Yet another celebrity is involved in a bid for a NHL team

The NHL’s Ottawa Senators are up for sale following former owner Eugene Melnyk’s death last March, and a surprising amount of celebrities are involved in groups bidding for the team. Actor (and Wrexham AFC co-owner) Ryan Reynolds is involved with the Remington Group bid, while artist Snoop Dogg is working with Neko Sparks’ bid. And another artist has now entered the fray, with Bruce Garrioch of The Ottawa Sun reporting Saturday that musician The Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye) has joined the bid from Jeffrey and Michael Kimel of the Harlo Capital Group:

The Weeknd latest superstar to join bid for the Ottawa Senators https://t.co/VvwfIv3XFB #Sens

— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) May 6, 2023

Tesfaye was born in Toronto to a family that had immigrated from Ethiopia, and grew up in the city. Garrioch has some quotes from a source close to him, including that he’s a “hockey guy”:

“He’s going to be a great partner for Ottawa and the NHL,” a source close to The Weeknd said. “The team he works with grew up in Ottawa, so they know the market really well, but he’s the largest musician on the planet right now. He has the most views, the most streams and he’s a hockey guy.

“He doesn’t like to be in the media very often so this really says something that he wants to be part of a bid. He wants to get this deal done, he wants to build something that will be great in Ottawa and he’ll be a good fit. He’s got a lot of connections of worldwide.”

In March, the Guinness Book of World Records declared Tesfaye “statistically the most popular musician on the planet,” with 111.4 million monthly listeners on Spotify as of that point. Miley Cyrus was second with 82.4 million at that time. The 33-year-old Tesfaye has also won four Grammy Awards, 20 Billboard Music Awards, and 22 Juno Awards, and been nominated for an Emmy and an Oscar. He performed at Super Bowl LV in 2021. And now, he, Reynolds, and Snoop Dogg are all involved in different bids for the Senators.

[The Ottawa Sun]