Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is reportedly part of an ownership group that is making a bit to purchase the NHL’s Ottawa Senators franchise. The club is going up for sale and has taken its first round of bidding from as many as eight different interested groups, with bids ranging from $800 to over $900 million. The group The Rock is reportedly part of is The Neko Sparks Group and speculation is that there are a number of celebrities in the group, (Johnson among them) and their particular bid may be as high as $950 million.
The sales of the Senators franchise is getting attention in the sports world, mostly because the team is about to be sold for a record number and actor Ryan Reynolds had already publicly declared his interest in joining a group to purchase the team. Reynolds — a Canadian-born Hollywood A-Lister — is a savvy businessperson who recently sold his stake in Mint Mobile for $1.3 billion. He’s also purchased the Wrexham AFC and made a successful documentary out of it. The club is reportedly worth much more than the low price he paid with fellow actor Rob McElhenney.
But, news that The Rock might be involved in a bid to buy the team changes a lot. Not only is their group rumored to have the highest bid among the many that came in during the first round, but he’s got a huge social media following, his own production company called Seven Bucks Productions and he’s relaunched the XFL, clearly showing he’s got the desire to do work and invest in the professional sports.
The report comes from Brent Wallace of the “Coming in Hot with Wallace, York, and Ryan” podcast. During the show, he noted that Neko Sparks has put together quite the group of backers, and The Rock, who is reportedly worth about $800 million, and the major source of money from the group is a pair of U.K. brothers worth an estimated $15 billion.
Also intriguing about the rumors is the suggestion that if one of the actors loses out to the other, Johnson and Reynolds could ultimately work together as they are close friends. There’s still a long way to go before the team is ultimately sold, but that so many big-name celebrities are lining up to become part of the purchase of the team is quite interesting and good news for the NHL.
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