Snoop Dogg Says Joining Senators Bid 'Ain't No Joke'; It's a 'Real Ownership Play'

Ryan Reynolds is not the only celebrity interested in buying the Ottawa Senators.

Snoop Dogg confirmed the seriousness of his pursuit of NHL team ownership to The Athletic's Ian Mendes on Thursday.

"This ain't no joke or no gimmick. Or an image or likeness play. This is a real ownership play," he said. "And Snoop will put his foot in the town."

Snoop Dogg is part of a bid by businessman Neko Sparks to buy the hockey club, which went up for sale in November 2022, seven months after former owner Eugene Melnyk died.

The sale price for the Senators could reach 10 digits. Remington Group, a consortium whose bid Reynolds is a part of, is planning to offer over $1 billion, according to the Ottawa Sun.

That would make this the most expensive NHL club purchase of all time, topping the Fenway Sports Group's buy of the Pittsburgh Penguins for $900 million in 2021.

The last team to be added to the NHL, the Seattle Kraken, was sold to an ownership group for an expansion fee of $650 million. The owners ended up investing almost $2 billion in the purchase after spending $1 billion upgrading the Kraken's arena, per Yahoo News.

Whichever group purchases the Senators is likely to face similar expenses. The franchise plays at an arena on the edge of Ottawa's city limits, 15 miles from its center. The team has been discussing moving downtown and constructing a new arena for years.

Snoop Dogg is one of more than a dozen investors involved in Sparks' bid, several of whom are people of color, The Athletic reported. While speaking to ESPN about the potential purchase on May 2, Snoop Dogg also mentioned his interest in starting a youth hockey league similar to his Snoop Youth Football League.

"The kids need to know that there's an option to play hockey if you look like me," Snoop Dogg said.

There is no date set for the final sale of the team. The Ottawa Sun reports at least five other groups are interested in buying the Senators.