Ottawa Senators (present and past) TIDBITS & QUICK HITS!

came across our old pal SSF on twitter with a hilarious sarcastic thread

https://twitter.com/SeawaySensFan/status/1270741153781088259

SSF should smarten up and get back here where he belongs.

I don’t understand the thread. I’m missing something about back story or maybe in my brain.

LOL. The Ottawa Sun had to issue a correction and apology to the Sens/Melnyk off the whole charity thing (both about the foundation and the Organ Project). What a fackin' debacle.

tim1_2 wrote:LOL.  The Ottawa Sun had to issue a correction and apology to the Sens/Melnyk off the whole charity thing (both about the foundation and the Organ Project).  What a fackin' debacle.

Why? Did he threaten them with their access to the team?

Flo The Action wrote:

tim1_2 wrote:LOL.  The Ottawa Sun had to issue a correction and apology to the Sens/Melnyk off the whole charity thing (both about the foundation and the Organ Project).  What a fackin' debacle.

Why? Did he threaten them with their access to the team?

No, he threatened them with a lawsuit. The Sens issued a statement earlier today that was pretty cringey (as normal).

tim1_2 wrote:

Flo The Action wrote:

tim1_2 wrote:LOL.  The Ottawa Sun had to issue a correction and apology to the Sens/Melnyk off the whole charity thing (both about the foundation and the Organ Project).  What a fackin' debacle.

Why? Did he threaten them with their access to the team?

No, he threatened them with a lawsuit.  The Sens issued a statement earlier today that was pretty cringey (as normal).  

It truly is amazing how it can be impossible to guess from where the next cringy story will come from... this team surpasses all others in this.

Shouldn’t Dorion be made available for the Masterton award for perseverance in his job I’m the face of so many restrictions, and staying positive for the past few years?

Well the initial story was poorly researched. When they said "100s of thousands" was paid in rent that was a red flag for me. There was no exact number, anonymous source, no details about the property being rented. I imagined that maybe the sum included some kind of fees for use of the 15 rinks. It turns out that the number was simply wrong by an order of magnitude.

The article also said that typically teams do not charge any rent. Turns out that the CRA requires that they charge rent because the charity is operated as an entity separate from the team. I suppose that could be true.

I checked and only one other Canadian team charity had "occupancy costs" in their list of expenses. It was significantly lower than what the Sens Foundation was paying (something like $77k versus $7k). So even if the CRA requires it, the rent is quite high, despite Melnyk saying it was well below market.

One of the articles suggested that the reason the charity is only 49% "efficient" is because 50/50 count the full amount as income but half of that is given out immediately. I have a suspicion that's not the case. Has anyone ever won a 50/50? Do they give you the cash or stroke you a check? If it's cash they definitely don't count the full amount as income. If they give you a check then they deposit the full amount so it may have to count as income.

The statement from Melnyk addressed his charity's $5k from a million. He claimed that the $5K was just a straight donation to the Kidney Foundation and the charity's actual output included galas aimed at raising awareness (as well as funds) she various other "awareness" content. I haven't seen or heard of any such content. Maybe that's one of the reasons the charity was disbanded.

The Senators Foundation employs 8 people at an average abuse salary of $101k. That's over $800k payroll. I find that, as well as the average salary to be very high. Melnyk might actual have a point. Too bad this could not be settled behind closed doors but I guess that's not really his style.

The 50/50 stuff is true, they have to count the full amount as income. When you win, you get a cheque.

Also, yeah, sure, they have to be charged rent. Maybe charge them $100.

Anyway, much like everything else with Melnyk, we're not getting the full story. The sad thing is that for whatever reason he seems determined to hold onto the team for some reason. He's going to get an influx of cash from Seattle. His operating costs are very low right now (they have something like 30 employees currently being paid).

This sucks.

If the CRA requires them to charge rent then they would similarly require the rent to be around market value. Similar to how you cannot sell your car to your kids for $1, they will still charge your HST on the bluebook value.

I don't believe the expansion payout would block a sale. It would simply have to be either into the purchase price. The expansion is a done deal, zero risk.

