Confirmed with Link: Tannenbaum to sell a portion of his shares of MLSE holdings to OMERS

[Stephen]

Finally! This is the ownership we need, you just know that two monopolists and a pension fund will support taking dramatic risks with their investment because their ultimate goal is winning a Stanley Cup.

Even if the best coach/player available is a “brand risk”, the 1000-person HR/PR department at Rogers, Bell, and OMERS, is going to say “bring ‘em on, we’ll handle the haters on twitter threatening to boycott our companies for you”.

Surveying the empire from the perspective of a $8 billion buyout of Larry Tanenbaum's shares, it really doesn't seem like there's anything the Leafs could do in their hard cap sandbox that would register as a dramatic risk.

 

[geo25]

$8 billion and this team has a problem with firing coaches and paying out their contracts? SN and TSN have to provide an inferior product while laying off talent and staff? This whole team, from ownership down to its core four are so f***ing unlikeable.

So true. They are forgetting their commitment to winning....just as fans will forget them....it has started...this team is so unlikeable...

 

[Martin Skoula]

Surveying the empire from the perspective of a $8 billion buyout of Larry Tanenbaum's shares, it really doesn't seem like there's anything the Leafs could do in their hard cap sandbox that would register as a dramatic risk.

That’s the thing, they’re buying in at an 8B valuation with the team as marketable as it’s going to get in the near future. The valuation needs to go up and we need to keep selling tickets, jerseys, TV packages, sponsorships, and playoff home games at a rate that is likely our max capacity to date for the franchise for this to be a worthwhile investment for them. How much higher is the luxury real estate portion of MLSE going to go when it’s already at some of the most overpriced valuations in the world?

I can’t see these guys being on board with a GM telling them we need to do a 3-5 year rebuild where we won’t have marketable stars for a while and need to take on ugly contracts for picks instead. At least Rogers and Bell have other ways to rob you even if they don’t sell that many jerseys for a few years.

 

[ErnieLeafs]

So what you’re saying, is that I now own a piece of the Leafs?

I’m gonna call down to MLSE and set up a meeting….

 

[Stephen]

That’s the thing, they’re buying in at an 8B valuation with the team as marketable as it’s going to get in the near future. The valuation needs to go up and we need to keep selling tickets, jerseys, TV packages, sponsorships, and playoff home games at a rate that is likely our max capacity to date for the franchise for this to be a worthwhile investment for them. How much higher is the luxury real estate portion of MLSE going to go when it’s already at some of the most overpriced valuations in the world?

I can’t see these guys being on board with a GM telling them we need to do a 3-5 year rebuild where we won’t have marketable stars for a while and need to take on ugly contracts for picks instead. At least Rogers and Bell have other ways to rob you even if they don’t sell that many jerseys for a few years.

I don’t know if we need a 3-5 year rebuild in the near future.

I don’t know if a rebuild would be financially damaging to the Leafs other than lost playoff revenue.

I don’t know if your year to year hockey related revenue even for the Leafs is proportional to franchise and conglomerate level valuations.

Just given the scale of the money involved the hockey stuff just doesn’t seem like a big deal.

 

[hockeywiz542]

Opinion | The share that cares: Larry Tanenbaum has been a welcome face of ownership for the Raptors and the Leafs.

Tanenbaum reportedly is close to selling some of his 25 per cent share in MLSE.

www.thestar.com

Whatever the actual percentage being sold, it’s a vision of what will eventually be a sad day for the city. Larry Tanenbaum is a healthy 78, and sources have long said there was a trigger clause that would allow Bell and Rogers to buy him out. Some said it had a date; some said that date was extended. Either way, one day he won’t be part of the ownership group anymore.

And when it happens, it will be the loss of the only really human owner in the MLSE machine. In a way, MLSE runs on a sort of businesslike autopilot. There is no permanent CEO at the organization since the departure of penny-pinching placeholder Michael Friisdahl, and the days of a franchise-changer like Tim Leiweke are long gone. Both big franchises are struggling to win playoff series, but the money keeps rolling in.

Great sports organizations require real vision, a tone-setting from the top, someone who can move and shake and hire the right people, and who orients the franchise towards winning. Leiweke provided that when he hired Masai Ujiri and Brendan Shanahan to run the Raptors and the Leafs. Shanahan, for all his faults, has presided over the most successful era of Leafs hockey in 20 years, fractious and fraught as it has become. Ujiri produced sustained success until this year, and won an NBA title as a Canadian team in the NBA, which should almost count for two.

