Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman on 32 Thoughts on Ryan Reynolds, the Remington Group and the Ottawa Senators.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Ron MacLean: “So the question Elliotte is, what is the NHL going to have to pay Ryan (Reynolds) to take that the Ottawa Senators?”
(joking, panel laughing)
Friedman: “That’s right, instead of somebody paying $900 million, they’re going to have to pay him.
But I think the one thing that has really become clear Ron, is that I’ve been talking to some of the people around this is that how do you not have him be in the group that is going to win.
The one thing is that he’s with the Remington group and they are a very competitive bidder. It’s not like they’re hundreds of millions of dollars away from where we all think this number is going to end up around. They’re very competitive and they’re very much in it.
But I think some of the other big groups are kind of looking at it and saying, ‘Boy, if we’re even close to them, are we going to be able to beat them?’
Him and the Remington had the largest group that showed up to a game this week. They had about 20 people. And the other thing that apparently really has people interested is that Reynolds has given an idea of what his plan is, his marketing plan, it’s kind of like Ottawa versus the world, and you know that that is going to work, right?
So, I can see these other groups really feeling that it’s going to be a big challenge for them to beat them.
MacLean: “Well let’s just go with Remington, Elliotte. You’ve got a pretty good handle on that organization. It’s a real estate play as much as it is purchasing the Sens. Of course, there is a huge debt, some estimate it could be a $450 million debt. That would be paid off with the purchase price, but still, would Remington be the type to balk at either that or balk at the land arrangements for the estate play?
- Don Brennan: “Did people really not understand that the #Senators were very much in debt with the #NHL or are they just surprised at hearing on Hockey Night in Canada that the hole is $450 US million deep?”
Friedman: “Well I think that a lot of this stuff this week, the (sabre??) rattling about land, I think a lot of people look at it as, like all the various parcels of land that could potentially be part of this, and I haven’t signed an NDA that allows me took exactly at what is on the bid website, but there are some other pieces of land that have come up privately in all these negotiations.
Look, Remington, they had a chance a few years ago to buy the Arizona Coyotes. They walked away when they didn’t like the real estate play. The fact that they are in this, and very much in this, it says to people that they’re okay with the real estate play.
** NHLRumors.com transcription