Money Troubles for The Canadiens' Gillett?

Cap'n Clutch wrote:It would be a terrible shame to see the Habs leave Montreal just as it would be for any of the original 6. Lets not forget that not too long ago the Hawks couldn't draw flies but thanks to some forward thinking it is taking off quite nicely now.

The Habs aren't leaving Montreal. That's a money-making business. Gillett is just cashing out because of his own personal finances.

Chicago is a hockey market. Even in lean times they have been a successful business. The American midwest is a good hockey market as a whole.

The sale of the Montreal Canadiens appears to taking a few more twists and turns.

RDS reports that communications giant Bell Canada Enterprises is seeking to hook up with the investment group led by former Habs great Serge Savard to buy the team and secure naming rights for the Bell Centre as well.

Their main rival appears to be the Quebecor media group.

More here:
http://www.rds.ca/canadien/chroniques/275170.html

This 2000 article from CBC Sports puts the battle for the Canadiens into another perspective, and shows the battle over ownership of NHL franchises is nothing new.

The article also gives an idea of what's at stake...not only hundreds of millions of dollars, but perhaps into the billions in related revenues...


BCE could be part of group buying Canadiens

Last Updated: Sunday, December 17, 2000 | 8:00 PM ET

CBC Sports

A sale of the Montreal Canadiens hockey club to a group that could include telecom giant BCE Inc. is expected this week.

The NHL team's current owner, brewer Molson Inc., has said it hopes to strike a deal by the end of the month, and recent reports have pegged BCE as a key player in a group that is negotiating to buy the team.

For the Montreal-based telecom, media and Internet company, analysts say the Canadiens would add valuable hours of Canadian content to its media properties, especially sports specialty channel TSN.

Molson and BCE have refused comment about a possible deal, but the brewer has confirmed it's in talks with several possible buyers and hopes to have a deal to announce by Dec. 31. Recent newspaper and radio reports say a deal could come in the next few days.

BCE, which recently won regulatory approval to acquire private broadcaster CTV Inc., has been a leading contender to buy the Canadiens because of its strategic moves in the last year to acquire news, sports and entertainment content for its telecom, media and Internet operations.

While others buy or license the content, BCE is taking over the companies that produce it as it battles arch-rival Rogers Communications Inc. in the rapidly changing world of convergence of telecom, media and the Internet.

In the CTV takeover, BCE also acquired TSN, its rival Sportsnet, a pay-per-view sports channel, and French-language sports channel RDS -- properties that would benefit if BCE acquired the Canadiens.

very intruiging indeed, smart move by BCE on their part if they make it all work.

SensFan71 wrote:very intruiging indeed, smart move by BCE on their part if they make it all work.

This was the hand in glove arrangement that observers wondered about from the get go. The real heavyweights just seem to wait in the weeds until deal time.

Frig, montreal doesn't even have a coach right lol, i wonder if there is any chance of carbo returning ....

HowieMorenz wrote:Frig, montreal doesn't even have a coach right lol, i wonder if there is any chance of carbo returning ....

Depends on who buys the team, and whether Gainey is still GM.

beats Celine having them anyway, no way I could listen to her sing the anthem on those 3 road games ottawa plays in montreal.

SensFan71 wrote:beats Celine having them anyway, no way I could listen to her sing the anthem on those 3 road games ottawa plays in montreal.

She'd replace the Cup banners with professional black and white photos of her, René and the Miracle Baby.

Then we'd have to hear constant rumours of a sale to settle Renés gambling debts.

I like it already! Olé...

SeawaySensFan wrote:

SensFan71 wrote:beats Celine having them anyway, no way I could listen to her sing the anthem on those 3 road games ottawa plays in montreal.

She'd replace the Cup banners with professional black and white photos of her, René and the Miracle Baby.

Then we'd have to hear constant rumours of a sale to settle Renés gambling debts.

I like it already! Olé...

I think a few Habs greats would roll over numerous times if all that happens, it would be like pro hockey combined with circque de soleil with crappy vocals.

Quebec’s Molson Family May Bid for NHL’s Montreal Canadiens

Frederic Tomesco. Bloomberg Business News, May 26, 2009 -- Quebec’s Molson family will consider bidding for the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League to regain control of the 24-time Stanley Cup winners.

Geoffrey Molson, a 38-year-old director of the Canadiens and Molson Coors Brewing Co., is leading the investor group, the family said today in a CNW Telbec release.

Brothers Andrew and Justin Molson are also involved in a potential bid, the statement said.

Molson Coors owns about 20 percent of the Canadiens, which U.S. ski-resort owner George Gillett controls.

Will they finally rename the team to Canadian?

Testing.

Did it work or am I the only one seeing double?

Cap'n Clutch wrote:Testing.

I'm seeing double, too.

By the way, when there is a smiley at the end of a post and someone quotes it, the closing quote tag is placed immediately after the smiley ASCII representation, and the smiley does not get displayed as a smiley.

If you don't understand what I just said, can we change it so that, when the post is automatically quoted, we insert a space after the opening quote tag and another before the closing quote tag?

wprager wrote:

Cap'n Clutch wrote:Testing.

I'm seeing double, too.

By the way, when there is a smiley at the end of a post and someone quotes it, the closing quote tag is placed immediately after the smiley ASCII representation, and the smiley does not get displayed as a smiley.

If you don't understand what I just said, can we change it so that, when the post is automatically quoted, we insert a space after the opening quote tag and another before the closing quote tag?

I can make the suggestion to Forumotion but I'm pretty sure I don't have control over things of that nature.

It could be just a "best practices" thing. I always do that now when I quote other posts.

Also, is there a "tutorial" or "user guide" to this site? For example, is there a canonical list of tags that can be used here? What are the tricks for editing tables? Which HTML tags can be used? And so on.

wprager wrote:It could be just a "best practices" thing. I always do that now when I quote other posts.

Also, is there a "tutorial" or "user guide" to this site? For example, is there a canonical list of tags that can be used here? What are the tricks for editing tables? Which HTML tags can be used? And so on.

When you either quote a person or click post reply in the buttons above your reply there's one that looks like this . Click on that for some help with this sort of stuff.