Breaking News: Quebecor's Dream Sank...Like The Titanic

The Montreal Canadiens are back where they belong.

Brothers Geoff, Andrew, and Justin Molson are the new owners of the Montreal Canadiens. 

It's not the first time the name Molson is associated with the Habs. Brothers Thomas and Hartland Molson first acquired the team from Senator Donat Raymond in 1957.

In 1978 the Molson brewery bought the team from the Bronfman Brothers. Under their ownership, the Canadiens won 11 of their 24 Stanley Cups.

On January 31st, 2001 George Gillett purchased 80.1 percent of the Montreal Canadiens and the Molson Centre (later called the Bell Centre) for $183 million.  Molson (later became Molson-Coors) kept 19.9 percent of the team.

Today's announcement put the Molson brothers not only in charge of the Montreal Canadiens and the Bell Centre, but also the Gillett Entertainment Group. Reports say that the transaction is way above $500 million. If that's indeed the case, that would be the highest sale price for a franchise in NHL history.

The amounts are of course in U.S. currency.

Here's the Press Release from the Montreal Canadiens offcial website.

PRESS RELEASE

MONTREAL – George N. Gillett Jr and Geoff Molson announced today that they have reached an agreement in principle for the sale of the Gillett family’s interests in the Montreal Canadiens Hockey Club, the Bell Centre and Gillett Entertainment Group. They will hold a news conference as soon as the agreement is finalized.

Mr. Gillett was very appreciative of the extraordinary interest shown by a number of parties in
the Montreal Canadiens, and acknowledged the fine work accomplished by the organization’s
management over the past eight years.

Congratulating and thanking Mr. Molson for the winning bid, Mr. Gillett said that he was pleased to return the ownership of the Canadiens to the Molson family, a family that has been
associated with the Club for over three generations and committed to the Montreal community
for seven generations over a 223 year period.

“Our family has been very proud to be associated with the Montreal Canadiens over the past
eight years and particularly to be a part of their Centennial Season. I am fully confident that the
Molson brothers, who have been a great part of the heritage of the Club, will ensure the
preservation and development of this great sports institution, ” said Mr. Gillett.

Geoff Molson said he was very happy with Mr. Gillett’s decision to accept his group’s proposal and that he hoped the Board of Governors of the National Hockey League would look favourably on the transaction.

Mr. Molson said he is conscious that the Montreal Canadiens Hockey Club is a heritage asset for the Montreal community and that with his brothers Andrew and Justin he would endeavour to maintain the tradition of the prestigious club while working with management to build a strong team on the ice and aim to bring back the Stanley Cup to Montreal.

“This is a very exciting time for our family and we are grateful to the many people and
organizations who came forward to offer their collaboration in the development of our proposal,“ said Mr. Molson.

The price and other modalities of the agreement in principle were not disclosed. The next steps include finalizing the agreement and approval by the Board of Governors of the National Hockey League before the closing of the transaction which is expected in late August.

Quebecor

Quebecor President and CEO Pierre Karl Peladeau and his group that included Rene Angelil's Les Productions Feeling and the FTQ (The Fonds de solidarite) were also interested in buying the team.

A few weeks ago, when GM Bob Gainey announced that he had hired a new coach, Mr. Peladeau criticized him by saying that Gainey should have waited at least until a new owner was named. Telling a GM what to do when you're not even the owner, nice going Karl!

Quebecor didn't even have the support of his Journal de Montreal staff who are not working due to a lock-out! By the way,that's not something new in Quebecor!

I speak for myself and thousands of Habs fans when I say it's a good thing Quebecor didn't win the bid. I didn't want Habs players to be paraded in Quebecor owned shows like Le Banquier (French version of Deal Or No Deal), or have the players lives in their tabloid magazines.

The players didn't need the distractions Quebecor would have brought them. Most importantly, they didn't need an owner who doesn't know anything about hockey!

Just like on April 15th, 1912 when it sank during it's maiden voyage, Pierre Karl Peladeau's dream sank, like the Titanic.