Donovan Bailey joins group aiming to buy Ottawa Senators

Former Olympian Donovan Bailey speaks to a fan during a rally in support of the 2026 Winter Olympic bid in Calgary, Alta., Monday, Nov. 5, 2018. (Jeff McIntosh/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

One of Canada's greatest athletes is joining the bid by Los Angeles-based entrepreneur Neko Sparks to buy the Ottawa Senators.

As Senators fans wait for word on who will be the new owner of the club, Donovan Bailey announced he would be joining Sparks and Snoop Dogg in their bid for the club.

"I’m so excited to announce that I’ll be joining the first Black led ownership group with @SnoopDogg and @Neko_Sparks in our bid to purchase the Ottawa Senators," Bailey said on Twitter.

• Download our app to get local alerts to your device
• Get the latest local updates right to your inbox

Bailey won a gold medal in the 100-metre dash at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. He was also part of Canada's 4x100-metre relay team that won the gold.

Sparks, an entrepreneur who is the chief technology officer at Pixel Lime, has released few details about the terms of his bid and his partners. He told Newstalk 580 CFRA in April, "We are well-positioned and we are well-backed. A nice mix of Canadian money, U.K. money and American money."

His team includes former L.A. Kings captain Mattias Norström and former New Jersey Devils chief marketing officer Daniel Cherry.

The Sparks group has offered a share of the franchise to Indigenous groups if they are successful, CTV News confirmed Monday. Snoop Dogg, who is part of the Sparks bid, posted a video on social media Monday in which he gave "a shout out to the First Nations of Canada."

On Wednesday, Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation endorsed the Neko Sparks Group approach to the bidding process.

"While multiple bidders reached out to us, none have been more proactive than the lead investors behind Neko Sparks Group. We welcome the sincerity, thoughtfulness, and seriousness with which they intensified their talks with us over the past 72 hours," the statement said.

Final bids for the Ottawa Senators were submitted to New York-based Galatioto Sports Partners on Monday. Four groups submitted bids, according to reports, including Sparks.

Postmedia reported that three of the bids came from Toronto-area businessmen: Michael Andlauer, Jeffrey and Michael Kimel, and Steve Apostolopoulos.