There won’t be any significant changes to staff, personnel, etc., until the league formally approves this sale and that might take a couple of months. That would still require formal approval from the NHL board of governors, so until that happens, everything would be in a holding pattern. This may accelerate faster than people realize and there is a chance we see a conditional sale announced at some point before the end of the regular season. One source suggested the process is now clearly in the NHL’s hands and they will be heavily scrutinizing the backgrounds of all parties involved. And groups that fall short may find themselves at the front of the line when the NHL decides to expand, relocate or change ownership in another market. In short, some of these partnerships may be fluid in the weeks ahead. Perhaps the NHL will try and merge some of the parties together, not only to ensure the sale price increases, but to also ensure Reynolds plays a key role if The Remington Group does not win out. At this point, it’s hard to fathom a future for the Senators without Reynolds playing a role.īut there is a chance that we could also see some mixing and matching at this point too. Given Gary Bettman’s previous public comments about Ryan Reynolds, it seems very likely that his partnership with The Remington Group will give them an excellent chance of being on that shortlist. While Sportico reported that nine separate bids were submitted to Galatioto Sports Partners - the boutique firm in charge of handling the sale - we should see that number whittled down in a hurry.Īt this point, the NHL will really try and drill down to a list of two or three finalists. But not every group that submitted a bid this week will have a chance to stay in the running and improve it with a second offer. There will be some flexibility to move on the price, with a good chance the number goes up - not down - from the initial bids that were submitted. The bids that were submitted to purchase the Senators this week are said to be “non-binding” agreements, meaning this was just a chance for groups to dip their toe in the water and state their intent to purchase the team. One person with knowledge of the process suggested the Sparks bid could certainly force another group - like the Andlauer or Kimel bids - to significantly up the ante on their proposals.
They were likely deemed a dark horse or long-shot candidate when their names first emerged, but it’s clear that if there are truly nine separate bids, the Sparks group has emerged into the top half of that group. There has also been talk of an A-list celebrity, who is a major force in the music industry and who is also part of this Sparks bid. They also have a financial institution and “multiple investors local to Ottawa” as part of their consortium. In addition to this, I was told on Thursday the Sparks group also has a separate “billionaire” on board, which could explain why they are comfortable with the escalating sale price of the franchise. Denmark West is another name I’ve heard associated with the Sparks group - he’s not a household name but is said to be very well connected in the business community. Cherry has some connections to the NHL sphere, as he served as the chief marketing officer for the New Jersey Devils at one point. In February, The Athletic reported that Adidas executive Daniel Cherry was part of their investment team. The Sparks group has deep-pocketed investors, some of whom have yet to be publicly identified. At the time, a source indicated that their group was willing to go to a $950 million price point to secure the franchise - which suddenly feels like it might be a good indicator of what the final sale price might be. Roughly 75 percent of the ownership group would be comprised of people of colour.
However, the people The Athletic spoke to also indicated that one group - headed by Neko Sparks - has definitively worked their way into the conversation.īack in January, The Athletic reported that Sparks was putting together a consortium that would include between 13 and 15 investors from the United States and Canada. For the past few weeks, there was a feeling that bids led by Michael Andlauer, The Remington Group and the Kimel family were comfortably ahead of the pack.
All three expressed surprise at the number of bids, as they had been led to believe the number was much smaller. Sportico - a digital content publication focusing on sports business news - reported that nine different groups submitted bids to purchase the Senators.Īfter Thursday’s news broke, The Athletic reached out to three different people who have knowledge of the Ottawa Senators sale process.
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