Wanted: Sucker to Buy a Mediocre Hockey Franchise

It looks like the Montreal Canadiens are up for sale. You'd think a hockey team full of small European guys, who don't play hard in the playoffs, in a city with no private sector would be a gold mine!

Sale rumours add to Habs' woes

Gillett arrived on the Montreal scene in 2001 feared by hockey fans as a U.S. investor who was sufficiently emboldened by his recovery from a 1992 bankruptcy to spirit the team out of town. But Gillett, and his family, have proven to be passionate, caring owners, treating the Canadiens as a public trust.

He now is respected, even beloved, for having written a cheque when no Quebec or Canadian company was prepared to deal with Molson on a sale, the brewery happy to keep just 19.9 per cent of the action. He is proud of the administrative team that runs the Canadiens, a group he’s assembled and let work with very little interference.

Now why would Molson sell out to George Gillette in the first place? Because they were making too much money? Please. Gillette is now looking for another sucker rich guy to sink money into it.

Maybe Bombardier can ask for more pork from the Canadian government so they can buy up more corporate boxes to improve the bottom line. Who said "stimulus" didn't have a trickle down effect?

We'll be seeing a lot of professional sports franchises feeling the crunch with the economic crisis. Baseball, and hockey are really going to feel it. They had many franchises losing money even in the boom years.