

Hypothetical situation.

The Sparks group wins. It goes to the owners to pass. They don't like a 15 person consortium...feel it is too risky. They reject the sale to them.

What happens then?

While the Melnyks and GSP choose the bidder, I really doubt they don’t get a hint from Gary about what would get approved or not. They’ll have a good idea.

 

[Golden_Jet]

While the Melnyks and GSP choose the bidder, I really doubt they don’t get a hint from Gary about what would get approved or not. They’ll have a good idea.

Gary said last week they talk 2-3 times a week.

 

[Gil Gunderson]

GARRIOCH: It's time for bidders for the Senators to put their money where their mouth is

Looks like Andlauer and Kimels are the only confirmed bidders so far, and Sparks is “expected to”.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Its too bad the Sens lose one of the highest profile bidders if not the front runner to buy the Sens.
I get them wanting to tighten up the parameters of the land deal at Lebtreton and other potential sites involving the City.
Things have dragged on trying to give potential bidders time. A deadline has been set. Are there important questions or concerns unanswered?
Does Galatioto Sports Partners not have some responsibility in this? Would this not be something they should help facilitate for all the bidders..
They want to get the most they can , ok, but they want it done smoothly where there are not hiccups in the transition. And they certainly don't want bidders backing out for lack of information last minute.

 

[caymanmew]

Honestly, I prefer an owner who wants the team to have the team rather than an owner who wants the team to have the development opportunity.

The guys who consider owning the team to be a hobby are far more likely to be willing to put money into the team than the guys who view it as a money-making opportunity in development.

 

[Sensinitis]

The suspense is killing me.

Logistically, you have to think this needs to be finalized by early June at the latest.

You can't have the old regime going into the draft and free agency, Bettman and everybody else with implications knows this.

We should be getting legit news in the next 2-3 weeks imo...

 

[Samsquanch]

Hypothetical situation.

The Sparks group wins. It goes to the owners to pass. They don't like a 15 person consortium...feel it is too risky. They reject the sale to them.

What happens then?

I would be pretty shocked if Bettman let them get as far as putting a firm bid in with deposiy without first giving them a heads up first that the consortium probably isnt going to fly...

As long as their is a clear leadership structure/chain of command where one person repsents the team at the BOG for the league, and they have a board that can vote on team decions behind the scenes, then a consortium of owners should be expected with the price tag for current franchises...

It's one thing if the consortium can only come up with the funds to buy the team by liquidating all of their own individual assets, and then collectively pooling together all of their resources to inch themselves across the finish line....Thats probably a risk the league would certainly avoid.....

But if the consortium has multiple deep pocketed players that can afford to be the majority owner of the team on their own. Then it's more like a security blanket for the team/league if anything having a powerhouse type consortium of people.

Heck even as a fan - I remember a day when Melnyk was a big dollar spending boon for the franchise that was loved and praised by the fans. The Senators were the OG cap casualty team, in case any of you forget...

Then his personal life and businesses went to shit, and he tightened the team purse up. Point being is that things can change fast, and its best not to have all of our "eggs" in one rich dudes basket if you catch my drift...

 

[Golden_Jet]

The suspense is killing me.

Logistically, you have to think this needs to be finalized by early June at the latest.

You can't have the old regime going into the draft and free agency, Bettman and everybody else with implications knows this.

We should be getting legit news in the next 2-3 weeks imo...

I think it’s too late in a month, have a feeling we’ll ride with this group to start next year.

 

[senswon]

Why was there a non binding bid to start??
Kinda a waste of time.

Show em the books and give your best offer or have a real time auction to move it along.
Imo taking a full season and still we dont have it sorted out yet....is rediculous.
Like why even get it done before next season

Oy.

 

[Emerica]

The suspense is killing me.

Logistically, you have to think this needs to be finalized by early June at the latest.

You can't have the old regime going into the draft and free agency, Bettman and everybody else with implications knows this.

We should be getting legit news in the next 2-3 weeks imo...

Well its not getting finalized by early June we know that. We’ll probably know which is the winning bid by then but then they need to close on the deal with all the lawyers, notaries, etc being involved, its going to take a few months probably.

I’m guessing the earliest we could look at the new owners taking over is late July/early August. Even then I think the BoG needs to approve of them before they can take over, not sure if there are any BoG meetings during the summer.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Well its not getting finalized by early June we know that. We’ll probably know which is the winning bid by then but then they need to close on the deal with all the lawyers, notaries, etc being involved, its going to take a few months probably.

I’m guessing the earliest we could look at the new owners taking over is late July/early August. Even then I think the BoG needs to approve of them before they can take over, not sure if there are any BoG meetings during the summer.

Next BOG meeting is a few days before the draft usually.

 

[Loach]

Why was there a non binding bid to start??
Kinda a waste of time.

