All Sales Final (Canadiens are sold)

The Habs have been sold, that drama is behind us. (It's not Celine)

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=282431

REPORT: SALE OF CANADIENS FRANCHISE FINALIZED

The sale of the Montreal Canadiens has been finalized, according to a report on RDS.ca.
Geoff Molson and his brothers Andrew and Justin will take over ownership of the century-old hockey franchise, the Gillett Entertainment Centre and the Bell Centre according to the report.
The three brothers were one of at least two groups to have placed bids on the Canadiens franchise, the other from a consortium spearheaded by Quebecor Media.
According to reports, a few others with strong Quebec ties were also be in the mix to buy the club, which is currently owned 80 per cent by American George Gillett. Molson-Coors (TSX:TPR.B) owns the remaining 20 per cent.
The Molson family is no stranger to the NHL -- it has been associated with the franchise since 1957, when brothers Thomas and Hartland Molson acquired the team from Senator Donat Raymond.
During the period the family controlled the team, the Canadiens won 11 of their 24 Stanley Cups.


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Does this mean free beer at the Bell Centre? That's worth a trip into the lion's den. Having to listen to that Ole chant might be tolerable after 15 free beers.

shabbs wrote:

Lucky Day wrote:Does this mean free beer at the Bell Centre? That's worth a trip into the lion's den. Having to listen to that Ole chant might be tolerable after 15 free beers.

Nah... Molson family, not Molson-Coors.

They merged didn't they? Doesn't the Molson family have a stake at all?

shabbs wrote:

Lucky Day wrote:

shabbs wrote:

Lucky Day wrote:Does this mean free beer at the Bell Centre? That's worth a trip into the lion's den. Having to listen to that Ole chant might be tolerable after 15 free beers.

Nah... Molson family, not Molson-Coors.

They merged didn't they? Doesn't the Molson family have a stake at all?

They still do, but this is Molson family members, buying with their own private money, not corporate money as far as I understand.

I see. Well I guess I won't be going to the Bell Centre anytime soon then. Nice to see the Habs back under Canadian ownership though.

Interesting sidebar regarding the sale of the Montreal Canadiens to the Molson Brothers...

I AM CANADIEN$, BROTHERS ANNOUNCE
TD O'Dell, FromTheRink.com, June 20, 2009

In January 2008, Craig Leipold used the proceeds of his sale of the Nashville Predators to purchase the Minnesota Wild for $260 million.

The purchase price was an NHL record, bigger even than Jim Balsillie's $220 million offer to Leipold in May 2007, and certainly bigger than the $193 million that Leipold finally accepted from the group headed by David Freeman and William "Boots" Del Baggio III, a few months later.

Today, that record was broken by a margin that makes Wayne Gretzky's 92 goals over Phil Esposito's 76-goal campaign seem like Roger Maris' mere one-upsmanship of Babe Ruth's mark.

Jean-Francois Bégin of La Presse reported this afternoon that George Gillett will announce the sale of the Montreal Canadiens, the Bell Centre and Gillett Entertainment Group to brothers Geoffrey, Andrew and Justin Molson. The estimated purchase price is said to be between $507 million and $537 million, according to Daniel Kaplan of Sports Business Journal.

This would essentially double the existing record price paid by Leipold, less than 18 months ago, for a team in a hockey-mad market of over three million people.

I find this astounding, given the supposed sorry state of the economy since the Wild changed hands.