Actor Ryan Reynolds’ group entered this week trailing in the bidding for the Ottawa Senators, but it’s upping the ante. 

The Remington Group was expected to sweeten its offer ahead of the May 15 deadline, but now it appears Reynolds and real estate mogul Christopher Bratty aren’t waiting and preparing a $1 billion bid, the Ottawa Sun reported on Friday. 

Front Office Sports reported Monday that bidding could reach or even surpass $1 billion — a mark no NHL franchise sale has reached. 

There were 16 bidders for the Senators, although the list of finalists were cut to seven in recent weeks, including a group led by Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadivé. Sources told FOS that Remington Group is among three groups that have both the bankroll and interest in submitting a bid with nine zeros in it.

Galatioto Sports Partners is handling the sale on behalf of the Melnyk family. Patriarch Eugene Melnyk, who purchased the Sens for $92 million in 2003, died in March 2022.

Along with purchasing the team, the next owner of the Sens is expected to make a new arena for the franchise a priority. 

Canadian Tire Centre — which sits in Kanata, located about 15 miles from downtown Ottawa — has hosted the Senators since 1996. There are at least four sites in downtown Ottawa that could accommodate a new arena. 

FOS previously reported that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told the bidders not to expect public financing for a new arena. 

Third-round bids for Manchester United are due Friday — and one bidder is confident this time will be the charm.

Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al-Thani was reportedly set to make a fresh bid for the storied franchise and remained confident he would be successful, despite another strong bid and reports that the Glazer family could opt to retain a majority stake.

The Raine Group is expected to declare a preferred bidder following this round, who would then enter final negotiations to secure the sale.

Sheikh Jassim’s bid will reportedly be significantly higher than his previous one, though it is still unclear if he will meet the Glazers’ asking price of $7.5 billion, per the Independent. He is bidding against the INEOS Group, led by British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe.

Investment firms Elliott Management, Ares Management Corporation, Sixth Street, and Carlyle are all expected to submit bids for a minority stake. Sheikh Jassim is interested in purchasing 100% of the club, while Ratcliffe is believed to be proposing buying a majority stake, which could allow Glazer family members to remain as minority owners.

The Raine Group asked for additional information from bidders for this round, including their sources of wealth and financing plans for the team. Those requests stirred hope that a sale could be completed quickly — and that new owners could be in place in time for the Premier League’s summer transfer window.

Phoenix Suns and Mercury fans can still watch games for free, but there will be some changes.  

Because of a new media rights deal with Gray Television, fans in nearly 2.8 million households will now have access to games — more than tripling the reach of the team’s current cable media partner Bally Sports Arizona. Bally’s parent company, Diamond Sports, filed for bankruptcy in March. 

Diamond now claims the new deal breaches its contract: “This is an improper effort by the Suns to change their broadcasting partner without permitting Diamond to exercise our contractual rights.”

But Diamond’s position is “totally inaccurate” said Suns and Mercury CEO Josh Bartelstein, and the teams are moving forward with its new media rights agreement.

The Suns reportedly received all scheduled rights payments from Bally Sports Arizona before their contract recently expired at the end of the first round of the NBA playoffs.

The new deal starts with the upcoming WNBA season. In addition to local, over-the-air broadcasts, fans can livestream games via a free direct-to-consumer service within Suns- and Mercury-branded apps built by technology partner Kiswe.  

Free broadcasts could cost the Suns tens of millions in guaranteed money per year, according to ESPN. 

Matt Ishbia, who bought the Suns and Mercury for around $4 billion earlier this year, told ESPN, “The media world is changing. … We’re going to be the leaders starting off with a new way of thinking about it.” MLB’s Arizona Diamondbacks, Texas Rangers, Minnesota Twins, and Cleveland Guardians have all claimed that Diamond Sports missed rights fee payments despite broadcasting games on their Bally Sports networks.