Rapper and noted hockey fan Snoop Dogg may become co-owner of the Ottawa Senators. The G-funk icon has joined a consortium of investors seeking to make a bid on the NHL team being headed up by Los Angeles business figure Neko Sparks, who’s been in the running to purchase the Senators since early this year, going on to gather other interested parties to chip in.
The group now reportedly includes a dozen members, including not just Snoop but Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as well. According to one anonymous source, Snoop is very enthusiastic about the prospect of being a hockey team owner:
“He’s passionately involved. He’s coming up with ideas. And he’s legitimately excited…He wants this team.”
Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images
Snoop’s path to NHL ownership isn’t without obstacles. The Neko Sparks group is competing with another investment group headed by real estate mogul Christopher Bratty and including Ryan Reynolds, who elsewhere in the sporting world is already co-owner of Wrexham FC along with “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” star Rob McElhenney. According to TMZ, that group is preparing a bid of $1 billion to purchase the Senators, and is prepared to throw a new stadium into the bargain, and it isn’t yet known whether Sparks, Snoop, and co. are prepared to go as deep into their pockets for their own bid.
Fans of Snoop have known about his passion for hockey for a while now. In 2018 he hosted a web series called “Hockey 101 with Snoop Dogg” with the support of the NHL, and in 2020 he served in the broadcast booth during a period between the Colorado Avalanche and his hometown LA Kings. And as TMZ smartly points out, he is wearing a Pittsburgh Penguins jersey in the original video for “Gin and Juice.”
Given all that, it’s hard not to root for Snoop Dogg in his efforts to become co-owner of the Ottawa Senators. The deadline for bidding is on May 15.