Report: NHL to help with financing package Associated Press OTTAWA -- The Ottawa Senators, unable to pay their players last week, may end up filing for bankruptcy. An official announcement could come as early as Wednesday, according to various reports. The Ottawa Sun reported the Senators would file for protection from their creditors in Canada and the United States and receive a short-term cash infusion from the NHL. NHL spokesman Frank Brown said Tuesday the league had no comment until the team took action. The Pittsburgh Penguins are the only franchise in the four major American pro sports leagues to file for federal bankruptcy protection in the last 29 years. They did it in 1974 and 1998, with the second filing leading to Mario Lemieux taking over the club he still plays for. After the Senators failed to pay players on Jan. 1, team owner Rod Bryden met with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman to come up with a plan to help the financially struggling team that has the most points in the league. Bettman said Friday he hoped financing could be arranged and finalized this week. Lemieux gained control of the Penguins in federal bankruptcy court on Sept. 3, 1999. He was a major creditor because of deferred payments the team owed him from his playing contracts. Bankruptcy protection allows a company to continue operating and prevent creditors from going after the team's assets. It also gives a business time to deal with creditors and come up with a long-term business plan, and could lead to a sale of the Senators and the Corel Centre where the team plays its home games. The Senators' debt is around $160 million to creditors, with its main creditors the NHL, owed about $14.3 million. Total debt, including the arena, is in excess of $350 million. A complex $234-million financing deal that would have seen investors pump $42 million in cash into the franchise failed on New Year's Eve after at least one major creditor rejected the plan. Court-ordered protection does not allow a company to abandon union contracts, such as the Senators have with the NHL Players' Association. The Companies Creditors' Arrangement Act in Canada -- similar to Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States -- gives a company protection from its creditors, usually for an initial 30-day period that can be extended by a judge if progress is being made toward restructuring. Under bankruptcy protection, though, outside interests can put in offers on all or part of a troubled company and a judge can rule if a sale is in the company's and creditors' best interests.
With the Sens having the best record in the NHL, it's going to be really interesting if they win the Stanley Cup.
This may not make much sense to you Americans, but here we signed treaties with our first nations people (North American Indians). Part of this deal was that reserves and natives who lived on reserves (and a bunch of other conditions too) would have tax free status. Some of the treaties weren’t fulfilled on the government’s side with respect to the land that they were to receive, so in recent years some bands have been allowed to acquire land, sometimes in cities, and reclassify it reserve land, thus making the businesses there tax free. How this would work for the team re: taxes I’m not sure. We’ll just have to see how this plays out. Wednesday, January 8, 2003 First Nations group ready with assist Halaw powwows proposal to buy Corel Centre ice By BRUCE GARRIOCH, Ottawa Sun A VANCOUVER-BASED First Nations group wants to help Rod Bryden save the Senators. Peter Leech, president of the Halaw Management Group told the Sun last night he has held talks with Bryden about the possibility of purchasing the Corel Centre and turning the land into an "urban reserve." Under the plan, which would need the blessing of federal, provincial and local governments to be successful, Leech's group wouldn't have to pay tax for the building because of its Native status. SAVE TEAM "What we want to let people know is that we're interested in the Corel Centre. If we can find somebody interested, we would be able to keep that team in Ottawa," said Leech from Vancouver. "I spoke with Rod Bryden in December, I told him about our plan and, at the time, he told me he would get back to me. I guess he was waiting to see if his other plan would go through. That didn't happen. We believe this could help save the team." This isn't the first time Leech has made this proposal. Two years ago, he made a similar pitch to buy the Corel Centre but nothing materialized from those negotiations. Leech has also held talks with the owners of the Vancouver Canucks, Montreal Canadiens and Calgary Flames. According to Leech, he has also had discussions with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. Leech admitted the biggest hurdle is getting the federal government to back the plan. WORK WITH OWNER "What we couldn't find in Vancouver was an owner," said Leech. "We had talked to the local and provincial governments and I believe that they were onside with the plan. They liked the idea. All we want to do is own the building. "But, in the case of Vancouver, they've got an owner here (Orca Bay) that is in the process of trying to sell so it doesn't work here. We believe that this plan could help one of the Canadian teams. If it's put into action it's going to work." However, there would be many hoops for the group to jump through to make it happen. Getting land declared an "urban reserve" could be difficult but Leech said it has happened before. Leech said he tried to contact Bryden recently, but had only received a return call from his office. Leech also wasn't sure how the possibility of the filing for credit protection would affect a transaction. "I just think that Ottawa would be the perfect fit for this kind of plan," said Leech. "You've got the federal government in Ottawa and they've got a strong hockey market for that team. "We just want people to know that we would like to keep that team in Ottawa and if we could find somebody who wanted to own the team, then this is an idea that could work. All we want is to get the land the building is on declared an urban reserve. "The rest would be up to the owner."
