Canadiens Hockey Team Attracts Big Buyer Interest
Dan Sgambelluri
By Charles Grandmont
MONTREAL (Reuters) - The fabled Montreal Canadiens, the hockey team that has
won more Stanley Cup championships than any other, has drawn the attention
of several would-be buyers since brewer Molson Inc. put the team up for sale
last month, a spokesman said on Wednesday.
A deal is expected to be sealed by the end of the year, Canadiens
vice-president of marketing Pierre Ladouceur said.
He declined to comment on reports that media conglomerate CanWest Global
Communications Corp. had expressed interest in buying the team.
``All we can say is that the process is going very well,'' Ladouceur told
Reuters.
``We have been told that the timeframe should be respected, and...a deal
should be done by the end of the year,'' he added.
Seeking to free its stock from the burden of a money-loosing hockey team,
Molson asked Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and Nesbitt Burns to take charge of
the sale, reversing its previous decision never to part with the team it
bought more than 40 years ago.
Canadian media reported on Wednesday that CanWest president and chief
executive, Leonard Asper, could be preparing a bid for the Canadiens to add
more content on the sports side of his television business.
CanWest announced on Monday a sweeping C$3.5 billion ($2.4 billion) deal to
buy most of press baron Conrad Black's Canadian newspapers and Internet
assets and hence become Canada's largest media player, with a stable that
also includes the country's third-largest television network.
Asper -- from the wheat-growing province of Manitoba -- has said that his
group now has ``a sports silo that has to be filled with some content'', but
declined to specify any plans to make a bid for the Canadiens. A CanWest
spokesman said he could not comment more on the subject on Wednesday.
He said a sports team offered ``massive cross-promotion opportunities'' for
big conglomerates being formed at the crossroad of the traditional media
industry and the Internet. Other possible Canadian suitors for the Canadiens
include printing and publishing group Quebecor Inc., telecoms and
broadcasting group BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE - news) and cable provider Rogers
Communications Inc. (NYSE:RG - news) .
Molson, which made the team's continued stay in Montreal a condition of any
sale, said it will remain the team's primary corporate partner for at least
20 years through a sponsorship agreement it valued at C$150 million.
Canada's oldest brewer has also put the Canadiens' arena, the four-year-old
Molson Centre, on the auction block along with other assets as part of a
restructuring campaign to refocus the firm on its core brewing business.
Molson has a 45 percent market share of the Canadian beer market.
The Canadiens, winners of a record 24 Stanley Cup championships and the home
to such hockey legends as Maurice ''Rocket'' Richard, Jean Beliveau and
Georges Vezina, have fallen on relatively hard times since last hoisting the
trophy in 1993.
In missing the NHL playoffs for the past two seasons, the team has hurt the
bottom line of Molson's sports and entertainment unit, with a loss of more
than C$10 million ($6.8 million) over the last two years. The company had
overall sales of C$2.5 billion last year, and lost C$44 million after
accounting for C$224 million in provisions for restructuring and other
nonrecurring items.
Molson class A shares were up 20 Canadian cents at C$31.50 on the Toronto
Stock Exchange on Wednesday. The issue had been trading in a C$31.75 to
C$21.10 range in the last 12 months.
http://ca.dailynews.yahoo.com/ca/headlines/ts/story.html?s=v/ca/20000802/ts/
canadiens_sale_col_1.html
Brian Taylor
I seem to remember that he was involved somehow and it wasn't with pleasant
connotations. Still, things have changed a lot for him in the last 10 years.
The other interested groups could be good for the team, I hope things go
well for them.
I like the rivalry between the Leafs and the Canadiens, and I would like to
see the Canadiens more competitive this year.
Brian T
"Dan Sgambelluri" <dsg...@baynet.net> wrote in message
news:sogr9q...@corp.supernews.com...
Latenight
competitive Montreal Canadiens team in the NHL.
Brian Taylor <beeh...@mb.sympatico.ca> wrote in message
news:R41i5.11361$3f1....@news1.mts.net...
François Paulin
du Hockey goodbye on CBC/SRC. Well I guess so much for tradition huh..
"We live to survive our paradoxes"
F.
Neil Faba
> If CanWest Global does indeed buy the Habs.... you can kiss HNIC / La Soirée
> du Hockey goodbye on CBC/SRC. Well I guess so much for tradition huh..
the Habs are getting shafted in this year's HNIC schedule anyhow. If
CanWest does by the Habs, it seems a fair bet that there'll be a few more
Habs games shown outside of Quebec on Global than there has been on CBC.
I hate to see HNIC lose the Habs, but as long as they're so Leafs-centric,
do they really deserve the Habs?
Harry Delaney
Neil Faba wrote:
> the Habs are getting shafted in this year's HNIC schedule anyhow. If
> CanWest does by the Habs, it seems a fair bet that there'll be a few more
> Habs games shown outside of Quebec on Global than there has been on CBC.
>
> I hate to see HNIC lose the Habs, but as long as they're so Leafs-centric,
> do they really deserve the Habs?
No one deserves the Habs...I would'nt wish them on my worst enemy
HD
Dan Sgambelluri
watch the Leafs play.
Harry Delaney wrote in message <398C4427...@home.com>...
Sambeatles
You sound like a girl with a lot of enemies.
Anyway, once teams start running Cujo, and he gets hurt, and the Laffs don't
make the playoffs, then the Leaves fans will go back into the closet where they
belong.
Sambeatles
>watch the Leafs play.
I prefer watching corn grow.
Michael
Sambeatles wrote in message
<20000805152933...@ng-bh1.aol.com>...
