Ryan Reynolds' group ends bid for NHL team

ESPN's Emily Kaplan reports that real estate developer The Remington Group and actor Ryan Reynolds have pulled their bid for the Ottawa Senators. 

"According to sources, Reynolds' request for an exclusive window to complete the deal was denied, which led Reynolds to pull out of the process. The deadline for interested groups to submit final nonbinding offers is May 15. A recent Forbes valuation put the Senators at $800 million. The Remington Group's bid was believed to be worth more than $1 billion," Kaplan wrote. 

Commissioner Gary Bettman sang Reynolds' praises when confirming the NHL had met with the actor to discuss his interest in becoming an owner.

"[Reynolds] very much impressed us," Bettman said at the NHL's board of governors meetings, via Kaplan. "If we can figure out a way to have him included, I think that would be great for the Senators and great for the league. ... He's very smart, he has a number of businesses besides the acting business, and he understands sports and he understands promotion. I think he told us his followers on all of his platforms combined was well over 100 million."

The estate of Eugene Melnyk has engaged in talks of selling the franchise since the owner's unexpected death in March 2022. Even in the years preceding his passing, Melnyk had angled for a new arena in Ottawa to replace the Canadian Tire Centre in hopes of ensuring the Senators' future in the city.

The potential sale of the franchise has attracted a surprisingly robust list of suitors, with Reynolds' name the very first floated upon the sale's announcement last November. Away from Hollywood, the Vancouver native has amassed an impressive business portfolio in recent years, with previous ownership stakes in Aviation Gin and Mint Mobile along with a recently increased stake in Fubo. Reynolds' most high-profile acquisition is Wrexham AFC, the Welsh soccer club he co-owns with Rob McElhenney. In April, Wrexham won its first league championship in 45 years.

Although the Senators won't move forward with Reynolds, another Canadian has expressed interest in bidding for the team. Abel Tesfaye, better known as The Weeknd, joined a bidding group with Toronto-based billionaires Jeffrey and Michael Kimel. In addition, Snoop Dogg hopes that he and L.A businessman Neko Sparks could become the first Black men to become majority owners of a NHL franchise.