Rogers buys out Bell’s stake in MLSE (37.5%, US$3.5B)

[aqib]

I dunno, I’m not at all versed in Seattle politics but it would be surprising if the city invested over a billion in renovating Key (may as well call it a new build) and attracting an NHL franchise only to have a private party swoop in with an NBA team and build an even bigger arena as a direct competitor. I’m not saying it couldn’t happen, but it would be a crazy scenario.

Seems much more likely that if he were willing to relocate the Clippers, the city would have simply included him in plans for the Key rebuild and given the usual sweetheart incentives to get an additional team in there.

I’d love to have been a fly on the wall in Ballmer’s office as all these events played out. There must have been a million scenarios on the table and a lot of twists and turns we’ll never know about.

Ballmer bought the Clippers in 2014 which may before the whole renovate Key Arena came into play and there was an MOU for a basketball arena in SODO. That MOU didn't cover a situation where the NHL came first and that's what eventually killed that deal. Hansen, Balmer, and the rest of the group had no interest in hockey. If they did they probably would have gotten an NHL team in 2015 along with Vegas. Or if they had paired up with whoever was lined up to buy the Coyotes in 2013 if Glendale didn't approve the IceArizona deal.

 

[rojac]

Does the league consider this an ownership change that needs to be approved by the BOG people?

Yes. It needs to be approved by the BOGs of the NHL, NBA, MLS, and CFL But I honestly can't see there being any issues.

Do you have some reason to think there would be issues?

 

[madhi19]

Yes. It needs to be approved by the BOGs of the NHL, NBA, MLS, and CFL But I honestly can't see there being any issues.

Do you have some reason to think there would be issues?

No they already own a big chunk of MLSE. Figure that was always in the card that one of the three owners would take over eventually. It's better than putting it up for sale, and realizing nobody else in Canada is both interested and has the money to step in. It's a really big entity with one big cash cow, a smaller cash cow and a couple of lost leaders... Who else but a telecom or a streamer would make it work?

 

[Mike Jones]

Yes. It needs to be approved by the BOGs of the NHL, NBA, MLS, and CFL But I honestly can't see there being any issues.

Do you have some reason to think there would be issues?

No - I was just curious.

It is a change in the ownership structure of an NHL franchise's ownership group. I thought something like that would need some sort of approval at the BOG level.

 

[stats1]

With Bell keeping broadcast rights to the Leafs and Raptors, I doubt they want to get a second team. They just want to cash out while keeping their ability to show those teams on TSN.

They really have no plans going forward being a big player. Regional hockey on TSN for the foreseeable future. I also don’t see Toronto 2. The Leafs stake claim to a bunch of area that would be considered team 2

 

[Golden_Jet]

The Chargers got the stadium for free in LA, whereas they would have had pay for one in San Diego. San Diego had many chances to put an offer together and refused to do so. There was a ballot issue in 2016 after the deal with the Rams was agreed to and everyone knew "this deal fails we're leaving" and they still said no. Yes they probably would have been better off had they picked another market. Maybe they could have picked Vegas and let the Raiders have LA (just to screw with the Rams) or become the San Antonio Chargers to get back at Jerry Jones for backing the Rams. Or become the Toronto Chargers, etc.

Yes their tickets are a discount to the Rams. However, they have seemed to be building a fan base. You can see now its not majority visiting teams fans anymore.

Set NFL aside because its a once a week thing and people drive long distances for an NFL game. That's why the Cardinals were fine in Glendale but the Coyotes weren't. In the cities that are big enough to support to MLB/NHL/NBA teams you have accessibility as an issue. More often than not the teams serve different parts of the metro area. Yankees drew from Manhattan, Bronx, Westchester while the Mets drew from Queens, Brooklyn, and Long Island.

As far as the Clippers go, Steve Ballmer had been part of the group trying to bring the NBA back to Seattle. When he bought the Clippers he was asked if he would move them to Seattle. He said that would be "value destructive" so clearly he saw staying in LA as more lucrative than moving to Seattle.

The problem with the "second teams" is that in each case (Nets, Mets, Jets, White Sox, Angels, Clippers, Chargers) is that the second team has almost always been poorly run. Only the Nets/Knicks are even close in terms of playing performance and that's because both of them have been a joke.

Actually Chargers donated $200 million towards construction costs in lieu of renting Stadium. They pay $1 a year in rent as a result of the $200 million.

Probably time to drop the Chargers from this conversation.