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

[Wondercarrot]

What's up with the dudes fingers?

Is there confirmation that Neko Sparks is a real human being? Guy has AI fingers.

 

[Senscore]

View attachment 701766

That is some word salad.
Also they should inject some Grammerly AI into their portfolio and fix that one long run on sentence that seems to be produced by a comma addicted AI tool.

…and for that reason, I’m out.

"Big picture: we’re at the end of the long American century. Our company is a declining empire inside a declining empire...What I think is within that context, we can become omni-national and reposition, because actually we are not tied, culturally or physically, so we are actually in a great position to leapfrog tech. Information is going to be more precious than water in the next 100. Combine all our news operations, become the global news information hub…Detoxify our brand and we can go supersonic."

 

[Relapsing]

Yeah, a bit radical , I'll give you that!

Sparks is dead, and has been for generations. I understand the historic building argument, but I don't see the need to keep them all. That large swath of land has nothing around it, and will continue to have nothing around it after the arena is built. It will be a dump of an area for years and not add anything at all to the "gameday experience". Until they bring in Tim's, Boston Pizza. Montana's, Casey's and Kelsey's and Jack Astor's. Wow?

The arena is better built in an established neighborhod and hard decisions have to be made. They can move federal workers to all the other empty buildings, that is the easiest problem to fix. They can even build on the street itself, and incorporate it better with the buildings they want to keep. Downtown has everything else needed to pull this off. Lebreton has none of it.

I respect where you're coming from, but I'm honestly laughing at how insanely difficult this idea of yours is to pull off. Somehow convince the NCC to give up on sparks. Demolish heritage buildings. Now involve another level of government into the situation. Deal with the security nightmare that is the proximity to the Hill, PMO, supreme Court, etc... Navigate what will surely be an insane fight with the NCC. Completely rework the street scape of Wellington, one of the frankly nicest stretches of architecture in the city. More delays while all this happens.

For what? More proximity to a couple of bars (some of which would be gone with this idea)?

Take it from someone who lives enticingly close to lebreton - there's more than enough here to sustain the game day experience while the rest of the flats are built up.

All that is to say - your pitch isn't even a pipe dream. It's a fever dream that only hockey fans would want, that would complicate the entire process to a degree this fan base is not ready for.

 

[TonySoprano11]

"Big picture: we’re at the end of the long American century. Our company is a declining empire inside a declining empire...What I think is within that context, we can become omni-national and reposition, because actually we are not tied, culturally or physically, so we are actually in a great position to leapfrog tech. Information is going to be more precious than water in the next 100. Combine all our news operations, become the global news information hub…Detoxify our brand and we can go supersonic."

 

[branch]

Anyone else getting pretty tired about Mendes carrying water for the Fyre Festival on Ice group?

 

[Gil Gunderson]

Which bidders outside of Reynolds/Remington are confirmed to want a new arena near DT?

 

[Golden_Jet]

Anyone else getting pretty tired about Mendes carrying water for the Fyre Festival on Ice group?

No I like his research and talking with the indegenous groups, and posting what he’s learnt.

 

[Agent Zuuuub]

Wonder if Neko got rich off Dogecoin or something.

 

[Samboni]

So the NHL is run by a bunch of old white billionaires. Do you see a culture shift coming, or are things apt to stay the same?

 

[Gil Gunderson]

Mendes indicated that some groups have been a bit frustrated with how long the process is taking and that it has become a "public spectacle".

 

[Flamingo]

So the NHL is run by a bunch of old white billionaires. Do you see a culture shift coming, or are things apt to stay the same?

I don’t know about anyone else, but the senators are owned by a couple of millennial women.

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

Mendes indicated that some groups have been a bit frustrated with how long the process is taking and that it has become a "public spectacle".

It sure seems like it has drug on longer than expected.

Considering the awful owner this team just finally rid itself of though, I can't fault the NHL for taking their time here.

