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Hoist a Molson for the Canadiens

George Gillett, the owner of the Montreal Canadiens and a 50% partner in Liverpool FC has been having a few financial problems thanks to the Great Recession. The fact that he and his Liverpool partner, Tom Hicks, he of the Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars, aren't getting along hasn't helped. Gillett put the Canadiens up for sale a few months back and has now found a buyer. And what a buyer it is, in fact, it's almost Canadian royalty.

The new owner of the Canadiens is the same as the old owner of the Canadiens. Indeed for the Molson family this will be the third time around. The purchase price is reputed to be between $506-537 million and includes, in addition to the team, the Bell Centre arena and Gillett's concert promotion business. The concert business is lucrative, said to have grossed over $100 million last year. The bid is backed by BCE, the telecom whose name is on the arena, and an unnamed Quebec financial institution. Gillett will make a nice profit since he bought the club (well, the 80.1% that he owns and is selling) from the Molsons for about $180 million in 2001. He'll need it all to deal with Liverpool's crushing debt and his ongoing feud with Hicks.

This should be good news for Habs fans as the Molsons are dedicated to the club - after all they keep coming back to it time after time. Gillett has been distracted and the club has suffered from a lack of attention of late. Perhaps the new generation of Molsons will inject some money into personnel and make a few smarter decisions as well. It is good for league when the Canadiens are successful.

Full post as published by Sports Biz on June 20, 2009 (boomark / email).