http://news.therecord.com/Sports/article/822783
PLEEEEEEEEEEEASE
http://news.therecord.com/Sports/article/822783
PLEEEEEEEEEEEASE
You kidding me? They'll budget cut more than MLSE does already.
rogers said they'll spend money on the jays and be willing to take losses, I wouldn't mind Rogers taking over. Not like they can do much worse on the ice/court/field.
i wonder if peddie's retirement is related to this
Last edited by dclaro; 12-01-2010 at 01:53 AM.
The thing is, Toronto FC moves down another slot in the pecking order given that Rogers owns the Blue Jays.
It's tough to know what the implications will be for TFC unless it happens and we actually see it play out. Very little precedent for this type of thing, especially in a larger market. As a Jays fan myself, I'm less than enamored with Rogers to this point, but time will tell I suppose.
I expect some TFC games will likely be played at Rogers Centre now (maybe large international friendlies, or special one off games like Toronto/Montreal for the first time in Toronto once they join MLS).
I mean really, can they do any worse?
Wow. Cash of Titans.
That's an interesting story. Top Torstar biz writers names on it, so it has traction.
May well be sparked by Rogers impending sense that the Blue Jays probably aren't going to grow significantly in years to come, hence the pre-emptive buy out of MLSE. Even bagging a maxed-out Leafs team would represent new business growth for Rogers.
The other foot to fall in this scenario would be the acquisition of(Chris Berman voice) A National (dah-dah-dah-dunnhh!) Football (dah-dah-dah-dunnhh!) League (dah-dah-dah-dunnhh!) franchise by Rogers. And the building of a new Dallas Death Star-type stadium to house it. Oooh. That's where we'll see TFC play Barca someday.
Or Spurs.
In the meantime, might also get to see the Leafs playing their Winter Classic at Skydome with the roof open.
And the Argos? As Mott The Pringle might have sung:
It's a mighty long way down the dusty trail
and the sun burns hot on the cold steel rail
and I look like a bum
and I crawl like a snail
(da-da dadadadadadadada)
All the way to Moncton
Wow. We'll need a Steinbrenner to run this show.
Last edited by greatwhitenorf; 12-01-2010 at 02:24 AM.
Does this mean Tom "dumbass" Anselmi will be gone too?
Oh and please let us hope TFC doesnt end up playing on a pointy ball shared surface!
NFL rules do prohibit corporate ownership. Rogers will just stick some puppet in there to do their bidding.
I nominate Jim Lang. On the payroll, not doing anything important.
rogers field does not have that bad a ring
Sportsnet Skydome.
I wonder if they'll look to divest themselves of TFC if the deal goes through?
Damn! This news certainly has certainly caught me by surprise. Never thought we'd see the day.
I doubt this would change any of the losers running TFC at day to day management level.
Where the hell did that come from? That sounds like it would be great, but I have one huge problem from the top of my head.
It said it wouldn't buy property.
That would include projects in the planning stages. Like the soccer training center. That will probally get put on hold until MLSE is either sold, or they reject a deal. Even if Rogers did buy it, let's say in a year or two, when the center is finished. If they dont buy the buildings, then the academy will take a nosedive.
If the jays were a winning team, I would say sure. But I prefer the devil I know, to the devil I don't.
I don't think it is a good idea that one company owns all but one of the sports franchises in the city.
Better the devil you do know than the devil you don't.
If the idea is to find a way to leverage more money from the Leafs than MLSE currently can, moving the Jays out to somewhere new ( smaller ) then refurbisihing the dome into a "new" 60,000 seat home for the leafs and national hockey team would make more sense.
I heard this on the FAN590 this morning...interesting bit of news and I am sure all the media outlets will pick this up today.....I can't wait to see how this plays out.
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Mott the HoopleIt's a mighty long way down the dusty trail
and the sun burns hot on the cold steel rail
and I look like a bum
and I crawl like a snail
(da-da dadadadadadadada)
All the way to Moncton
a ha ha heh he hoo.. ha
this has nothing to do with Peddie retiring...also 1.3 billion is the number I've heard is the what teachers pension would expect and sell at or around.
och i fucking hope not, i cant think of a worse ownership
I'm scratching my head on this one.
Hard to imagine that this corporate giant will get us footy fans. They are a baseball bunch, will they cater to the tourists that buy tickets to Jays games? Will their desire for a NFL franchise dominate all other considerations? Will they have the "touch" when it comes to Toronto FC? Is the best scenario be that they buy all the teams and then sell off the ones that don't play on ice?
Big front page spread in The Star today. $1.3B bid for the Teachers' Pension Plan's 66% stake.
Exactly.
ML$E replaces a faceless pension fund with a faceless cable and wireless giant.
Rogers doesn't give a crap about winning. The Jays have gone no-where under their ownership. All they want is "content" to fill their cable channels.
Since Jays viewership is down, adding ML$E's properties gives them material to place on their stations. Nothing more.
If you think it was bad under the Teachers' ownership, you ain't seen nothin' yet.
MLS is a tough, physical league, that emphasizes speed, and features plastic fields, grueling travel, extreme weather, and incompetent refs. - NK Toronto
So... this would make the Argo's the "bastard child" so to speak on the Toronto Professional sports scene?
The teachers have been selling off other assets lately, so they're likely going to sell to someone - if not Rogers, then who? Is there anyone else in this market interested in owning pro sports teams?
My main worry is where TFC eventually ends up on their list of priorities. With a buy of this size I suspect that it will be status quo for a while meaning, whatever is supposed to be going on with Klinsmann and finding the style of this team will continue. But eventually Rogers will turn their collective attention to 'that soccer team', and who knows what comes next.
That is a big number. Videotron bid huge for the Habs last year ($550 million) and lost. The final price for the Habs was $575 million, about 50% more than the $350-400 million Gillett had originally expected to get. Rogers is trying to knock out any other bidders. It's not likely in this case, because of the bigger amounts, that anyone can pull together a syndicate to compete with a phone company, the way the Molsons did. But it's not a knockout bid, yet. If someone comes in with a partner to take the real estate, that would be the vastly preferred option. Keeping ACC doesn't make sense for MLSE.
Why Rogers? Sports team content will become a "magic app" on mobile devices, i.e. something only you can offer that competitors can't compete with. Expect to see Bell jump into this before it's over.
Why now? Rogers execs must be really getting worried that the some or all of the new entrants will really impact (ie lower) mobile pricing.
Calling Jim Balsillie. Anybody there?
Last edited by ensco; 12-01-2010 at 08:51 AM.
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”