MLSE and Possibility of EPL team

[Pendrith]

MLSE wants to be the biggest sports company in the world. Not much more than they can do in North America as a corporation cannot buy an NFL team. Other than buying into the Toronto Blue Jays, the growth has to come elsewhere. Perhaps they can buy a team in the Championship in England with the hopes they can go up to the premier league with the backing of MLSE cash. Once in the premiership, they can hope to be competitive if they buy a team that previously had some history in the premiership like Leeds United, Queens Park Rangers, Birmingham City and Bolton. By having a team in the premiership would definitely help the MLSE brand worldwide which may also help TFC attract players and TFC would have a working relationship with the premiership teams which can loan to TFC some of their young players.

A few years back, Richard Peddie, former CEO of MLSE indicated that MLSE was seriously looking at a team in the UK to buy but nothing came of it. Is MLSE still looking to invest in a soccer team outside of North America?

[BuSaPuNk]

They were close to buying Liverpool when they were for sale a few years back. They probably are still debating it.

It's something they can't rush and do the proper investigating into the team, ground,

They only get one shot at getting it right.

[Mark in Ottawa]

MLSE wants to be the biggest sports company in the world.
Is MLSE still looking to invest in a soccer team outside of North America?
They have a hell of a long way to go. Hasn't Manchester United got the wealth of a small country by now??
And why would they want to do this when they can't run a decent franchise in North America??

[Fort York Redcoat]

Tottenham was a rumour once. It wasn't very serious nor should it be. They should concentrate on making their teams more worthy in tradition.

[Beach_Red]

That was before MLSE was bought by Bell/Rogers, wasn't it? What's the advantage to media companies who own the rights to entire leagues in owning individual teams? Didn't they only get together and buy MLSE when no one else stepped up?

[BuSaPuNk]

Yeah this is when MLSE was still controlled by the Teachers Pension Fund. I can still see the value in it for Bell/Rogers but it would be difficult finding the right team to go after.

[OgtheDim]

As long as they hold the rights to local coverage for a property based in another country, there is no benefit to Bogers to buying a piece of that property.

The whole biggest sports company in the world thing is media talk. They have a long way to go to match the Dallas Cowboys, let alone the Yankees.

[Greatest Ripoff]

I was unaware the Tottenham or Liverpool rumours but there were newspaper articles when Leeds was in League 1 about MLSE buying them. I think the rumours resurfaced again last year.

[Strikers]

If MLSE is still about making money I don't think they will buy an EPL team. These Saudi owners are burning their money for prestige and nothing more.
My understanding is that the Glazer family makes enough off of MAN U to pay the interest they owe to the banks they got the loan from.
Reason George Gillette and Al Hicks had to sell Liverpool after buying is they were behind on interest payments from the loan they got to buy Liverpool in the first place.

So if MLSE has the capital upfront to purchase a team and their debt without a loan and they think they can make some money I'm still not sure they would.

[Kaz]

perhapes they should learn to build a winning team before they buy a team in a league where losing means you aren't in the league too long.

[TFC07]

MLSE doesn't have enough money to buy a EPL team. It's better they look elsewhere or find a partner to buy a club in EPL.

[Carts]

MLSE doesn't have enough money to buy a EPL team. It's better they look elsewhere or find a partner to buy a club in EPL.

Its scary but true. This billion dollar beast of a company here in Canada, is simply too small a fish to jump into that pond...

Oil money is an atmosphere above the money MLSE has - which is scary, very scary...

[TFC07]

Its scary but true. This billion dollar beast of a company here in Canada, is simply too small a fish to jump into that pond...

Oil money is an atmosphere above the money MLSE has - which is scary, very scary...

Canada in general is a small fish in international world. If wasn't for Canada's protectionism, there will be no MLSE/Bell/Rogers today. We'll be owned by foreigners! That's scary thought, eh?

[Richard]

Yeah just take a look at what has happened to RIM the least few years, all but a shell of its former glory.

MLSE is small fry and isn't really a beast, all they have done is ride the history of the Leafs and they haven't created anything for their own franchises. They also don't have hundreds of millions to burn on another loosing franchise which is all but expected.


Canada in general is a small fish in international world. If wasn't for Canada's protectionism, there will be no MLSE/Bell/Rogers today. We'll be owned by foreigners! That's scary thought, eh?

Absolutely. I for one cant wait for the day when the real big boys to come in and show them the door.

[ensco]

Guys, you need to differentiate between what something is "worth" and what it's owners have committed to it. This thing has mountains of debt on it today. There is a world of difference between owning a million dollar house without a mortgage, and owning one with a $900,000 mortgage.

"MLSE" can't buy anything without a significant cash injection from Bogers. Which ain't happening, Bogers are playing defence here, not offence, their prime motive in buying this is to stop someone else from gaining an advantage by buying the Leafs. They don't really care about the sports business per se.

[habstfc]

MLSE doesn't have enough money to buy a EPL team. It's better they look elsewhere or find a partner to buy a club in EPL. I beg to differ.

[prizby]

Its scary but true. This billion dollar beast of a company here in Canada, is simply too small a fish to jump into that pond...

Oil money is an atmosphere above the money MLSE has - which is scary, very scary...

Who says Bell and Rogers can't throw more money into the MLSE operation though? (interest free loan?); they'd be more than capable of competing with oil money; not sure how stock holders would feel about it

[habstfc]

Mlse is quite capable of buying any team in the epl that isn't located in Manchester Liverpool or teams like tottenham or arsenal. The rest are affordable to Mlse.

[Greatest Ripoff]

MLSE doesn't have enough money to buy a EPL team. It's better they look elsewhere or find a partner to buy a club in EPL.

