Eugene Melnyk refinances the Sens

[Ziggy Stardust]

Was also posted on the Business of Hockey forum but I figure this topic is also appropriate in here, given the uncertainty of the Senators and their financial instability.

I wonder if they'll eventually move. To Quebec perhaps?

That investigation he launched into Matt Cooke injuring Erik Karlsson must have cost him a lot of money.

Click to read more...

 

[K Fleur]

Eugene "I'm not going to blow a lifetime of working hard on a hockey team" Melnyk

 

[Emerica]

Ya don’t say

 

[AvatarAang]

lol imagine if Ottawa relocates

who do Sens fans pledge their allegiance to...Montreal? Toronto?

 

[RandV]

I wouldn't wish it on any fanbase to lose their hockey team, but with the reality of the situation right now this may be the only way Quebec City gets another hockey, would be a pretty lateral move in terms of Canadian content and I'd imagine you could make the argument that it would be for the best.

 

[Tasteless Beaver]

If anything, this means Melnyk is definitely not going to sell. Instead, he's doubling down.

If he defaults, the creditors could probably run the team a little better tho.

 

[amethyst]

Hope they move to Quebec

 

[Gil Gunderson]

I wouldn't wish it on any fanbase to lose their hockey team, but with the reality of the situation right now this may be the only way Quebec City gets another hockey, would be a pretty lateral move in terms of Canadian content and I'd imagine you could make the argument that it would be for the best.

How would it be for the best? Quebec City has a smaller population and even less corporate support than Ottawa.

Melnyk won't play at an arena that isn't his and he can't afford a relocation fee. The league also doesn't like selling teams to owners that want to relocate.

 

[NyQuil]

It would be an issue if there weren’t suitors with means willing to keep the team in Ottawa.

It’s only a matter of time at this point.

 

[93LEAFS]

Good thing the league outlawed buying players. Otherwise, Karlsson would have been sold months ago.

 

[Little Psycho]

Relocate to Seattle.

 

[93LEAFS]

How would it be for the best? Quebec City has a smaller population and even less corporate support than Ottawa.

Melnyk won't play at an arena that isn't his and he can't afford a relocation fee. The league also doesn't like selling teams to owners that want to relocate.

Only way it makes sense is if it is Videotron, who have a whole set-up built to capitalize on local television and online streaming money, which is something Melnyk (or any Ottawa buyer lacks).

 

[Ouroboros]

Good thing the league outlawed buying players. Otherwise, Karlsson would have been sold months ago.

Why do you think the Senators are insisting on Ryan being part of the deal? That's basically the equivalent of putting 30M in Melnyk's pocket.

 

[Freudian]

It doesn't mean he's broke. It might be re-financing, where the new loans are used to replace old loans.

 

[Joey Moss]

I for one don't hope for relocation at all. The non-sellout games in the conference finals last year was a bad look but the arena is also in a horrible spot. Sens fans deserve a better owner.

 

[Ace Card Bedard]

Bring back the Nordiques!

 

[Deadly Dogma]

It would be an issue if there weren’t suitors with means willing to keep the team in Ottawa.

It’s only a matter of time at this point.

I think it will work out for you guys, just need to keep a float till a new closer rink is built. If it turns out that its never going to get built then I would worry.

 

[izzy]

this entire thing is sad

 

[Wanderson]

Hope they move to Quebec

I hope your favorite team move to Kansas.

Why do you want them to move? It's painful enough for the Ottawa fans to have an owner like Melnyk.

 

[JeffreyLFC]

As a Nordiques fan this type of new piss me off.

I would not want to see the Senators leave Ottawa without any support from the league even if it is to Quebec city while Arizona are still there doing poorly year after year.

 

[Rorschach]

Keep the city, get rid of the owner.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

It doesn't mean he's broke. It might be re-financing, where the new loans are used to replace old loans.

Well, if you read his comments of late, it doesn't sound like he's raking in the dough.

Eugene Melnyk walks back comments on relocating Senators | CBC Sports

Just a few weeks after enraging fans with his musings about possibly moving his NHL team, Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk says he has no plans to relocate the club and remains committed to bringing a Stanley Cup to the city.

Last month, Melnyk raised the idea of a move during the city's festivities to mark the NHL's 100th anniversary, saying "if it doesn't look good here, it could look very, very nice somewhere else."

Despite some speculation around Ottawa, Melnyk also said he has no intention of selling the club.

A new downtown arena will be crucial to the Senators' success going forward. Ottawa's current home, the Canadian Tire Centre, is located 30 minutes outside the downtown core and inaccessible by public transportation. Hockey fans have complained for years about the inconvenience of the rink.

"It's critical," Melnyk said. "I think [Ottawa can survive in the NHL], without doubt, but it has to go forward with the arena project."

Eugene Melnyk's mess in Ottawa a long time coming

“If it doesn’t look good here, it could look good somewhere else,” Melnyk said. “But I’m not suggesting that right now. That’s always the possibility with any franchise.

"If you open a grocery store and nobody comes, but one opens two blocks down and there’s a line outside, where are you going to have your store?”

'We're fighting every day to sell a ticket' — Senators owner Melnyk says relocation a 'possibility'

“I’m all in, but it wouldn’t be a disaster for us at all if LeBreton didn’t happen,” Melnyk said. “We’re just basically sitting it out, working through it with the NCC, they’ve been cooperative and reasonable and we’re just going to try to continue to get that completed. I don’t trust anything happening.”

While a new arena seems unlikely, Melnyk admitted that he and his management team need to make improvements at their current home to better the fan experience, but also challenged the citizens of Ottawa to support the team or risk losing it down the road.

“I think the market here has to prove itself, otherwise you do have to make changes,” Melnyk said. “We’ve cut everything to the bone in the organization and we are probably one of the thinnest management groups that you have in the league now. The next place that you have to look at is players.”

 

[Rubi]

I don't see anything about being broke in the article. Financing and refinancing is quite common in the business world. Rich guys never use their own money... (See Donald Trump).

I owe the bank $200,000 for my house but that doesn't mean I'm broke. The value of my assets far exceed my debts.

 

[BruinsBtn]

Another click-bait, fake news HF headline on the Senators.

Apple also recently raised money, is it broke? All this means is that the terms of financing were better than the expected return on his investments.

Lock this garbage thread, just like the one with Bettman 'putting Melnyk on notice'

 

[Cat Herder]

If anything, this means Melnyk is definitely not going to sell. Instead, he's doubling down.

If he defaults, the creditors could probably run the team a little better tho.

Read this on the Sens board but if true it is not bad news

"Senior Term Debt" means that the holders of the debt have 1st crack at assets should team not be able to sell

Also David Pagnotta tweeted that one of the lenders is someone who has shown interest in buying the team in the past.

I doubt that forfeiting on the debt causes relocation as the NHL would have to approve that and the buyer was interested in the market it is in... also the assets are the team and building not just the team

If the team is valued at 420 Million (as forbes suggests) plus the building then this loan represents a 32% debt to value ratio.. there are worse teams out there The Business Of Hockey