Teachers Won't sell MLSE

[KGH]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repor...rticle2249112/

The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan has decided not to sell its stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd., according to sources.

The pension plan has wrapped up an eight-month process during which it explored its options and has concluded that it wants to hold onto its 79.5-per-cent stake in MLSE.

Teachers’ received and considered numerous offers for the sports franchise, sources said. But the pension fund is excited about the prospects for both the teams and the company. And it believes it can take actions that will help the Toronto Maple Leafs perform better, sources suggested.

Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd., which has more than 600 full-time and 3,000 part-time employees, owns the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors, Toronto FC, Toronto Marlies, Air Canada Centre and Maple Leaf Square, in addition to numerous TV assets and websites.
The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan first became involved with the sports franchise in 1994, when it invested in the Leafs. In 2003, it bolstered its ownership to 66 per cent of MLSE.

Teachers’ decided to put its stake on the block in March of this year to see how much it might fetch, after the pension plan received expressions of interest from potential acquirers. But Teachers’ had always said that it would simply hold onto its stake if the ultimate bids didn’t live up to its expectations.

In May, Teachers’ struck a deal to buy Toronto-Dominion Bank’s 13.46-per-cent stake in MLSE, a move that gave the pension plan more control over the auction process.

[CSO_BBTB]

Tend to think it's a case of better the devil you know from a soccer standpoint. The commitment they've made to the new facility at Downsview might not have been on the agenda of another ownership group.

[ManUtd4ever]

Wow, definitely an unexpected development.

As a Toronto sports fan, I have had no qualms with the OTPP having the majority stake in MLSE, as significant financial resources have been allocated to the Leafs, Raptors, and TFC throughout their tenure as primary shareholders.

[Roogsy]

In other words, the offers weren't as good as they had hoped.

[ManUtd4ever]

In other words, the offers weren't as good as they had hoped.

Yes, that too. The percieved value of MLSE sports properties that was established by the OTPP was inflated and unrealistic throughout the entire process.

[ensco]

In other words, the offers weren't as good as they had hoped.

Or they couldn't sort out the Mexican standoff with Larry. (Or both.)

Pretty dumb to go into a sale process and not control the sale.

[Roogsy]

Or they couldn't sort out the Mexican standoff with Larry. (Or both.)

Pretty dumb to go into a sale process and not control the sale.

Now they own even more of MLSE (having bought the TD portion) and will have to hang on. Of course, the face they put forward is that they are happy to hang on to the asset, my guess is that they are less than enthused this process did not go their way.

[KGH]

In other words, the offers weren't as good as they had hoped.

Well no wonder:

Leafs - Corporate sales have been steadily declining and will continue as the corporations continue to decrease the amount of money they spend on sports tickets.

Raptors - If there was a season going on you'd see a half empty arena most nights.

Marlies - They can't give tickets away.

TFC - Well we all know where we are.

[TFCRegina]

Well no wonder:

Leafs - Corporate sales have been steadily declining and will continue as the corporations continue to decrease the amount of money they spend on sports tickets.

Raptors - If there was a season going on you'd see a half empty arena most nights.

Marlies - They can't give tickets away.

TFC - Well we all know where we are.

Sitting at Keyboards discussing the team?

[Beach_Red]

Wow, definitely an unexpected development.

As a Toronto sports fan, I have had no qualms with the OTPP having the majority stake in MLSE, as significant financial resources have been allocated to the Leafs, Raptors, and TFC throughout their tenure as primary shareholders.

Well sure, in salary-cap leagues they invest about the middle of the pack (maybe upper end of the pack sometimes). So the problems must just be the people they put (and leave) in charge. Peddie is out very soon, does Anselmi take over now?

[ag futbol]

egg on face

Looks good on them

Leafs - Corporate sales have been steadily declining and will continue as the corporations continue to decrease the amount of money they spend on sports tickets.

Under publicized, but true. MLSE has increasingly been marketing their corporate seats lately and demand has apparently softened. A lot of businesses I know have downgraded their tickets from the luxury box section to the upper half of the lower bowl. I don't know if it's a function of years and years of bad results or a soft economy.

[billyfly]

MLSE ain't cheap.

[boban]

In other words, the offers weren't as good as they had hoped.

In other words the holding company (MLSE) is woefully overvalued.

[Brooker]

What happened to the supporters buying it?

[boban]

Wow, definitely an unexpected development.

As a Toronto sports fan, I have had no qualms with the OTPP having the majority stake in MLSE, as significant financial resources have been allocated to the Leafs, Raptors, and TFC throughout their tenure as primary shareholders.

How is it unexpected? Everyone that was thought to be a potential buyer walked away.