 

[DaveMatthew]

Garrioch on McCown today mentions that the Remington Group has the advantage and inside track with the city because not only do they have a plan to move the arena downtown, they have a plan to re-develop the land where CTC is in Kanata (beyond just selling it for housing) so that they don't "leave Kanata high and dry" – which is important to the mayor and city. Some kind of attraction/draw to replace it.

Also makes it seem like they'd just do the deal with the city to get the 14-acre parcel at Bayview Yards to move faster, instead of waiting on the NCC for the land at Lebreton.

He also can see a scenario where, at the end of the day, Remington + Reynolds partner with Andlauer to get it done.

That could seemingly work for everyone:

Andlauer takes the lead on the day-to-day of running an NHL franchise
Reynolds builds up the brand and media side
Remington builds the arena and redevelops the Kanata land

Other tidbits:
• Some of the other bids have no plans to move downtown
• Melnyk's debt was ~300M USD - new owners will need to decide how much of that they pay off
• Jeff York has raised over $100M from local groups and they may be involved just to get the final purchase price down for the owner

Google Podcasts ist nicht mehr verfügbar

podcasts.google.com

 

[StoicSensFan]

Garrioch on McCown today mentions that the Remington Group has the advantage and inside track with the city because not only do they have a plan to move the arena downtown, they have a plan to re-develop the land where CTC is in Kanata (beyond just selling it for housing) so that they don't "leave Kanata high and dry" – which is important to the mayor and city. Some kind of attraction/draw to replace it.

Also makes it seem like they'd just do the deal with the city to get the 14-acre parcel at Bayview Yards to move faster, instead of waiting on the NCC for the land at Lebreton.

He also can see a scenario where, at the end of the day, Remington + Reynolds partner with Andlauer to get it done.

That could seemingly work for everyone:

Andlauer takes the lead on the day-to-day of running an NHL franchise
Reynolds builds up the brand and media side
Remington builds the arena and redevelops the Kanata land

Other tidbits:
• Some of the other bids have no plans to move downtown
• Melnyk's debt was ~300M USD - new owners will need to decide how much of that they pay off
• Jeff York has raised over $100M from local groups and they may be involved just to get the final purchase price down for the owner

Google Podcasts ist nicht mehr verfügbar

podcasts.google.com

Ottawa F1 track, let's go. Let me dream

 

[DaveMatthew]

Ottawa F1 track, let's go. Let me dream

Would love to a see a huge athletic complex - a Sensplex on steroids. Like the Canadian Sport Institute - but bigger. Multiple ice sheets, indoor track, soccer field, Olympic pool, etc.

Ottawa could be a destination for all sorts of amateur tournaments/competitions.

That'll keep the Boston Pizza in Centrum packed.

 

[IpsoPostFacto]

This is the greatest off season ever.

That is all.

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

Sparks sounds like John Spano v2.0.

We already endured 20 years of an owner that didn't give a shit about the city and used the team as his personal bank card. Do we really want another 20+ years of that?

And really, growing hockey.....in Ottawa? The birthplace of the Stanley Cup? All they are doing is using buzzwords and feel-good evangelical-like sermons to woo the crowd. There's no substance behind it.

If Snoop wants to grow the game, buy the Coyotes or the Panthers (or future Atlanta Whatevers...perhaps that is why they really want the Sens?). That's where the real growth in the game will be.


Remember, Ottawa will never be more than a small-to-medium level market in the NHL. Same as the Jets. And Atlanta is on record as starting to build a new arena for hockey and entertainment events in the near future. Just in time for new owners to "give it the old college try" in Ottawa before bolting south. Any ownership group that isn't directly involved with building a new arena in the city asap is bad news.

 

[WORLDSTARHIPHOP]

Getting some major FTX and SBF vibes from this Sparks group. Remember when they had Shaq and all those celebrities shilling?

At least Ryan Reynolds has a proven track record of hiring operations people that actually know what they're doing and then staying the hell out of the way on the ops side of things.

Of course, the cards are already stacked against any group that isn't buddy buddy with local real estate players.

