That’s Right, the Iconic West Coast Rapper Attempted to Own an NHL Team in Canada
In 2023, Calvin Broadus Jr.—known internationally as Snoop Dogg—entered the arena of professional hockey ownership. Not as a celebrity guest, nor as an honorary puck-dropper, but as a serious bidder for full or partial ownership of an actual NHL franchise: the Ottawa Senators.
Snoop Dogg joined a group led by Los Angeles-based entrepreneur Neko Sparks, who made headlines with their ambition to acquire the Canadian team. Sparks’ bid was positioned as not only financially competitive but also culturally transformative. And yes, Snoop’s involvement was exactly as real as it sounds. He confirmed it on Instagram, and later in interviews, revealing that he had long admired hockey and wanted to bring the game to a wider, more diverse audience—specifically targeting inner-city youth in North America.
If successful, the acquisition would’ve made the Sparks group the first Black-led ownership team in NHL history. Snoop expressed plans to highlight the sport among communities that traditionally had little access to or representation in the hockey world. He was not looking to passively invest. He spoke of mentoring young players, boosting youth hockey programs, and using his platform to help grow fan bases that had never considered watching a Senators game before.
Though the bid was ultimately unsuccessful—billionaire Michael Andlauer ended up purchasing the Senators—it remains a curious moment in sports history. For a brief period, there really was a possibility that Snoop Dogg would be involved in the decisions affecting power plays and trade deadlines in the National Hockey League.
It’s a pairing that seems unexpected until one considers that Snoop Dogg has, over the years, developed an eclectic relationship with hockey. He’s appeared in NHL promotional content, broken down the sport for televised segments, and even once described a goalie fight with an enthusiasm typically reserved for championship-level rap battles.
The Ottawa Senators did not end up under Snoop Dogg’s partial ownership. But the very real chance that they might have stands as yet another professionally sincere, strategically ambitious, and sublimely confounding chapter in the world of Snoop Dogg.