HabAnatic
HabAnatic
"Michael" <repre...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:K2%i5.108442$1h3.1...@news20.bellglobal.com...
CarpeVelo
>
Unneccessary cheap shot.
Danny Clarke
Mighty Leafs
culture because of a 10 million dollar loss. They would probably denounce Jesus
if his ratings dropped!
Danny Clarke
HabAnatic
fair and reasonable in assessing things unlike some other cross posters. I
encourage any other non hab fan with an objective point of view to add to our
discussions in a.s.h.n.mtl-canadiens. Now if we could stop some of our unscrupulous
trolls (ManU & GoHabsGo & PuckMan have at times shown promise yet never
sustained...)
HabAnatic
Mr Sharp
"Danny Clarke" <cla...@sirius.com> wrote in message
news:3991BFB6...@sirius.com...
> How are they "selling" it? It's more like promoting, dontcha think?
>
Mike Ritchie
Leaf game. To go up against a Leaf telecast in Toronto is
suicide. Canwest has stations all across Canada however
that likely would carry the games, depending on market
interest.
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IamCanadianJoe
unless you are from Quebec you will not likely see a Habs game on Global
and,I say regretfully, I think nation-wide you will see more Leafs games
everywhere because of the local bias Global has being originally from
Toronto.
"Mike Ritchie" <michael.rit...@swchsc.on.ca.invalid> wrote in
message news:01906254...@usw-ex0110-076.remarq.com...
Van
IamCanadianJoe <sweil...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:yXDk5.1680$If....@news2.tor.primus.ca...
> What game Global carries depends on what region you are in as well. So
> unless you are from Quebec you will not likely see a Habs game on Global
> and,I say regretfully, I think nation-wide you will see more Leafs games
> everywhere because of the local bias Global has being originally from
> Toronto.
Not to mention higher ratings so that IamCanadianJoe can sell more suds.
Not everything's a Toronto conspiracy ... sometimes it just makes more
economic sense.
Van
Sambeatles
>suicide.
It's not suicide. However, the Leafs my have territorial rights. I live in
Windsor, Ont, and the Detriot RedWings got the Leafs kicked off a local radio
station because of the Wings territorial rights.
Ian
ex-Montrealers and native-Toronto Habs fans an ALTERNATIVE to the
leafs...there are tons of people in TO that will watch the Habs over the
Leafs
Stavro
watch the habs over the leafs but look at how many would watch a leaf game
and how many would watch the other games. Just look at the playoffs when
CBC had the lefs and SportsNet had other teams.
Mike Ritchie
everywhere outside of Quebec, especially in the west where
are likely more popular that the Habs. The people at
Canwest aren't stupid though. If the market decrees that
more people (and therefore more advertising dollars) want
to watch a particular team in a given region then that's
who they will air.
Mike Ritchie
mandated broadcast rights are like. TV execs, however,
carry a lot of clout when they wave big dollars around. I
can't see the Detroit Red Wings regulating what a Canadian
network can air in Ontario.
Mike Ritchie
fan base in the GTA. Who knows, they may still try to
broadcast vs the Leafs on a given night. It's not about
the relative number of fans, it's about the number of
advertising dollars to go around. A major sponsor is going
to pick the biggest audience.
Stavro
there region
Peter Morris
Distribution:
Mike Ritchie (michael.rit...@swchsc.on.ca.invalid) wrote:
: I wouldn't be surprised if the Leafs aired mostly
: everywhere outside of Quebec, especially in the west where
: are likely more popular that the Habs. The people at
: Canwest aren't stupid though. If the market decrees that
: more people (and therefore more advertising dollars) want
: to watch a particular team in a given region then that's
: who they will air.
It's not the market that makes the decree, it's the NHL and to a lesser extent
the teams. For example, Atlantic Canada is considered Habs territory by the
NHL, thus the only TSN national games broadcast in Atlantic Canada are Habs
games. The Leafs on TSN are blacked out. This is patently silly because there are
many thousands of Leafs fans (and agruably more or at least as many as Habs fans)
living there.
Altantic Canadians can also see Ottawa games on CTVSN because the Sens and the
Habs have a recipricol agreement to allow each others' broadcasts into each
others' exclusive territory. The Leafs refuse to do this kind of deal with either
the Sens or the Habs.
The result is that Leafs fans in Atlantic Canada are shut out, except for the
occasional HNiC broadcast (and even then it is up to the whims of the CBC
schedulers who, in years past were just as likely to schedule the Habs as the
Leafs, disregarding the fact that the Habs are on EVERY Saturday night on French
CBC in Atlantic Canada and across the country).
The NHL really needs to revisit its regional broadcasting rules. The Leafs need
to be more coniliatory with the Habs and the Sens on broadcasting territorites.
And the CBC should force its national French affiliate to show something other
than Montreal once in a while (why can't they show at least one Leafs, Sens,
Flames, Oilers and Canucks game per year?).
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FamilyMan
due to their poor performance but that doesn't do me any good since I can't
speak french!
"Peter Morris" <pmo...@morgan.ucs.mun.ca> wrote in message
news:8n1ct9$bb9$1...@coranto.ucs.mun.ca...
Mike Ritchie
does this apply only to local broadcasts.
RICK MCKELLAR
Mike Ritchie wrote:
> Does that mean they can block out HNIC on CBC in Windsor or
> does this apply only to local broadcasts.
HNIC on CBC is not blacked out in Windsor. We get the Leafs every time that they are televised. CBC, TSN, ONTV, whoever is showing the Leafs, we get it.