Post by TOMGUNNER on Jul 10, 2003 15:07:09 GMT -5
Is sports cartel coming?
One company: Leafs, Jays, Raptors
A question of timing, Tanenbaum says
DAVE PERKINS
A sporting convergence of the Maple Leafs, Raptors and Blue Jays, with their own digital cable TV channel, is becoming a distinct, if distant, possibility.
No talks have been held on bringing the three teams together under a corporate umbrella, ideally to be run by former Jays president Paul Beeston.
The current stumbling management situation of the Maple Leafs clearly has placed any potential proposals on the back burner, but Larry Tanenbaum said considering convergence "makes a huge amount of sense.
"It's not off base at all. It's more a question of timing and the timing has never been right before.
"The timing and the economics and the stars need to line up right and I'm not sure they do right now, but it's absolutely the right thing to be thinking about at some point,'' Tanenbaum said.
"Understand, we could never do this at the expense of the Leafs and Raptors. Those are our first priorities. And right now our priority is to get things in order at Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment.''
If it ever came together, such a widespread deal could involve Ted Rogers yielding a share of ownership in the Blue Jays in return for the exclusive cable-distribution rights of a channel that would carry most of the three pro teams' games.
The Leafs, by acquiring a stake in the Blue Jays, would thus fill out year-round sports programming for a channel, plus acquire a property providing better television numbers than do the Raptors.
Having programming 15 months from now, with the looming possibility of an NHL work stoppage, also could be a catalyst behind any deal, which one source indicated "could be a year or more away from ever happening because the Leafs are in such a mess right now.'' The Leafs, who are seeking a new general manager, appear paralyzed because of the dithering on retirement plans of defenceman Robert Svehla. They badly need to get their own house in order.
Further benefits of a convergence? Advertising, marketing, sponsorship and ticket crossovers between the three sports that would create, in the words of one man, "a dominant sports presence. It's a no-brainer. More programming means more advertising revenue and you package everything for all three broadcasts.''
Both Tanenbaum, running MLSE officially since July 1, and Rogers are said by two sources familiar with both the men and the concept to be in favour of constructing a cable-TV-fed sporting conglomerate along the lines of the Yankees Entertainment and Sports network, which carries games of the baseball powerhouse Yankees, NBA's New Jersey Nets and, beginning in 2008, the NHL's (Stanley Cup champion) New Jersey Devils.
Any potential deal, sources indicate, would be brokered by Blue Jays president Paul Godfrey working with lawyer Dale Lastman, who is both Godfrey's personal lawyer and is close to Tanenbaum. It was Lastman who kept warm Tanenbaum's board seat at MLSE when Tanenbaum was muscling out former Leaf owner Steve Stavro last year.
Godfrey said "there have been no discussions'' along these lines. He said he and Lastman, who is away in France on vacation, meet regularly. Godfrey agreed the idea in general "makes sense in any city. There are a lot of synergies and there's an obvious role model in what the Yankees have done.''
Godfrey said Rogers "is happy'' owning the Blue Jays, but "our first priority right now is to reduce the ball team's operating debt.'' This the Jays are slowly doing as they trim payroll and seemingly return to contending status.
Beeston, who called it "a hell of an idea,'' otherwise refused comment. The former No.2 man in Major League Baseball is enjoying life in retirement and is improving his golf game. But Toronto sports is in his blood and he's a guy who craves the action. He ducked the 2012 Olympic-bid bullet when Toronto was excused from any Olympic participation by Vancouver's victory last week in the 2010 Games vote, but without any future bids to head up, he becomes the obvious candidate to run the new entity, if it comes about.
Godfrey and Lastman, the high-profile son of the outgoing mayor, were instrumental in putting together the Maple Leafs and Raptors more than four years ago after being approached by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, the majority financial shareholder in the company that became MLSE.
According to a source, Teachers' money again would be used to acquire a share in the Blue Jays and, perhaps, the SkyDome, currently owned by a Chicago-based group of investors. Teachers', one source said, "have the deepest pockets in Canada.'' Another source said Tanenbaum would be more likely to move quickly if Rogers were to acquire the SkyDome and "make it more fan-friendly'' as part of the package he brought to the table.
The digital cable channel that would result would be a major source of subscriber revenue; there are millions of Rogers customers who would be potential buyers of the channel. There currently are no over-the-air bidders for Blue Jays baseball, the CBC having dropped out. The CBC would retain Hockey Night In Canada with no changes; the Leafs would simply repackage their remaining games to suit their own channel's requirements, leaving aside as many games as they would wish for outside bidders.
"There's one complication in that Bell still is part of the MLSE consortium, and they own CTV and TSN,'' said a source. "But with so many games and so much programming and another product (Jays) available, there's plenty left for a second channel. Look at the overlaps they had during the playoffs. There were Jays games against the Yankees that weren't on TV this spring.''
Is this a long shot? Absolutely, but it makes sense and sports management long ago embraced the concept that bigger was always better. What company wouldn't want a list of several million subscribers, complete with postal codes, for compiling its demographic data for marketing purposes?
And if everything got big enough and the teams got good enough to all contend and the money flowed, you could see such a large animal some day seeking out an NFL franchise, which is, of course, Paul Godfrey's lifelong wish.
