Just read this and wondering how this works.... George Gillett signed a 20 year naming rights deal (about $3M annually) with Bell. But I read that Molson is not cashing in on this deal or collecting any money even though the contract ends in 2023. Found this on Forbes.com. Who is getting this money? Is it still Gillett? If not, where the hell is it going?
"Scotiabank agreed to pay $640 over 20 years this summer for the naming rights to the Air Canada Centre, home of the Maple Leafs and Raptors. The historic price tag could be a boon to the Canadiens in a few years. Recall that in 2002, George Gillett Jr., the new owner of the Canadiens, sold the naming rights to the team's arena to Bell Canada for an average of about $3 million a year over twenty years. Gillett and the Canadiens were deep in debt and he subsequently used the revenue from the naming rights deal to get cash from JPMorgan Chase to pay down debt. The Canadiens, purchased by the Molson family in 2009, have not been collecting on the arena’s naming fee. But the Canadiens are a hot property and the arena is among the busiest in North America, so look for the Molson family to cash in big in 2023 when the current deal with Bell Canada expires"