People might forget how bad it used to be in this town. Leiweke left in 2015, but his vision remains the biggest animating force from ownership left in this organization. His, and Larry’s.

Because Tanenbaum has always been the member of the ownership group who cared about being an owner. Sometimes he cared too much; Bryan Colangelo stayed with the organization for a time after being replaced as Raptors GM, in a strange arrangement, because Tanenbaum loved him so much. Tanenbaum didn’t want to fire Brian Burke, either.

But he has been the guy who could create and sustain relationships, the detail-oriented guy who became the chairman of the board in the NBA, the guy whose plane ferried people and whose house hosted dinners. He didn’t have control, but he had sway. When the Raptors were in ankle-deep champagne in the victorious locker room in Oakland in 2019 Larry’s grin was beatific, and he vowed he wouldn’t let Ujiri decamp to Washington. He said, “I know Masai. He’s like my son. There’s no chance he’s leaving Toronto.”

The chance wasn’t zero, and calling Ujiri his son seemed like a stretch. But Rogers communication owner Ed Rogers tried to block the re-signing of Ujiri in 2021; Rogers, incredibly, told his partners Ujiri brought bodyguards to a meeting at Rogers’s Lake Rosseau cottage, which was strongly denied by NBA sources. Of all the ways this organization could go sideways, Ed Rogers is widely agreed to be number one.

Then, the bridges had to be mended by Tanenbaum, longtime Tanenbaum ally Dale Lastman, and Bell CEO Mirko Bibic, but Tanenbaum was the one who had the best relationship with Ujiri. You need that, sometimes.

Tanenbaum isn’t perfect, of course. But this town has a surfeit of genuine owner stock, so the civic treasures wind up in the hands of semimonopolistic companies that are ravenous and cold. It’s always been too bad that Tanenbaum didn’t have enough money to own the whole thing.

But he doesn’t, and the telecoms will continue to run the show, reluctant to meddle but hardly plugged in. Larry Tanenbaum isn’t leaving, just yet. It will be a sad day for Toronto when he does.

 

[hockeywiz542]

Feschuk on reports Tanenbaum selling shares in MLSE, why it caught him off-guard and more - TSN.ca

Toronto Star columnist Dave Feschuk joins us to chat about the reports of Larry Tanenbaum selling some of his shares in MLSE, why the move caught him off-guard, why Bell and Rogers are not buying his shares, how much MLSE is worth, what he thinks the Raptors will do on draft night and more.

 

[DuklaNation]

When customers accept annual 10% price increases on seats, there is zero pressure on ownership to do anything.

 

[therealkoho]

Damn and here I was hoping he'd sell it to Ryan Reynolds or LIV Golf

 

[ACC1224]

When customers accept annual 10% price increases on seats, there is zero pressure on ownership to do anything.

Our seats were $37 after the price drop coming out of the '04 lockout, they are now at $88.20 for the upcoming season.
Not sure what percentage that translates to.

What would Ownership do differently if they felt 'pressure'?

 

[pspot]

i use to work for an Omers company, was run on P&L . Top management were all shareholders and there was no appetite for risk

 

[Mickey Marner]

Our seats were $37 after the price drop coming out of the '04 lockout, they are now at $88.20 for the upcoming season.
Not sure what percentage that translates to.

What would Ownership do differently if they felt 'pressure'?

About 5%. Seems reasonable, cap went from 39-83.5 million over the same time period

 

[Stand Witness]

I’d love it if Tannenbaum decided to turn around and use some of that stake to bring a NFL team to Toronto.

 

[ACC1224]

I’d love it if Tannenbaum decided to turn around and use some of that stake to bring a NFL team to Toronto.

That would be great but I don't think the lack of an NFL team here has anything to do with money.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Valuation seems really LOW LOW LOW Raps and Leafs worth around $8B .. $4B each .. land value another $1B easy .. TFC close to $1B i think .. i guess marlies and argos drop valuation but not by $2B .. not sure about debt sitting on MLSE books but i guess must be around $2B depending on tax structure to avoid taxes as much as possible .. can't understand why Larry is selling .. dude is so loaded with Kilmer property income it makes no sense to me .. maybe he is sick and cleaning up issues

 

[thewave]

Valuation seems really LOW LOW LOW Raps and Leafs worth around $8B .. $4B each .. land value another $1B easy .. TFC close to $1B i think .. i guess marlies and argos drop valuation but not by $2B .. not sure about debt sitting on MLSE books but i guess must be around $2B depending on tax structure to avoid taxes as much as possible .. can't understand why Larry is selling .. dude is so loaded with Kilmer property income it makes no sense to me .. maybe he is sick and cleaning up issues

Very simple. If you thought there was a correction coming in the housing market and you had the opportunity to get in at 50% discount, makes sense to stay liquid.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Very simple. If you thought there was a correction coming in the housing market and you had the opportunity to get in at 50% discount, makes sense to stay liquid.