There are reasons to make it all happen.
One company: Leafs, Jays, Raptors
A question of timing, Tanenbaum says
DAVE PERKINS
A sporting convergence of the Maple Leafs, Raptors and Blue Jays, with their own digital cable TV channel, is becoming a distinct, if distant, possibility.
No talks have been held on bringing the three teams together under a corporate umbrella, ideally to be run by former Jays president Paul Beeston.
The current stumbling management situation of the Maple Leafs clearly has placed any potential proposals on the back burner, but Larry Tanenbaum said considering convergence "makes a huge amount of sense.
"It's not off base at all. It's more a question of timing and the timing has never been right before.
"The timing and the economics and the stars need to line up right and I'm not sure they do right now, but it's absolutely the right thing to be thinking about at some point,'' Tanenbaum said.
"Understand, we could never do this at the expense of the Leafs and Raptors. Those are our first priorities. And right now our priority is to get things in order at Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment.''
If it ever came together, such a widespread deal could involve Ted Rogers yielding a share of ownership in the Blue Jays in return for the exclusive cable-distribution rights of a channel that would carry most of the three pro teams' games.
The Leafs, by acquiring a stake in the Blue Jays, would thus fill out year-round sports programming for a channel, plus acquire a property providing better television numbers than do the Raptors.
Having programming 15 months from now, with the looming possibility of an NHL work stoppage, also could be a catalyst behind any deal, which one source indicated "could be a year or more away from ever happening because the Leafs are in such a mess right now.'' The Leafs, who are seeking a new general manager, appear paralyzed because of the dithering on retirement plans of defenceman Robert Svehla. They badly need to get their own house in order.
Further benefits of a convergence? Advertising, marketing, sponsorship and ticket crossovers between the three sports that would create, in the words of one man, "a dominant sports presence. It's a no-brainer. More programming means more advertising revenue and you package everything for all three broadcasts.''
Both Tanenbaum, running MLSE officially since July 1, and Rogers are said by two sources familiar with both the men and the concept to be in favour of constructing a cable-TV-fed sporting conglomerate along the lines of the Yankees Entertainment and Sports network, which carries games of the baseball powerhouse Yankees, NBA's New Jersey Nets and, beginning in 2008, the NHL's (Stanley Cup champion) New Jersey Devils.
Any potential deal, sources indicate, would be brokered by Blue Jays president Paul Godfrey working with lawyer Dale Lastman, who is both Godfrey's personal lawyer and is close to Tanenbaum. It was Lastman who kept warm Tanenbaum's board seat at MLSE when Tanenbaum was muscling out former Leaf owner Steve Stavro last year.
Godfrey said "there have been no discussions'' along these lines. He said he and Lastman, who is away in France on vacation, meet regularly. Godfrey agreed the idea in general "makes sense in any city. There are a lot of synergies and there's an obvious role model in what the Yankees have done.''
Godfrey said Rogers "is happy'' owning the Blue Jays, but "our first priority right now is to reduce the ball team's operating debt.'' This the Jays are slowly doing as they trim payroll and seemingly return to contending status.
Beeston, who called it "a hell of an idea,'' otherwise refused comment. The former No.2 man in Major League Baseball is enjoying life in retirement and is improving his golf game. But Toronto sports is in his blood and he's a guy who craves the action. He ducked the 2012 Olympic-bid bullet when Toronto was excused from any Olympic participation by Vancouver's victory last week in the 2010 Games vote, but without any future bids to head up, he becomes the obvious candidate to run the new entity, if it comes about.
Godfrey and Lastman, the high-profile son of the outgoing mayor, were instrumental in putting together the Maple Leafs and Raptors more than four years ago after being approached by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, the majority financial shareholder in the company that became MLSE.
According to a source, Teachers' money again would be used to acquire a share in the Blue Jays and, perhaps, the SkyDome, currently owned by a Chicago-based group of investors. Teachers', one source said, "have the deepest pockets in Canada.'' Another source said Tanenbaum would be more likely to move quickly if Rogers were to acquire the SkyDome and "make it more fan-friendly'' as part of the package he brought to the table.
The digital cable channel that would result would be a major source of subscriber revenue; there are millions of Rogers customers who would be potential buyers of the channel. There currently are no over-the-air bidders for Blue Jays baseball, the CBC having dropped out. The CBC would retain Hockey Night In Canada with no changes; the Leafs would simply repackage their remaining games to suit their own channel's requirements, leaving aside as many games as they would wish for outside bidders.
"There's one complication in that Bell still is part of the MLSE consortium, and they own CTV and TSN,'' said a source. "But with so many games and so much programming and another product (Jays) available, there's plenty left for a second channel. Look at the overlaps they had during the playoffs. There were Jays games against the Yankees that weren't on TV this spring.''
Is this a long shot? Absolutely, but it makes sense and sports management long ago embraced the concept that bigger was always better. What company wouldn't want a list of several million subscribers, complete with postal codes, for compiling its demographic data for marketing purposes?
And if everything got big enough and the teams got good enough to all contend and the money flowed, you could see such a large animal some day seeking out an NFL franchise, which is, of course, Paul Godfrey's lifelong wish.
There are reasons to make it all happen.
