Senators initiate sale of NHL team with condition of staying in Ottawa

By Sportsnet staff

The Ottawa Senators have begun the process to be put up for sale, Senators Sports and Entertainment announced on Friday.

One of the conditions of the sale is that the franchise remains in Ottawa.

In a statement, Sheldon Plener, chairman and governor of the Senators, said: “Galatioto Sports Partners has been retained as financial advisor and a process has been initiated for the sale of the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club.

“This was a necessary and prudent step to connect with those deeply interested parties who can show us what their vision is for the future of the team.

“A condition of any sale will be that the team remains in Ottawa.

“The organization will have no further comment on this process at this time.”

The Senators’ decision to put the team up for sale comes after longtime owner Eugene Melnyk died in March.

Melnyk purchased the Senators in 2003 for US$92 million at a time when the franchise faced bankruptcy and a tenuous future in the nation’s capital.

Melnyk’s two adult daughters inherited the franchise and the team is in the early planning stages to build a new arena in LeBreton Flats closer to downtown from its current Kanata, Ont., arena.

“What comes first, a new arena or the sale of the team? Sources suggest the sale could be done much more quickly, but new ownership will want to make sure everything is lined up to build a new arena on an identified 7.5-acre tract of land in LeBreton Flats, just west of Parliament Hill,” Sportsnet’s Wayne Scanlan reported Wednesday.

A recent valuation from Sportico, an organization that reports on the business of sports, listed the Senators at $655 million.

However, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said “I think that number is low” Tuesday on The Fan 590’s The Jeff Marek Show.

“The reason I think that number is low is this: … if the Senators are sold, they’re not going to sell until everything is tied up,” said Friedman. “If you’re the NHL, why are you going to sell them until you know about the downtown arena? Why are you going to sell when there are still these lawsuits that are tied into the previous attempt at the downtown arena with Eugene Melnyk?

“They’re not going to sell them until they got the downtown arena locked up and the lawsuits are settled. And in that case, I would tend to agree that the number is going to be higher than $665 (million)”

The Senators’ RendezVous LeBreton pitch was named the preferred arena bid for LeBreton Flats in 2016, only to have the development fall apart in a lawsuit and countersuit between Melnyk and then business partner Trinity Developments.

Friedman reported in his latest 32 Thoughts blog: “There’s jockeying among potential owners. The NHL knows who’s out there, who’s expressed interest, who’s serious, who isn’t, who’s bluffing about their true intentions. But there’s a process and that’s why Ottawa hired Galatioto Sports Partners, to navigate the waters.”

According to People Magazine, Canadian Hollywood icon Ryan Reynolds is “very interested” in buying the team with the intention of keeping it in the Ottawa region.

With files from The Canadian Press

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