Rogers Communications has acquired BCE’s 37.5% stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment

[HamiltonNHL]

BCE was forced into this sale because of its horrific balance sheet. There is zero chance it buys another sports team.

Sketchy business practices from my perspective.

 

[Racer88]

First impression? This really sucks.

Rogers, in general, is incompetent at everything it touches: They had a ready-made and successful template for HNIC and messed that up. Sportsnet broadcasts and content is far worse than what TSN offers. And, of course, their cable, internet, and mobile services are junk as well.

Beyond that, this deal has Ed Rogers' fingerprints all over it. He's known to be squabbling with Bell and Tanenbaum over the last few years and he appears to crave the spotlight. For the first time since Stavro or even Ballard, I suspect we are about to have an owner who meddles in the day-to-day business of the team. I hope I'm wrong.

Hopefully they fire Shanny

 

[tp71]

Well there ya go folks.

Bell cared so much about winning the cup they sold their share in the team. Maybe this means they're gonna increase their stake in the Canadiens. I never could understand how it wasn't a conflict of interest them owning a piece of two teams.

Not to mention all those other teams arenas with their names on them.

I don't think this is good news. And if it isn't good news that must mean it's bad news. There's no such thing as neutral news.

Only sensationalism one way or the other.

Personally I hope they end up selling to an individual owner. Someone who is actually intetested in winning. Leaving a legacy behind fans can admire and respect him for.

Not just building a monolithic sports media monopoly empire.

A winner brings more eyeballs to your team and your television station. Higher ad revenue, higher tickets etc. Why the f*** wouldn't Rogers want a winning team?

 

[francis246]

God forbid a man loves his country. I come from a family of refugees/immigrants and Don Cherry was right. I happen to organize Remembrance Day memorials and every year there seems to be less and less interest and even a growing resentment towards those who fought, bled, and died for this country only for it to be given away to unappreciative bootlickers and corporate stooges.

You can love your country and still take the time to pronounce guys names properly. Cherry couldn’t even pronounce people’s names anymore. It was time for him to go, he was just too old for the times now. McLean def sold him out, but Cherry was way past his prime and should have sailed into the sunset gracefully well before he was fired.

 

[keonsbitterness]

Rogers sucks and blows at the same time.

Don Cherry deserved the precise treatment he got. Whether for the comments he was ultimately let go for or a plethora of valid instances beforehand that he got away with.

He’s a blow hard idiot.

With that said, I find Ron MacLean pretty cringey and well past his expiry as well. He never adds anything of interest to the broadcast

They should have both been canned at the same time.

 

[Ciao]

Brace ourselves for more goofy autocratic ownership. Harold Ballard 2.0.

 

[Stephen]

Well they sold, they didn't cut hockey ops budgets.

That said, I don't necessarily disagree about there being 'no rule' either...

BUT t it does seem that a lot of folks are drawn to the idea of a single owner because they (erroneously) assume that they will always share the same views as fans and will only interfere positively in decisions/hiring/firing ect.

There's definitely no guarantee you get a good individual owner. Bill Foley on one hand and Harold Ballard on the other...

 

[Sypher04]

God forbid a man loves his country. I come from a family of refugees/immigrants and Don Cherry was right. I happen to organize Remembrance Day memorials and every year there seems to be less and less interest and even a growing resentment towards those who fought, bled, and died for this country only for it to be given away to unappreciative bootlickers and corporate stooges.

I don’t really have a problem with patriotism or the comments that he got fired for personally. I do know some people who were offended, I know some who weren’t. I don’t personally have a skin in the game. I respect how Don Cherry has always been a big supporter of Canadian soldiers. I don’t respect some of his other opinions he has expressed over the years. He’s not someone I feel should have still had a soapbox at the point he got axed and for that reason I am not overly sympathetic. Beyond that I didn’t think his coach’s corner segment was even remotely entertaining.