And the other part you mentioned .. well I'm guessing you like their koolaid.

[TFC/Everton]

There is nothing I hate more than supporting a team that is owned by the god awful teachers union. Yet, here I am...

[boban]

MLSE ain't cheap.

The value of the company or how they spend their money?

[ManUtd4ever]

How is it unexpected? Everyone that was thought to be a potential buyer walked away.

And the other part you mentioned .. well I'm guessing you like their koolaid.

It's unexpected in the sense that it appeared as though the OTPP was intent on selling their majority stake in MLSE to the highest bidder as opposed to just testing the waters.

As for your second comment, it's not even up for debate. One can question the wisdom of of MLSE regarding their use of financial resources in the past (ie. managerial choices), but there is absolutely no question that the Leafs, Raptors, and TFC are among the highest spending clubs within their respective leagues with respect to investment in infrastucture, front office staff, and team payroll.

I recognize that the expenditures should be in a higher bracket than most other clubs and correlate to MLSE's revenues and exorbitant ticket prices, but the fact remains that Brian Burke, Bryan Colangelo, and Tom Anselmi have no shortage of financial resources available to them in their quest to assemble winning teams.

[boban]

It's unexpected in the sense that it appeared as though the OTPP was intent on selling their majority stake in MLSE to the highest bidder as opposed to just testing the waters.

As for your second comment, it's not even up for debate. One can question the wisdom of of MLSE regarding their use of financial resources in the past (ie. managerial choices), but there is absolutely no question that the Leafs, Raptors, and TFC are among the highest spending clubs within their respective leagues with respect to investment in infrastucture, front office staff, and team payroll.

I recognize that the expenditures should be in higher bracket than most other clubs and correlate to MLSE's revenues and exorbitant ticket prices, but the fact remains that Brian Burke, Bryan Colangelo, and Tom Anselmi have no shortage of financial resources available to them in their quest to assemble winning teams.

We can see what their intentions were now. It was only intentional on their terms, no one else's.

[Shakes McQueen]

Now they own even more of MLSE (having bought the TD portion) and will have to hang on. Of course, the face they put forward is that they are happy to hang on to the asset, my guess is that they are less than enthused this process did not go their way.

Yep. They wanted to cash out big on a plateauing (albeit financially safe) asset, and for some reason nobody bit, haha.

So you put on the corporate happy face, talk about how pleased you are to hang onto the asset, and curse in private.

- Scott

[Shakes McQueen]

We can see what their intentions were now. It was only intentional on their terms, no one else's.

You say this as though it's a position we should hold against them.

- Scott

[Belfast_Boy]

Now they are going to take action to make the leafs better? Geeee thanks for all the years of making money and doing nothing.

[ensco]

there is absolutely no question that the Leafs, Raptors, and TFC are among the highest spending clubs within their respective leagues with respect to investment in infrastucture, front office staff, and team payroll.

Only sort of true for TFC, and definitely not true for the Raptors.

They didn't really become "one of the highest spending teams in the league" until this past summer. The spend was defensive in nature (save the SSH base) as opposed to an attempt to win.

Re the Raps, you have to spend past the cap to compete in the NBA, it's not much of a discussion. They never have.

[Roogsy]

Only sort of true for TFC, and definitely not true for the Raptors.

They didn't really become "one of the highest spending teams in the league" until this past summer. The spend was defensive in nature (save the SSH base) as opposed to an attempt to win.

Re the Raps, you have to spend past the cap to compete in the NBA, it's not much of a discussion. They never have.

Are you sure about the Raps? I vaguely recall there being a period where they were spending beyond the cap but I'm not sure.

[ag futbol]

When Babcock went out and signed Antonio Davis, and a bunch of other guys in anticipation of a deep playoff run we were a top 6 team in terms of spending. That represented a peak.

Since that time, it has gone down further and further. Maybe they are waiting for the right moment to splash the cash, but their commitment level looks low.

As of right now, the raptors are in the bottom third of the league when it comes to spending. I have a hard time remembering the last time we splashed for a serious free agent. The team seems content to try and overpay for lower level free agents and meddling talent.

[ManUtd4ever]

Only sort of true for TFC, and definitely not true for the Raptors.

They didn't really become "one of the highest spending teams in the league" until this past summer. The spend was defensive in nature (save the SSH base) as opposed to an attempt to win.

Re the Raps, you have to spend past the cap to compete in the NBA, it's not much of a discussion. They never have.

When Babcock went out and signed Antonio Davis, and a bunch of other guys in anticipation of a deep playoff run we were a top 6 team in terms of spending. That represented a peak.

Since that time, it has gone down further and further. Maybe they are waiting for the right moment to splash the cash, but their commitment level looks low.

