The product put out on the ice, the court and the soccer pitch has not been up to snuff recently, and the mere mention of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment raises the hackles of fans within and without Toronto as a symbol of an organization – and a city -- with more money than brains.
But two of Canada’s communications giants pooled their resources Friday to buy MLSE, and within it, the most valuable franchise in the National Hockey League (rightly or wrongly), as indicated in a recent poll by Forbes magazine.
The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan announced on Friday that will sell its 79.5% stake in MLSE, to Rogers Communications (T.RCI.A) and BCE (T.BCE) for $1.32 billion.
Besides the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs, MLSE also owns the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association, the Air Canada Centre (or "ACC", where they play), the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League, Toronto F.C. of Major League Soccer, two specialty television channels and Maple Leaf Square, a condominium development adjacent to the arena.
Friday’s announcement at the ACC outlined that Rogers and Bell Canada will divide their 75% share of MLSE evenly. Larry Tanenbaum’s firm, Kilmer Sports, which owned 21.47% of MLSE, increases its ownership to 25%.
Rogers CEO Nadir Mohamed told reporters that, "MLSE is truly a world-class organization with some of the most iconic brands and popular sports teams across North America."
Rogers took possession of the Toronto Blue Jays of baseball’s American League in 2000, and soon thereafter re-christened the club’s home park Rogers Centre from its original SkyDome.
The Forbes survey, which came out in late November, called the Leafs -- who haven’t won the Stanley Cup since 1967 and haven’t even so much as made the playoffs since 2004 -- the most valuable NHL franchise at $521 million U.S.
On Friday’s news, Rogers stock was unchanged at $37.07, while BCE shares erased three cents to $40.57 each.