 

[Sypher04]

Well Mr. Woke.
Cherry was not perfect but he was 100% Canadian, and is 100% correct in demanding people respect the uniforms and those who serve.

lol Mr woke. You clearly don’t know a thing about me. He’s said some pretty offside shit in his broadcast career. I dont think the comments he was axed for were really it, but he had it coming for a long time for other comments. That and his segment was boring as hell.

 

[TMLBlueandWhite]

I sold one of my mutual funds at a profit.

After buying it in 2012 it gave me an annualized ROI of over 30%. What an incredible investment that was. I put in $75 and cashed out for $470.

I'm filthy rich from this one time cash infusion.

Rogers must REALLY want to win it all now. Bell was holding them back this whole time treating this team as an investment. That $4B will end up as a footnote in their annual report.

Bell will call it a tidy sum of business and get back to raking customers over the coals.

This team makes oodles and oodles of money whether they win or lose. They don't need a cup in order to sell out the arena every night. There's no reason to make changes when the complacency of the greatest fan base in the world gives them more money than any other team without the expected results.

Maybe it really is all about the money.

 

[mikeyz]

I guess Bell knows when to leave a party, I would gave preferred Rogers selling to Bell, but this can only be good for the organization imo. I have often said a single owner can only help even though it’s a publicly traded company, too many cooks spoil the broth and all……,

I take it you’re not a baseball fan and haven’t seen the damage that Rogers has done to the Blue Jays in the last decade.

This is absolutely terrible for the Leafs

 

[Nineteen67]

They may lose some phone customers. Not because this but peoples pagers and cells exploding in the ME. Probably going to have to wear chain male underwear.

Wait, y’all still use pagers?

 

[Nineteen67]

Well Mr. Woke.
Cherry was not perfect but he was 100% Canadian, and is 100% correct in demanding people respect the uniforms and those who serve.

Amen.

 

[Nineteen67]

I take it you’re not a baseball fan and haven’t seen the damage that Rogers has done to the Blue Jays in the last decade.

This is absolutely terrible for the Leafs

They’ve done a great job with the facilities in Dunedin, and that’s really all that matters to me.

 

[Hellcat]

BCE was forced into this sale because of its horrific balance sheet. There is zero chance it buys another sports team.

They dont have a horrific balance sheet, their margins were just under 10% last year, I think it was around 9.6%, they are consistently a Dividend Aristocrat, which if your a boring safe investor and invest for dividends, that is on the top of your list of things that you want to check off. I'm an investor in BCE stock I know what their financials look like because it affects my retirement plans (as would anyone who looks at their public financial disclosures). Bell took out a significant amount of loans to finance Fibe expansion, at the time with low interest rates, a duopoly in Telecommunications in Canada and CRTC "protection" it made perfect sense to do this. Recently two things happened that were not entirely predictable, interest rates rose to levels not seen in recent memory, putting pressure on Bell to service their debt at a much higher interest rate than was planned (I've heard rumors their interest payments are in the billions, which I doubt - again just a rumor, not substantiated by any reliable source), plus the CRTC has recently come out with multiple decisions that undercut Bells bottom line and their expected high returns with their expanded footprint. As a result of the CRTC decisions and margins dropping, Bell is making a transition from being a TelCo to being a TechCo. To do this they need to divest from TelCo products (Entertainment (MLSE) would be one of these products - dont be surprised if Bell sells off Bell Media sometime in the near future (TSN, CTV, Noovo, etc.) - just a gut feel for me TBH, this MLSE sale allows them to service their debt which investors love AND invest in high margin Tech Companies which investors love, that will have products that will help Bell transition to a TechCo. Bell is heavily invested in AI already, this sale TBH was a very very smart and needed and predictable move for BCE.

There is a universe of difference between a horrific balance sheet and transitional high debt due to investments.

 

[ColinM]

lol Mr woke. You clearly don’t know a thing about me. He’s said some pretty offside shit in his broadcast career. I dont think the comments he was axed for were really it, but he had it coming for a long time for other comments. That and his segment was boring as hell.

I was a Cherry fan but 32 thoughts was the better segment by 2015.