As of right now, the raptors are in the bottom third of the league when it comes to spending. I have a hard time remembering the last time we splashed for a serious free agent. The team seems content to try and overpay for lower level free agents and meddling talent.

I agree that the team payroll has slipped into the mid range of the NBA in recent years, but Colangelo has stated in the past that the Board Of Governors at MLSE was willing to make the funds available to become a luxury tax team, if he felt that they were close to being a contender. As for the Raps expanded front office, I'm sure the salaries are up there with the top teams in the league.

[Shakes McQueen]

When Babcock went out and signed Antonio Davis, and a bunch of other guys in anticipation of a deep playoff run we were a top 6 team in terms of spending. That represented a peak.

Since that time, it has gone down further and further. Maybe they are waiting for the right moment to splash the cash, but their commitment level looks low.

As of right now, the raptors are in the bottom third of the league when it comes to spending. I have a hard time remembering the last time we splashed for a serious free agent. The team seems content to try and overpay for lower level free agents and meddling talent.

I know Colangelo had spoken about the team's willingness to go over the cap the next year, when Bosh was in his last season with the Raps. Supposedly it was part of his pitch to Bosh, when they were trying to hang onto him.

Right now the Raps have no real marquee player to build around, so it doesn't make much sense to be a luxury tax team - and basketball is probably the worst sport when it comes to trying to woo big-name American players to play in Canada. It's part of the reason why they tried to play up the "international-ness" of the team - because those were the easiest players to convince to play in Toronto.

It's hard to know what the Raps would be willing or authorized to spend, because they've rarely been in the right position to become a luxury tax team. Even the Blue Jays, who are the toast of the town right now (and are under a different owner), have expressed that they are only going to substantially increase payroll when they think the time is right.

- Scott

[ensco]

Without wading too far into something that has consumed about 167,000 pages over at raptorsforum.com....

Roogsy/ManU4ever, you're right (or at least have a point), they did pay the tax for a couple of years, in the prime VC years, and I think they have paid a tiny bit in a couple of other years more recently (ie after they brought Turkuglu in). With Bosh on max dollars, it was almost impossible not to. But there's degrees of "paying the tax"... and I know many felt they weren't really willing to go after the major piece that would make them an elite team with Bosh.

I would also say that the large majority of Raptors hardcores don't find Colangelo's current statements, about MLSE's willingness to have the Raps become a luxury tax team, to be credible.

[ag futbol]

Right now the Raps have no real marquee player to build around, so it doesn't make much sense to be a luxury tax team - and basketball is probably the worst sport when it comes to trying to woo big-name American players to play in Canada. It's part of the reason why they tried to play up the "international-ness" of the team - because those were the easiest players to convince to play in Toronto.

I don’t buy into the international aspect of the story. We had some high-profile rejections in the early days and there are still some thickheads around but generally it’s not a factor. Toronto consistently shows up in the top 3 places players like to stop-over in the course of the season, enough so that they deemed it “white-vegas”. Guys know it’s different, but they can appreciate it as well. The main problem with coming to this city is that the organization is not perceived as serious about winning, I kid you not. It’s seen as a good place for a talented rookie to establish himself and then skip town.

I agree that the team payroll has slipped into the mid range of the NBA in recent years, but Colangelo has stated in the past that the Board Of Governors at MLSE was willing to make the funds available to become a luxury tax team, if he felt that they were close to being a contender. As for the Raps expanded front office, I'm sure the salaries are up there with the top teams in the league.

Colangelo is being a good company guy by stating that, but at the same time I doubt it. I've heard past statements of a similar nature and they completely flip-flopped when it came to opening up the piggy-bank.

The other issue with that statement is the team needs to be spending into the luxury tax to cement a playoff spot year-over-year. The way they've laid their budget out they've basically eliminated the possibility of competing with any of the top six teams in the east because they are heavy luxury tax spenders. So effectively we're trying to win a prize fight with one arm tied behind our back and the corner is saying "if you knock him out I'll toss you some water". Well... thanks

[Shakes McQueen]

I don’t buy into the international aspect of the story. We had some high-profile rejections in the early days and there are still some thickheads around but generally it’s not a factor. Toronto consistently shows up in the top 3 places players like to stop-over in the course of the season, enough so that they deemed it “white-vegas”. Guys know it’s different, but they can appreciate it as well. The main problem with coming to this city is that the organization is not perceived as serious about winning, I kid you not. It’s seen as a good place for a talented rookie to establish himself and then skip town.

But being a place a top NBA player wants to play all season for several years, isn't the same as being a stop-over party town for a night here or there.

- Scott