What may be holding it up is the NBC contract which is expiring at the end of the 2020-21 season. When they asked Pierre about what they should expect in the renewed desk with NBC he was quite emphatic that it would be much bigger than the current deal. TheHocjeyWriters.com estimates the new deal to be as much as $400M per year. While that's only $12.5M per team, it's worth about 5x the expansion share over a 10 year timeframe. More importantly, it strengthens the league and will result in increased franchise evaluations.

The Sens stand to make more money than most teams given their low payroll and low attendance. TV deal + ad space + Canadian market .... money in the bank.

They land Lafreniere or have some of their 1st's in the NHL and they'll be mired in media coverage next season.

Seattle expansion + media deals... Melnyk is going anywhere

I think you meant Melnyk *isn't* going anywhere.

Great point about the high picks. If they get Lafreniere that's not going to hurt attendance, which will lead to higher valuation.

I still think he will sell but it's in his best interest to stick around a little longer.

wprager wrote:I think you meant Melnyk *isn't* going anywhere.

Great point about the high picks. If they get Lafreniere that's not going to hurt attendance, which will lead to higher valuation.

I still think he will sell but it's in his best interest to stick around a little longer.

Getting Laf would definitely add to the valuation. I think some didn’t agree with my take on the company’s value added valuation based on player assets but it makes complete sense.

Once the team is on the up and up before they have to pay full salaries for everyone he’ll likely sell.

Flo The Action wrote:

wprager wrote:I think you meant Melnyk *isn't* going anywhere.

Great point about the high picks. If they get Lafreniere that's not going to hurt attendance, which will lead to higher valuation.

I still think he will sell but it's in his best interest to stick around a little longer.

Getting Laf would definitely add to the valuation. I think some didn’t agree with my take on the company’s value added valuation based on player assets but it makes complete sense.

Once the team is on the up and up before they have to pay full salaries for everyone he’ll likely sell.

I am not suggesting it adds to the team's valuation. I am suggesting it will probably add to more national games, advertising, etc. Similar to what Crosby did with the Penguins, McDavid to Edmonton, etc.

Which would increase the value of the franchise, no?

DefenceWinsChampionships wrote:

Flo The Action wrote:

wprager wrote:I think you meant Melnyk *isn't* going anywhere.

Great point about the high picks. If they get Lafreniere that's not going to hurt attendance, which will lead to higher valuation.

I still think he will sell but it's in his best interest to stick around a little longer.

Getting Laf would definitely add to the valuation. I think some didn’t agree with my take on the company’s value added valuation based on player assets but it makes complete sense.

Once the team is on the up and up before they have to pay full salaries for everyone he’ll likely sell.

I am not suggesting it adds to the team's valuation. I am suggesting it will probably add to more national games, advertising, etc. Similar to what Crosby did with the Penguins, McDavid to Edmonton, etc.

I'm not sure . Would your employer be worth more in a merger because of its staff ? I don't think it helps that much. Brand recognition and fanbase help for sure but I'm not sure if active players on a roster help

DefenceWinsChampionships wrote:

DefenceWinsChampionships wrote:

Flo The Action wrote:

wprager wrote:I think you meant Melnyk *isn't* going anywhere.

Great point about the high picks. If they get Lafreniere that's not going to hurt attendance, which will lead to higher valuation.

I still think he will sell but it's in his best interest to stick around a little longer.

Getting Laf would definitely add to the valuation. I think some didn’t agree with my take on the company’s value added valuation based on player assets but it makes complete sense.

Once the team is on the up and up before they have to pay full salaries for everyone he’ll likely sell.

I am not suggesting it adds to the team's valuation. I am suggesting it will probably add to more national games, advertising, etc. Similar to what Crosby did with the Penguins, McDavid to Edmonton, etc.

I'm not sure . Would your employer be worth more in a merger because of its staff ? I don't think it helps that much. Brand recognition and fanbase help for sure but I'm not sure if active players on a roster help

Actually, i can 100% guarantee that for a company going through an M&A, who they can retain will make a huge impact on the price that is paid for the acquired company. the strength of management plays a huge role in valuation and having brain drain can lead to loss of valuation as well as key employees that add to the strength of the product. in this case, that's 100% on the players.