 

[Hellcat]

Well Mr. Woke.
Cherry was not perfect but he was 100% Canadian, and is 100% correct in demanding people respect the uniforms and those who serve.

Hear , hear... well said, to get fired for saying the phrase "those people", is beyond reasonable, it is moronic TBH. The way you handle woke people is you dont feed them, when they are going in hysterics over some innocuous issue, ignore them, dont respond, dont fight with them, dont interact with them, dont react, dont give them the food they need to survive, which is attention.

This sounds silly but most people dont really understand what is bad and good any more, they just react to emotions, one person has hurt feelings so it must be bad , so now we need to have a demonstration that shuts down society to support that one person - I'm being facetious to make a point.

End of the day if your feelings are hurt, maybe your feelings needed to be hurt. Pain is the connective tissue that makes you stronger. Cherry did nothing that justified a dismissal. He was a victim of a spineless employer.

lol Mr woke. You clearly don’t know a thing about me. He’s said some pretty offside shit in his broadcast career. I dont think the comments he was axed for were really it, but he had it coming for a long time for other comments. That and his segment was boring as hell.

Like?

 

[rumman]

I take it you’re not a baseball fan and haven’t seen the damage that Rogers has done to the Blue Jays in the last decade.

This is absolutely terrible for the Leafs

Your right, I’m not a baseball fan nor a Rogers customer I wasn’t endorsing Rogers, I was simply saying imo one owner should be better, I also said my preference would have been Bell as said single owner……..

 

[Evilhomer]

They dont have a horrific balance sheet, their margins were just under 10% last year, I think it was around 9.6%, they are consistently a Dividend Aristocrat, which if your a boring safe investor and invest for dividends, that is on the top of your list of things that you want to check off. I'm an investor in BCE stock I know what their financials look like because it affects my retirement plans (as would anyone who looks at their public financial disclosures). Bell took out a significant amount of loans to finance Fibe expansion, at the time with low interest rates, a duopoly in Telecommunications in Canada and CRTC "protection" it made perfect sense to do this. Recently two things happened that were not entirely predictable, interest rates rose to levels not seen in recent memory, putting pressure on Bell to service their debt at a much higher interest rate than was planned (I've heard rumors their interest payments are in the billions, which I doubt - again just a rumor, not substantiated by any reliable source), plus the CRTC has recently come out with multiple decisions that undercut Bells bottom line and their expected high returns with their expanded footprint. As a result of the CRTC decisions and margins dropping, Bell is making a transition from being a TelCo to being a TechCo. To do this they need to divest from TelCo products (Entertainment (MLSE) would be one of these products - dont be surprised if Bell sells off Bell Media sometime in the near future (TSN, CTV, Noovo, etc.) - just a gut feel for me TBH, this MLSE sale allows them to service their debt which investors love AND invest in high margin Tech Companies which investors love, that will have products that will help Bell transition to a TechCo. Bell is heavily invested in AI already, this sale TBH was a very very smart and needed and predictable move for BCE.

There is a universe of difference between a horrific balance sheet and transitional high debt due to investments.

We can agree to disagree on this one. I think BCE is doing everything it can to not have to cut its dividend, because at this point the cost to service that dividend has become too high. Selling one of its prime assets gives them some room to clean up the mess. Now, of course, this is hardly a company in financial trouble. It's more that they haven't managed their balance sheet well and, to your point, management got caught flat-footed when rates rose quickly.

 

[Hellcat]

We can agree to disagree on this one. I think BCE is doing everything it can to not have to cut its dividend, because at this point the cost to service that dividend has become too high. Selling one of its prime assets gives them some room to clean up the mess. Now, of course, this is hardly a company in financial trouble. It's more that they haven't managed their balance sheet well and, to your point, management got caught flat-footed when rates rose quickly.

100% agree.

 

[Hellcat]

I take it you’re not a baseball fan and haven’t seen the damage that Rogers has done to the Blue Jays in the last decade.