I hope that doesn't happen .. can't see it with 300,000 new immigrants needing housing in GTA every year .. and we are already 1.5M housing units short supply to begin with (at least half in GTA) .. and big banks won't allow it to occur as too many people would be upside down and go and turn their keys over to da banks rather than pay mortgages .. if that occurred FEDS would immediately pump $$$ into banks like US feds did in 2008 to avoid a financial meltdown

 

[keonsbitterness]

I’d love it if Tannenbaum decided to turn around and use some of that stake to bring a NFL team to Toronto.

That dream is dead. The NFL doesn't want to be here.

 

[Sypher04]

I find it amazing that MLSE has increased in value so much in such a short time. 10 years to go from around 2billion to 8billion evaluation. I almost don't believe it.

Either the evaluation is skewed or the TPP were complete incompetent investors.

It’s like 500% growth.
1.65B valuation back in 2012

 

[thewave]

I hope that doesn't happen .. can't see it with 300,000 new immigrants needing housing in GTA every year .. and we are already 1.5M housing units short supply to begin with (at least half in GTA) .. and big banks won't allow it to occur as too many people would be upside down and go and turn their keys over to da banks rather than pay mortgages .. if that occurred FEDS would immediately pump $$$ into banks like US feds did in 2008 to avoid a financial meltdown

That's the ponzi unmasked right there, another pandemic with shut down borders topples that. I personally see a lot of potential black swan events on the horizon but not necessarily any one in particular. It could be any of war/trade/food supply/debt/derivatives/force majeure(USD, Environmental,War)

They're really riding a razor and trying not to lose a limb.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

That's the ponzi unmasked right there, another pandemic with shut down borders topples that. I personally see a lot of potential black swan events on the horizon but not necessarily any one in particular. It could be any of war/trade/food supply/debt/derivatives/force majeure(USD, Environmental,War)

They're really riding a razor and trying not to lose a limb.

Time to short da index maybe .. tsx index lost 10% last year 2022 led by technology with supply side problems .. and i was thinking another 10% this year too with inflation leading da charge .. so far most of losses are on da market but a real estate collapse would affect 50% of population .. then again renters would win with cut throat rents available as folks rip up their leases

 

[Stephen]

Valuation seems really LOW LOW LOW Raps and Leafs worth around $8B .. $4B each .. land value another $1B easy .. TFC close to $1B i think .. i guess marlies and argos drop valuation but not by $2B .. not sure about debt sitting on MLSE books but i guess must be around $2B depending on tax structure to avoid taxes as much as possible .. can't understand why Larry is selling .. dude is so loaded with Kilmer property income it makes no sense to me .. maybe he is sick and cleaning up issues

Tanenbaum’s share is with $8 billion. He owns 25% so that would imply the MLSE empire is worth a total $32 billion, no?

 

[Kelly]

So what you’re saying, is that I now own a piece of the Leafs?

I’m gonna call down to MLSE and set up a meeting….

heh me too! Bring me along.

 

[thewave]

Time to short da index maybe .. tsx index lost 10% last year 2022 led by technology with supply side problems .. and i was thinking another 10% this year too with inflation leading da charge .. so far most of losses are on da market but a real estate collapse would affect 50% of population .. then again renters would win with cut throat rents available as folks rip up their leases

Not sure, there isn't any shortage of risk out there. Paying off your debts and being liquid during a correction is pretty sound typically. I imagine that's what Larry is thinking, selling high as they say.

Tanenbaum’s share is with $8 billion. He owns 25% so that would imply the MLSE empire is worth a total $32 billion, no?

I believe the evaluation was 8 Billion USD for the whole thing. 2 Billion USD would be the sale price.

 

[keonsbitterness]

It’s like 500% growth.
1.65B valuation back in 2012

Wonder what portion of that growth is the 200% increase in the 2016 NBA media deal.

I believe the evaluation was 8 Billion USD for the whole thing. 2 Billion USD would be the sale price.

He is apparently selling part of his 25%, not all of it.