Show em the books and give your best offer or have a real time auction to move it along.
Imo taking a full season and still we dont have it sorted out yet....is rediculous.
Like why even get it done before next season

Oy.

This is all bonkers. Typical Sens. Bettman even said he likes to move quietly and this is the exact opposite. I bet it doesn't happen before September.

 

[Adele Dazeem]

Further this drags on the more likely it is that Dorion and DJ are retained, at least for the beginning of the season.

 

[IpsoPostFacto]

Hypothetical situation.

The Sparks group wins. It goes to the owners to pass. They don't like a 15 person consortium...feel it is too risky. They reject the sale to them.

What happens then?

Short answer is they probably have some sort of guideline - like go to second place bidder or whatever.

Longer answer is the league probably has a list of their "lines in the sand" that would be known to GPS and the team - so don't pick anyone like that. So, things like reputational risk - no serial killers or even cereal killers, nobody who is under indictment etc. and perhaps one would be no investment groups where 15 people of maxed themselves out at 66M each.

on the other hand, something like the Jeff York "group" throwing in or 200m and the main bidder throwing in 800m is likely ok - and preferable from the "we got local ownership" point of view.

 

[IpsoPostFacto]

Why was there a non binding bid to start??
Kinda a waste of time.

Show em the books and give your best offer or have a real time auction to move it along.
Imo taking a full season and still we dont have it sorted out yet....is rediculous.
Like why even get it done before next season

Oy.

ya, would have thought maybe a refundable deposit on day "0" to keep out the looky loos, let them look at the books - 1 week. Let them talk to/negotiate with NCC/City give them even 60 days. final binding bids with top up of deposit 30 days after that.

Start in December, final bids by March. People with this kind of money are supposed to be sophisticated - not pinky's up, but have actual banking relationships and finance people who live to jump all over this kind of stuff.

As far as I can tell, the reason for the lengthened timeline and pretend bids was designed to create an auction. A single blind bid would have achieved the same without all the drama. That may have failed here - from a 'getting the max' perspective which I guess we will have some insight into over the next little while. I'm looking forward to leaks from Remington over the next month or so where they talk about the low price the team got and the sweet theme park or whatever, that they were going to build in Kanata.

as I think about it, even if the team went for say 900 in a more simple bidding scenario, but it was all wrapped up in a shorter period. The NHL could still brag about "the interest, quick sale, and premium on the previous estimated value of 650m"

 

[senswon]

ya, would have thought maybe a refundable deposit on day "0" to keep out the looky loos, let them look at the books - 1 week. Let them talk to/negotiate with NCC/City give them even 60 days. final binding bids with top up of deposit 30 days after that.

Start in December, final bids by March. People with this kind of money are supposed to be sophisticated - not pinky's up, but have actual banking relationships and finance people who live to jump all over this kind of stuff.

As far as I can tell, the reason for the lengthened timeline and pretend bids was designed to create an auction. A single blind bid would have achieved the same without all the drama. That may have failed here - from a 'getting the max' perspective which I guess we will have some insight into over the next little while. I'm looking forward to leaks from Remington over the next month or so where they talk about the low price the team got and the sweet theme park or whatever, that they were going to build in Kanata.

as I think about it, even if the team went for say 900 in a more simple bidding scenario, but it was all wrapped up in a shorter period. The NHL could still brag about "the interest, quick sale, and premium on the previous estimated value of 650m"

When Gary talks about doing it right, he means a way of creating a new baseline for team values....if ottawa is a billion, whats Montreal and Toronto worth---and alll the owners like the sound of that.

But.

Will it be the right fit for our team to grow beyond a land deal and some claridge condos?

Guess we'll find out which way it all goes very shortly.

.... unless there will be another bidding date.....cause moar money

 

[GCK]

I wonder if there will be 3 or less bids submitted tomorrow.

 

[Sun God Nika]

I wonder if there will be 3 or less bids submitted tomorrow.

I hope we get some leaks tomorrow, at minimum just the number of bids if not the who and how much.

 

[Rand0m]

I think a wrinkle in all this is that a bunch of mega rich people are going to spend nearly a billion dollars to buy the Sens, but then they have to figure out how to claim they can’t afford to build a new arena without getting a big handout from taxpayers.

 

[caymanmew]

I think a wrinkle in all this is that a bunch of mega rich people are going to spend nearly a billion dollars to buy the Sens, but then they have to figure out how to claim they can’t afford to build a new arena without getting a big handout from taxpayers.

That's easy, They just spent a billion dollars, and they no longer have the type of funds needed to build an arena alone. They will need years to build up that kind of money.

Now, that is maybe BS, maybe not, hard to say. An arena is an investment, it will pay for itself, eventually but it does require quite the upfront cost.