Snoop Dogg sends a message to Ottawa Senators fans as ownership bids are due

Deadline day for Ottawa Senators bids The Sens ownership bid fronted by Neko Sparks and Snoop Dogg asks for Indigenous communities to join in. CTV's Leah Larocque reports.

Rapper and entrepreneur Snoop Dogg is making a new push in his bid to be part of the new ownership of the Ottawa Senators.

Snoop Dogg posting on Instagram saying "It's your boy big Snoop Dogg, giving a shout out to the First Nations of Canada."

Snoop Dogg is part of the bid by Los Angeles-based entrepreneur Neko Sparks, which has reached out to Indigenous groups in Canada to have a share in the team, if successful. In the video, he goes on to say, "We're trying to do something, we're trying to make a difference – it's official like a referee with a whistle."

"We're all together, we are trying to make it better, we just need y'all to hit the lever and give us control. Ottawa Senators, what do y'all want to do? We're here; let’s go!" he says at the end of the video.

Monday is deadline day for bids to buy the team. The Senators were put up for sale following the death of owner Eugene Melnyk in March 2022.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said earlier this spring that there were about half a dozen groups that showed interest in the team. Ryan Reynolds’s bid with the Remington Group is not proceeding, but there are other celebrity names involved, like Snoop Dogg and the Weeknd. Various billionaires and business owners are also expected to put in a bid.

The winner is expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

"Everything is at stake and the good thing is that we are going to have great owners of the Ottawa Senators," says Lee Vesage, host of The Drive on TSN 1200.

Versage says the dollar figure of the bid is important.

"Money, money, and money, will be the first three things they are worried about," says Versage.

"That is important with these bids, that is what they will look at, that is the bottom line, and then they start to look into the 'what' after they look at the dollar signs. My guess is that it will be $1.2 to $1.3 billion."

Even though Monday is the deadline for bids, Versage doesn’t think this is the end.

"I do believe we are still going to get communication and merging of groups, to see if somebody can work with somebody else," he says. "This is the Melnyk daughters’ team but it is the National Hockey League and they have to approve everything if they want something. I think they will encourage many people to put some egos aside to try to make to make this happen."

"It is a very big moment in time," says Bruce Firestone, a co-founder of the Ottawa Senators, and part of the group that bought the modern NHL franchise to Ottawa.

Firestone says he expects bids to be around $1 billion.

"We paid 50 million dollars for it back in the early 90s," he says.

He expects bids to be close but competitive.

"When you get five or six billionaires together, billionaires are very competitive and they don’t like being told no, so I said, one of them will come forward with a blow-out bid, so I am expecting a billion dollars for a team that I think last year was valued at $650 million," says Firestone.

After Melnyk's death, the franchise ownership was passed down to his daughters Olivia and Anna. But the NHL will have final say on the decision. Firestone expects the NHL to take their time.

"One thing I know about NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and his right-hand man Bill Daly, is they are both trained lawyers and they are very careful. They don’t like putting a foot forward and so I don’t think we are going to hear today, tomorrow and the next few days, a whole lot. I think they will take their time to evaluate the bids, to make sure they are financially strong, that the cultural fit is good, and that these are people they like and trust."

Firestone hopes the new owner will spend more time in the capital. "Having the living breathing, beating heart of the owner in the building every day or as much as possible will really help."

He calls Monday an important moment in the franchise's history.

"At the end of the day, (the bidders) will do all kinds of due diligences, and they will do all kinds of calculation, but at the end of the day this is an emotional purchase. It is all about engaging your emotions, the love of the game, and the love of perhaps delivery one day a Stanley Cup, it is an emotional thing."