OTTAWA The Ottawa Senators are putting in another listless effort against the Dallas Stars, sleepwalking their way to a 3-1 loss. The Corel Centre Jumbotron drones on with the usual hockey mix of heavy metal, Godzilla videos and dance music with little noticeable effect on the fans.
Then early in the third period, the Jumbotron randomly catches a fan holding a sign reading, “Stay Sens Stay. Save Our Sens,” a reference to owner Rod Bryden’s intention to sell the team to U.S. interests if government aid doesn’t arrive soon. The sign instantly stirs the crowd into one of the biggest ovations of the night.
Up on Ottawa’s historic Parliament Hill, the center of Canadian government, the hot debate these days is not Quebec independence, bilingualism or foreign trade but a proposed financial bailout for the six NHL teams in the Great White North.
Bryden, a hard-driving technology executive who has lost more than $30 million on the Senators, is seeking $2.5 million to $3.4 million in federal government assistance.
He recently gained $2.8 million in annual tax cuts from local and regional authorities, but he’s holding out for a federal subsidy. And if he doesn’t get it in the next two weeks, suitors in Portland, Ore.; Houston, and Cleveland eagerly are awaiting a chance to bid for his team.
Bryden’s success or failure likely will define the course of professional sports in Canada for the next decade. If the Senators leave for the United States, the floodgates are wide open for some of the other five NHL teams to leave, joining the Quebec Nordiques and Winnipeg Jets south of the border.
The exodus could even spread to the NBA and Major League Baseball, where the Vancouver Grizzlies, Toronto Blue Jays and Montreal Expos have seen much better days.
The Canadian federal government historically has not doled out the kind of large tax credits many U.S. teams enjoy and has even mocked U.S. cities that grant them. So far, officials appear reluctant to change course.
As a result, Bryden’s request has generated a heated debate on the government’s role in supporting hockey and the overall role of the sport in the nation’s culture. Hockey, as it’s played today, originated in Canada in the 1850s, and despite a large recent European influx, the country still supplies the majority of NHL players.
“This is a very important, very sensitive time right now,” said Bernard Brisset, vice president of marketing and communications for the Montreal Canadiens. “This is our national game, and something must be done to help it.
“We’ve traditionally been one of the league’s wealthier teams, and we have a great fan base. But we lost [$1.6 million] last year, and never in our worst situation has it been that bad.”
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