The idea is seemingly preposterous - Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, which owns the Toronto Maple Leafs, has a veto on any NHL team moving within 50 miles of Toronto. They would have to agree to a new team locating to Toronto, and they have always said "no".
The most recent attempt to locate another NHL team in Toronto was almost ten years ago when Jim Balsillie, who made bundles of money as the CEO of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion, tried to buy the Phoenix Coyotes out of bankruptcy, conditional on approval from the NHL to move them to Hamilton, Ontario. That bid collapsed when the NHL refused to approve the move.
Ten years later, we have the Ottawa Senators in the basement of the NHL standings, and about to spend billions of dollars on a new arena and civic development in LeBreton Flats in downtown Ottawa. That this should happen seems to be a "no brainer", as the Senator's existing facility is 25 kms out of town, where access has always been an issue. A move downtown, which the Senators received approval to do after a competitive bid, should improve the team's fortunes. It should also remake the fortunes of the owner Eugene Melnyk, who has complained bitterly about the lack of attendance at the present facility, including the inability to sellout the building in the playoffs last year.
But is something else afoot?
Melnyk actually said that relocation of the Senators was a possibility at the NHL Classic outdoor game held in Ottawa on December 16, 2017. Specifically, he compared his franchise to a grocery store, and noted that if you have one and you have no customers, but the store two blocks away has a line up, "where are you going to put you store?" Most people have forgotten these comments, especially as the question of trading Erik Karlsson has dominated the discussion about the future of the Senators.
But consider these ominous signs...
Melnyk has essentially stopped talking to Ottawa sports radio and tv broadcasters. He is now doing all his interviews in Toronto, where he lives.
Melnyk has taken over the presidency of the Ottawa Senators, and seems poised to try to run the team from Toronto.
Finally, Melnyk just fired Ton Anselmi, who had been brought in for the expressed purpose of negotiating the LeBreton Flats deal with the National Capital Commission which owns the land, for the Senators. Right now, it appears that the person negotiating this deal is Melnyk himself, who appears to be planning to do so from Toronto.
Melnyk and others in the Senators organization confirmed their support for the LeBreton Flats plan in the days after Melnyk's comments in December, 2017. However, what has happened since contradicts this assurance. To confirm...here is NO evidence that negotiations are underway between Melnyk and the NHL and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE) which would both have to approve a move by the Senators to Toronto.
But let's explore this further...
Melnyk is about to spend what could be hundreds of millions of dollars of his own money as part of the LeBreton Flats development, which has an estimated price tag of $3.5 Billion. He must know that the Toronto Maple Leafs are worth about $1.4 Billion US, while the Senators are only worth $420 Million US - about $1 Billion US less.
There is no question that Toronto could support two NHL franchises. There is also no question that literally the first second that a post-relocation "Toronto Senators" team started to play in Toronto, that team would be worth hundreds of millions of dollars more than the Ottawa Senators will likely ever be worth. More than that, it is almost impossible to conceive of a second Toronto NHL team ever having trouble selling tickets like the Senators are having now. A move to Toronto would increase both the value of the team, and its future revenues.
Melnyk is a businessman. The ambit that would add most value to his team is not the LeBreton Flats development, but a move to Toronto, where there is a "grocery store" that always sells out.
Moving it there means getting MLSE and the NHL on side. This would obviously mean paying them enough for them to agree. With the prospect of an increase in value of the team of literally hundreds of millions of dollars simply from moving it to Toronto, Melnyk may think he has a source of funds to work with to make this happen.
To muse....if MLSE were offered $200 Million to relinquish their veto, and the NHL were offered $300 Million to spread around to the other NHL teams, would they support a move of the Senators to Toronto?
Again - he actually mused about moving the team only two months ago. And much of what he has done since points straight at Toronto. In life, things that are considered impossible are only impossible until they aren't....and then they may seem obvious.
Stay tuned.
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