When Blackburn was in the Premiership they sold for £40 million, QPR sold for £60 million in the premiership and Fulham just sold for £150. A lot of the smaller clubs are not worth a lot of money. They are not franchises, their value is based on their assets and brand. MLSE could easily afford teams like Stoke, Swansea, Hull, Palace, Cardiff, Norwich ect if they were for sale.

Would it be a great investment? Not likely.

[Haddy]

I was unaware the Tottenham or Liverpool rumours but there were newspaper articles when Leeds was in League 1 about MLSE buying them. I think the rumours resurfaced again last year.

In 2012, Nottingham Forest and Leeds were both rumoured to be considered. Both investments were flat out denied.

http://sports.nationalpost.com/2012/05/29/maple-leafs-sports-and-entertainment-linked-with-an-english-soccer-team-again/

[tfcleeds]

I was unaware the Tottenham or Liverpool rumours but there were newspaper articles when Leeds was in League 1 about MLSE buying them. I think the rumours resurfaced again last year.Thank goodness that didn't happen. I support enough MLSE-owned teams that suck. I don't need another one!

[prizby]

When Blackburn was in the Premiership they sold for £40 million, QPR sold for £60 million in the premiership and Fulham just sold for £150. A lot of the smaller clubs are not worth a lot of money. They are not franchises, their value is based on their assets and brand. MLSE could easily afford teams like Stoke, Swansea, Hull, Palace, Cardiff, Norwich ect if they were for sale.

Would it be a great investment? Not likely.

if it cost 50 million pounds and you are getting that one year of tv money...i'd say not bad

[brad]

if it cost 50 million pounds and you are getting that one year of tv money...i'd say not bad

Depends on what the operating costs are. Many of these teams are not turning profits despite the TV revenue. The purchase also often comes along with a sizable debt load.

And with many of the cheaper teams, you run the risk of relegation which is an obvious killer.

[Huyton]

Would an arrangement like this be a way around the salary cap? Pay a player in another country and then "loan" them to TFC?

[BuSaPuNk]

I would expect this loophole to be closed with NYCFC coming into the leauge. It would be too easy for them to loan out players to get more playing time.

[ag futbol]

As of the third quarter of this year Rogers communications alone had access to 3.1B dollars worth of liquidity (or readily available cash). That's enough to buy whatever sports team they want as an afterthought. More money could be raised at the blink of an eye if need be. The size of any sports team is easily dwarfed by most large corporations.

But just because they can doesn't mean they would or have any interest in doing so. When Teachers' had the majority stake in MLSE they had a much different agenda than they do now. They kicked the tires of a few premiership teams but still decided against making an investment. Now that the focus is on securing content (more specifically Canadian content), I very much doubt they'd have any interest in purchasing a premier league club. It's outside of their strategy and their previous experience.

I don't for a second believe MLSE cares about being the biggest sports company in the world. They might state that somewhere for the sake of huff-and-bluster but that in no way reflects their behavior. This is about two companies securing resources to entrench their position as communication providers in the Canadian marketplace and that's about it.

[Beach_Red]

I don't for a second believe MLSE cares about being the biggest sports company in the world. They might state that somewhere for the sake of huff-and-bluster but that in no way reflects their behavior. This is about two companies securing resources to entrench their position as communication providers in the Canadian marketplace and that's about it.

And keeping the Canadian market all to themselves. They may not turn into Nortel or Blackberry the minute foreign competition is allowed in, but it would certainly take away some of their market share.

Owning the team is content, these guys don't like to spend creating content (look at their TV divisions) when they can just buy someone else's. They're content providers, not content creators.

[Ryan1984]

That was before MLSE was bought by Bell/Rogers, wasn't it? What's the advantage to media companies who own the rights to entire leagues in owning individual teams? Didn't they only get together and buy MLSE when no one else stepped up?

Bell and Rogers Bought MLSE when the Teachers Pension Plan said they were considering having all of the Maple Leaf Games and Raptors Games brodcast on there own channel Leafs TV. Bell and Rogers did not want to lose any content from there channels and Maple Leaf games draw huge numbers.

[KRO]

MLSE wants to be the biggest sports company in the world. Not much more than they can do in North America as a corporation cannot buy an NFL team. Other than buying into the Toronto Blue Jays, the growth has to come elsewhere. Perhaps they can buy a team in the Championship in England with the hopes they can go up to the premier league with the backing of MLSE cash. Once in the premiership, they can hope to be competitive if they buy a team that previously had some history in the premiership like Leeds United, Queens Park Rangers, Birmingham City and Bolton. By having a team in the premiership would definitely help the MLSE brand worldwide which may also help TFC attract players and TFC would have a working relationship with the premiership teams which can loan to TFC some of their young players.

A few years back, Richard Peddie, former CEO of MLSE indicated that MLSE was seriously looking at a team in the UK to buy but nothing came of it. Is MLSE still looking to invest in a soccer team outside of North America?

I know this is an old thread but reading this today about my old team across the pond made me think. They didn't say US investment fund but North American, which is often a code for Canadian.

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/birmingham-city-fc-confirm-talks-7176356

"Birmingham City have confirmed that they are in advanced negotiations with a British consortium over the piecemeal sale of the club. (http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/all-about/birmingham%20city%20takeover)
Acting chairman Peter Pannu (http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/all-about/peter%20pannu) issued a statement revealing that a UK bidder, with a very strong North American investment fund, were in talks with Birmingham International Holdings Limited."

[jabbronies]

They should buy Newcastle United - The loveable losers that still manage to fill an entire stadium, no matter how shit the team is.

That's right up MLSE's ally

[KRO]

They should buy Newcastle United - The loveable losers that still manage to fill an entire stadium, no matter how shit the team is.

That's right up MLSE's ally

Agreed - they shouldn't go anywhere near Birmingham.