Senators ownership chatter
There appears to be a bit of whisper campaign going on regarding the Ottawa Senators’ financials/ownership status.
There appears to be a bit of whisper campaign brewing regarding the Ottawa Senators’ financial/ownership status. At least that’s the impression I got after listening to the Fan 590′s Hockey Central after news broke that the New Jersey Devils might be facing bankruptcy.
You can listen to the banter between Doug MacLean and Nick Kypreos here, (start listening around 12:15 mark) but essentially MacLean implies that the Senators lost around $14 million last season and that’s the real reason behind their recent salary dump. Kypreos goes on to say there are rumblings that Senators owner Eugene Melnyk might be looking to cash out.
I asked someone with the team about it, but the Senators don’t comment on profit and losses as a rule.
Take it for what it’s worth at this point — off-the-cuff musings backed up by zero evidence.
So you decided to post this ridiculous rumour from perhaps the two least respected hockey people in the entire industry? Doug MacLean has proved time and time again that he’s a loose cannon who prefers to shoot off his mouth than actually have any real information. Nick Kypreos is nearly as bad and is a giant Leafs fan just like MacLean – of course they’d take any opportunity to slag on the Sens for any reason. Melnyk owns the arena. That means he profits from parking, concessions, and loads of other events going on in the building. Rest assured he’s making good money. The Sens aren’t the only part of the portfolio. Maybe do a little research before writing something so stupid that will cause casual fans to panic and worry about the financial security of their team – which isn’t in doubt.
It’s an open secret that the Ottawa Senators don’t make money off the team unless they get to the second round of the playoffs. With the team giving away hundreds, if not thousands of tickets for each game (think military nights, Bell Capital Cup, radio giveaways, discounted tickets) it wouldn’t be shocking if the Senators were indeed bleeding red ink.
With a season ticket base perpetually around 10,500 to 11,000 and fans notoriously fickle, the only way the Senators make money is if they have a consistently winning product; that is years away now.
On the plus side, SBP itself brings in revenues with concerts and so on. Take from one hand give to the other hand…