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It appears Ryan Reynolds is not the only A-list celebrity with an eye towards purchasing the Ottawa Senators.

The Athletic has learned that Snoop Dogg has aligned himself with the bid fronted by Los Angeles-based entrepreneur Neko Sparks.

Sources with knowledge of the Sparks bid — but who are not authorized to speak publicly on the matter — confirmed the iconic hip-hop artist has joined forces with Sparks in an aggressive pursuit of the Ottawa Senators franchise.

“He’s passionately involved. He’s coming up with ideas. And he’s legitimately excited,” said a source of Snoop’s involvement. “He wants this team.”

Multiple sources stated the Sparks group is not intimidated by the notion of the final sale price for the NHL franchise eclipsing $1 billion (U.S.), although it is unclear how much of a financial stake Snoop has put into the group. A source confirmed Snoop is part of the consortium of owners as Sparks sets the ambition of leading the most diverse ownership group the NHL has ever seen. The consortium includes more than a dozen investors, with the majority of the ownership group comprised of people of colour.

Read more: Snoop Dogg on bid to buy the Ottawa Senators: ‘This ain’t no joke’

Snoop’s insertion into the conversation around the Senators ownership situation is certainly an intriguing plot twist in the latter stages of the process. The next round of bids for the hockey team are due in two weeks and this piece of news might inject a degree of credibility and familiarity into the Sparks group, which has been largely cloaked in anonymity until now.

Snoop has been a dynamic force in the music and entertainment industry for three decades and comes to the table with a massive social media footprint, including more than 100 million combined followers on Instagram (80.1 million) and Twitter (20.9 million). Snoop performed at the halftime show of Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles in 2022, alongside Dr. Dre, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar.

There is a belief Snoop will be able to use his connections to potentially draw other investors — and celebrities — into the Senators fold. And the 51-year-old appears bullish on using his celebrity power and status to amplify and grow the Ottawa Senators brand.

A source said Snoop has already started planning ahead for how he could integrate himself into the franchise for the 2023-24 NHL season if the Sparks group emerges as the successful bidder. Snoop would plan on attending a handful of Senators home games at Canadian Tire Centre and likely join the TSN booth to provide some analysis and commentary for Ottawa regional television broadcasts — similar to what he’s done with the Los Angeles Kings in the past.

But in particular, sources say Snoop is intrigued by the possibility of growing and marketing hockey to families from diverse backgrounds in the Ottawa area — and beyond — who haven’t necessarily been targeted by the sport in the past.

“He’s passionate about trying to make this game affordable for visible minorities and kids in low-income areas who haven’t been able to play hockey in the past,” says a source.  “He wants to be community oriented.”

He would adopt a similar template in the hockey world that he used to launch the Snoop Football League in 2005 — where the league’s mandate is to “provide youth, regardless of race, color, creed, or economic background the chance to learn the values of character, integrity, discipline, and team work through football and cheer.” The youth football league was profiled in an eight-episode documentary on Netflix titled “Coach Snoop” in 2018.

In addition to his career as an entertainer, Snoop has also carved out a niche as an aggressive entrepreneur. He is a cofounder of Case Verde Capital, one of the first cannabis-focused investment firms in the world. Last year, he purchased the Death Row Records brand, which was the label for his own debut album in 1993. He also partnered with the ’19 crimes’ wine label to launch a Snoop Cali Red wine in 2020, in addition to having launched his own brand of gin under his Indoggo label. In addition to several other ventures, Snoop also helped create an animated television series called “Doggyland,” where the aim is to generate educational content for children centred around music.

Over the years, Snoop has also emphatically shown his support for hockey.

In the 1994 music video for “Gin and Juice” — one of the definitive moments of his early career — Snoop was wearing a Pittsburgh Penguins jersey. In a 2021 story in The Athletic about the Penguins retro jerseys, Snoop was informed that many fans in Pittsburgh still refer to that version of the Penguins sweater as the “Gin and Juice” jersey.

“Thats big. Its an honor to hear that considering legends like Lemieux and Jagr rocked that jersey,” Snoop told The Athletic via e-mail in December of 2021.

Snoop has also collaborated with the NHL to help grow the sport to a new audience. In 2018, he released a weekly video series on NHL.com where he nicknamed himself “Dogg Cherry” and explained some of the nuances and history of the sport to a fresh crowd. The following year, EA Sports added Snoop as a commentator and playable character in its updated version of NHL ’20.

And there is even a small connection between Snoop and the Ottawa Senators.

Prior to the 2007 Stanley Cup Final between Ottawa and Anaheim, Senators netminder Ray Emery gifted Snoop a Senators jersey. During a memorable interview with Hockey Night in Canada during that 2007 series between the Senators and Ducks, Snoop told the CBC that he couldn’t wear the Senators jersey from Emery inside the Honda Center because Anaheim fans would “barbecue” him.

When The Athletic first reported about the bid headed by Sparks in early January, a source hinted they would eventually reveal a major celebrity from the world of entertainment as part of their roster.

“One of the major partners is a major force in the music industry. He has worked with everybody from Jay Z to The Weeknd to Drake,” a source said on Jan. 6. “They have relationships with individuals with high visibility that can be ambassadors for the team.”

Snoop certainly checks those boxes and could help the Sparks group generate revenue in a downtown arena by attracting concerts, festivals and other events using Snoop’s connections in the entertainment industry. One of the goals of the Sparks group is to figure out ways to monetize the arena as an entertainment venue on the 300 nights when the Senators aren’t playing an NHL game.

In February, The Athletic reported that Adidas executive Daniel Cherry was part of the investment team with the Sparks group.

Former NHL defencemen Mattias Norstrom and Trevor Daley are also consulting with the group from a hockey perspective. Given Norstrom’s previous connection as a teammate to Daniel Alfredsson on Swedish national teams, there is an expectation that the Sparks ownership group is willing to leave a significant role open for the longtime Senators captain in the hockey operations department if they take control of the franchise.

Alfredsson, however, has not aligned himself with a single bidder and would prefer to wait for this process to play out before making a commitment to any group.

(Photo: Gilbert Flores / Variety via Getty Images)