8:18am: Rogers has put out a press release officially confirming the sale agreement.
Notably, for Raptors fans in Canada, the announcement clarifies that TSN, the sports network controlled by Bell Media, will get the opportunity to renew its broadcast rights for Raptors games at “fair market value.” In recent years, TSN and Rogers’ sports network (Sportsnet) have split those Raptors broadcasts 50/50, with each network airing 41 regular season games.
BCE announced in a press release of its own that it has reached a deal with Rogers to retain TSN’s share of the broadcast rights for the Raptors (and other MLSE teams) for the next 20 years, subject to league approval.
8:00am: Rogers Communications has acquired BCE (Bell)’s stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, the parent company of the Raptors, according to a report from Scott Soshnick and Kurt Badenhausen of Sportico.
The two Canadian communications/media giants had each previously held 37.5% of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. Rogers purchased Bell’s 37.5% stake in the company for $4.7 billion in Canadian dollars, per Sportico, which works out to approximately $3.48 billion USD based on the current exchange rate. That puts the overall valuation of MLSE at around $9.3 billion.
In addition to the Raptors, MLSE controls the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs, MLS club Toronto FC, and a handful of smaller sports teams, such as the Toronto Argonauts (Canadian Football League) and Raptors 905 (G League). The company also owns and operates Scotiabank Centre and OVO Athletic Centre, the Raptors’ home arena and practice facility, respectively.
Raptors governor and NBA Board of Governors chairman Larry Tanenbaum controls 20% of MLSE via his holding company Kilmer Sports Inc. He previously held the full remaining 25% but sold a 5% stake to OMERS, a Canadian pension fund, in 2023, per Michael Grange and Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.ca.
As Grange and Friedman note, the MLSE ownership agreement gave Rogers and Bell the right to buy out Tanenbaum by July 2026 and there had been an expectation that they’d do so. If Rogers still intends to move forward with that plan after purchasing Bell’s stake, the company could control nearly all of MLSE within two years. Rogers also owns MLB’s Toronto Blue Jays.
It’s unclear what sort of short- and long-term impact the sale might have on how the Raptors run their business, but the $9.3 billion overall valuation for MLSE is worth noting.
Sportico’s latest round of NBA franchise valuations in December 2023 pegged the Raptors’ value at $4.11 billion, making it the most valuable asset in MLSE’s portfolio. Sportico estimated the value of the Maple Leafs at $2.65 billion in November 2023 and Toronto FC at $725MM in January 2024.
TSN is soooo much better
Agreed. Sportsnet over does the inclusion of ppl that water downs the quality of the broadcast.
So they own it all including the blue jays. Wild.
Masai’s days are numbered
how do you figure?
Whichever Rogers is currently running the show, Ted I think, is a racist idiot who already tried to get rid of him but the rest of ownership told him to pound sand. Now there is a chance there will be no reasonable voices to restraint his idiotic impulses.
Look at the current mess that is the Blue Jays. I hope history doesn’t repeat but I’m not optimistic we won’t have a Harold Ballard situation on our hands before too long.
Fug Rogers…