The partners in the Devcore Canderel DLS Group "want to buy" the Senators from Owner Eugene Melnyk and "move the team to their proposed 'Theatre of Sports and Entertainment' on LeBreton Flats," according to a source cited by Don Butler of the OTTAWA CITIZEN. The source said if the DCDLS bid to develop LeBreton Flats is successful, “these guys want to buy the team." The source added, "These are individuals who have very deep pockets." Butler notes the group is "competing to develop LeBreton Flats with the RendezVous LeBreton group, headed by Melnyk and Trinity Developments, whose proposal also calls for an NHL-calibre arena." It would become the Senators’ new home "if the National Capital Commission chooses their bid." Melnyk has repeatedly said that he has "no intention of selling the team, a position the team reiterated late Monday in an email." Butler notes the DCDLS partners "can’t open talks with Melnyk while the current LeBreton process, overseen by the NCC, is underway" (OTTAWA CITIZEN, 2/2).
SOMETHING BREWING? In Ottawa, Jon Willing reports a letter from Molson Coors to DCDLS dated Dec. 4 "signalled its interest in working" with the DCDLS Group on a brewery museum at LeBreton Flats. However, Molson Coors last week "distanced itself from the DCDLS bid after the Molson name appeared on the brew museum in renderings initially promoted by DCDLS." The brewery’s name "was then taken out of the drawings, except those already submitted" to the NCC. Molson Coors and the Senators "have been partners for more than 20 years." The Senators and the brewer in '11 "extended their sponsorship agreement" through this hockey season (OTTAWA CITIZEN, 2/2).