This is absolutely terrible for the Leafs

Did Rogers to that damage or was it the Dynamic Duo of Atkins and Shapiro? I suppose indirectly it's Rogers as they employ those two. Shapiro for his role , has done a decent job, one of his primary roles is get money to flow to the team, he's done this masterfully, the new development center in Dundein, the renos at the Dome and he's among the top 3rd in the league in payroll. Where they have both failed is drafting, development and assessing the strengths/weaknesses of the pro team... that IMO is more on Atkins. Atkins did say we would have to see internal growth this year, which I think since the TDL, the kids we called up have for the most part performed fairly well. If this season was an intentional reset, which hindsight suggests that we probably should have seen this reset coming, Atkins shouldn't have led the fans to think that this team was competing for a playoff spot.

MLSE is a printing press for money, I'm sure, I hope Rogers wont F that up. there should be no issues in funding any of the franchises. The way Rogers F's this up is by putting the wrong people in charge. I feel Pelly will not let that happen.

 

[MilkofthePoppy]

Hear , hear... well said, to get fired for saying the phrase "those people", is beyond reasonable, it is moronic TBH. The way you handle woke people is you dont feed them, when they are going in hysterics over some innocuous issue, ignore them, dont respond, dont fight with them, dont interact with them, dont react, dont give them the food they need to survive, which is attention.

This sounds silly but most people dont really understand what is bad and good any more, they just react to emotions, one person has hurt feelings so it must be bad , so now we need to have a demonstration that shuts down society to support that one person - I'm being facetious to make a point.

End of the day if your feelings are hurt, maybe your feelings needed to be hurt. Pain is the connective tissue that makes you stronger. Cherry did nothing that justified a dismissal. He was a victim of a spineless employer.



Like?

The evil racist white colonist Cherry was one of Kadri's biggest advocates. Don Cherry doesn't care about your culture background, just that you play the game the right way, the Canadian way. He was one of the first to highlight Cooke as a dirty coward, and he only said your name wrong if you sucked, which Ponikarovsky and Antropov did.

Also, firing Cherry on Remembrance Day demonstrates just how little Rogers/Bell care about Canadian servicemen's contributions to keep our country safe and free. Absolutely gutless woke corporations and I look forward to the day they collapse.

I was a Cherry fan but 32 thoughts was the better segment by 2015.

There is no timeline where bootlicker/jock sniffer Elliot Friedman has a better segment than Don Cherry.

 

[rumman]

The evil racist white colonist Cherry was one of Kadri's biggest advocates. Don Cherry doesn't care about your culture background, just that you play the game the right way, the Canadian way. He was one of the first to highlight Cooke as a dirty coward, and he only said your name wrong if you sucked, which Ponikarovsky and Antropov did.

Also, firing Cherry on Remembrance Day demonstrates just how little Rogers/Bell care about Canadian servicemen's contributions to keep our country safe and free. Absolutely gutless woke corporations and I look forward to the day they collapse.




There is no timeline where bootlicker/jock sniffer Elliot Friedman has a better segment than Don Cherry.

I think it comes down to this, if you won a participation trophy you hate Grapes, if your too old to have won a participation trophy chances are you loved Grapes………

 

[Dale Gribble]

While admittedly a Rogers customer, not sure how I feel about Rogers the Company and in effect Ed Rogers owning all the Toronto Teams. Sounds as though Tanenbaum will have to sell shortly as well.

I wonder if Rogers would eventually be willing to sell a portion of MLS&E in the future, still maintaining Majority Ownership, but other partners involved ?

Also, if Rogers buys the whole thing, will the Blue Jays eventually go under the MLS&E umbrella ?
I think MLS&E would have to "buy" the Blue Jays, which would essentially just be Rogers moving money around at this point.

 

[colchar]

Brace ourselves for more goofy autocratic ownership. Harold Ballard 2.0.

Have they demonstrated that with the Jays?

I take it you’re not a baseball fan and haven’t seen the damage that Rogers has done to the Blue Jays in the last decade.

This is absolutely terrible for the Leafs

Isn't the 'damage' simply having chosen the wrong guy to lead the club? We already have that with Shanny.