 

[Gil Gunderson]

Does the Sparks group have any interest at all in a new arena? Considering how adament Bettman has been in the past about the Sens needing to go DT, that could be another hinderance. Some assurance about the team staying in Ottawa would be nice too.

 

[FunkySeeFunkyDoo]

Would love to a see a huge athletic complex - a Sensplex on steroids. Like the Canadian Sport Institute - but bigger. Multiple ice sheets, indoor track, soccer field, Olympic pool, etc.

…

How about an outdoor shopping mall, maybe with a bunch of outlet stores or other generic box stores? And they could layout the parking lot such that no matter which store you want to go to you have to walk really far and through a wind tunnel that makes it really painful 9 months out of the year?

That seems like something Kanata really needs.

 

[Senator Stanley]

Does the Sparks group have any interest at all in a new arena? Considering how adament Bettman has been in the past about the Sens needing to go DT, that could be another hinderance. Some assurance about the team staying in Ottawa would be nice too.

Mendes reported this in January, which presumably came straight from the source:

"The Sparks group believes they can help generate significant revenue in a downtown arena at LeBreton Flats by attracting concerts, festivals and other events using their connections in the entertainment industry."

Another potential Senators suitor is poised to make a bid: The latest on the team's sale

A group led by Los Angeles-based entrepreneur Neko Sparks is preparing a bid to purchase the Senators when the sale process formally opens.

theathletic.com

 

[Tuna99]

The Irony of Snoop Dogg paying 1 billion for a team and saying he wants to make hockey accessible to everyone. Great cause, you’re not the guy to do it.

I mean everyone loves Snoop - but everyhting he does is about self promotion - Snoop Weed, Coach Snoop, Snoop and Meatballs.

Ryan Reynolds literally is about letting the community shine, Snoop is more “I am in your community handing out sweaters, this is community because I am here now.” One is actually community, the other is celebrity using the word community for self promotion

Just don’t see these two bids are anywhere close to equal. Reynolds has been the front runner since day 1, and he’s amazing at it. Snoop feels desperate and last minute, sure it’s a funny headline but I don’t take Snoop Seriously on this

 

[Tnuoc Alucard]

Yeah, a bit radical , I'll give you that!

Sparks is dead, and has been for generations. I understand the historic building argument, but I don't see the need to keep them all. That large swath of land has nothing around it, and will continue to have nothing around it after the arena is built. It will be a dump of an area for years and not add anything at all to the "gameday experience". Until they bring in Tim's, Boston Pizza. Montana's, Casey's and Kelsey's and Jack Astor's. Wow?

The arena is better built in an established neighborhod and hard decisions have to be made. They can move federal workers to all the other empty buildings, that is the easiest problem to fix. They can even build on the street itself, and incorporate it better with the buildings they want to keep. Downtown has everything else needed to pull this off. Lebreton has none of it.

I’m sure the new owners could care less about placing a new Arena in an area that would be convenient for “Tim's, Boston Pizza. Montana's, Casey's and Kelsey's and Jack Astor's” to set up shop nearby, to capitalize on game days and other events. Why would they want to spend more money than would required to simply set up shop at Lebreton Flats or Bayview Yards?

Also, why would they not incorporate some bars/restaurants inside their new Arena, and capitalize on game days and other events, by leasing out space inside the Arena for any of your suggested Tim's, Boston Pizza. Montana's, Casey's and Kelsey's and Jack Astor's?

 

[Tnuoc Alucard]

So the NHL is run by a bunch of old white billionaires. Do you see a culture shift coming, or are things apt to stay the same?

What does pigmentation and age have to do with anything?
Shouldn’t the NHL be focusing on the competency and character of the potential ownership groups rather than age or physical aspects of the groups putting forth bids?

 

[Butchy Dakkar]

Does the mystery of Neko Sparks give anyone else Anna Sorokin vibes? Lots of big buzzwords, nebulous business activities, promises without credibility, roping in backers, everything hard to confirm, supposedly has access to massive amounts of money. It all seems so weird.