In his latest column in the New York Post, sports reporter Brett Cyrgalis says the NHL must step in to stop Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk from causing further embarrassment to his team and the league as a whole.
"It's time for the NHL Board of Governors to step in and make Melnyk sell," Cyrgalis writes. "The Senators are a laughingstock, a franchise that is rotting from the head down. Owner Eugene Melnyk has buried himself in debt and lawsuits, his frugality unheard of in modern professional sports. But more importantly, the business failings have led to an on-ice product not worthy of the league shield. Enough is enough."
The lawsuits Cyrgalis is referencing starts with one filed by the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut which claims Melnyk attempted to pay $900,000 in gambling debts that were not honoured by the bank.
"[Melnyk] claims he was winning so big that the casino wouldn't cash out his chips. They “induced [the] defendant to continue to gamble,” according to his legal defense. Yup, his defense is the casino made him keep gambling. If that was a legit defense, the casino would be broke."
Crygalis also references a lawsuit directly involving operations of the Ottawa Senators.
"Melnyk had a grand opportunity to revive the Senators franchise with a new downtown arena at LeBreton Flats. The current arena all the way out in Kanata, Ont., about a 40-minute drive west of the stately city, is beyond antiquated. Its location and condition are two pretty good reasons why no one goes. But it turns out you need money to build a professional sports arena, and it turns out Melnyk didn't have enough — or wasn't willing to spend it. After winning the bid to develop the land, the deal fell through. He sued his partners for $700 million, and they countersued him for $1 billion."
The countersuit stated Melnyk wanted $500 million from the city of Ottawa to build the arena, while he would get free rent for 30 years, money from the naming rights and "“unreasonable degree of control over the LeBreton project.”
" Shocking they didn't go for that, right," writes Crygalis.
in yet another lawsuit referenced by Crygalis, former Sens' chief marketing officer Peter O'Leary filed a $1.55 million lawsuit against Melnyk for alleged abusive behavior and withholding bonuses, which Crygalis claims "quietly went away," while he also talks about a hosts of other controversies allegedly involving Melnyk.
It's hard not to think Crygalis doesn't have a point. Melnyk's legal battles have been well publicized and seem to be never-ending.
Source: NY Post
