Rogers looking into buying Leafs Empire

[sahyder1]

As a Leafs and Raptors fan (and someone who likes to root for the Jays) I think this is great news. It's been a given for some time that the Teacher's pension plan couldn't care less about winning.

Link

By the way, did anyone else catch Jeopardy last night?

Edited December 1, 2010 by sahyder1

[METALMAN]

*leaves

[sahyder1]

*leaves

That "joke" got old about 60 years ago.

[METALMAN]

no it didn't

[therockbox]

no it didn't

You should make like a tree and leaf this thread.

[METALMAN]

You should make like a Toronto Maple Leaves player and get the puck out of here.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Wait sahyder, you think Rogers cares about winning?

If they ever did, it was before Ted died.

The only difference between OTPP and Rogers ownership is that you'll be able to stream Leaf games on your Rogers cell phone a lot sooner.

[sahyder1]

Wait sahyder, you think Rogers cares about winning?

If they ever did, it was before Ted died.

The only difference between OTPP and Rogers ownership is that you'll be able to stream Leaf games on your Rogers cell phone a lot sooner.

I think they care a lot more than the OTPP ever did.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

OTPP cared enough to shell out for Brian Burke.

[Ananas]

Wait sahyder, you think Rogers cares about winning?

If they ever did, it was before Ted died.

The only difference between OTPP and Rogers ownership is that you'll be able to stream Leaf games on your Rogers cell phone a lot sooner.

It's hard for me to believe that someone who has been a fan of the Blue Jays over the last year could say anything so ignorant of the facts. What exactly do you think the gigantic investment in player development was about? The money spent in the draft? The 10 million for Hechavarria? The 5 million for two Venezuelan 16 year olds? The 7 million included in the Doc deal to improve the player package? Letting Alex Anthopoulos buy a draft pick? Paying for an extra minor league team? Re-opening the Dominican baseball academy? Doubling the scouting staff? That was ALL after Ted died. You can't market a draft pick. You don't add prospects to improve the bottom line. You build like this when you want to win consistently.

If anything it'd be nice to see the Leafs, Raptors and Toronto FC have an ownership with a vested interest in winning. For the teachers it was all about the gates, merchandising and licensing fees. And the Leafs brand was always strong enough to hold no matter the performance. But for Rogers, the TV ratings are going to actually impact their bottom line. Simple fact is that a strong Leafs, TFC or Raptors squad will draw more TV viewers and as a result create more revenue for the team. I just hope that with a capped environment in the NHL, NBA and MLS, that some of that extra cheese will go to 1 Blue Jays Way. This could be exact sort of thing that gives the Jays leverage to spend dollar for dollar with the Red Sox.

[Toe]

I assume if Rogers owned the team, they would show more games on Sportsnet. I hate the coverage of Leafs games on that channel. I doubt the on-ice product would change much if Rogers owned the team, but it would be nice if some of the profits from the Leafs could be used to help the Blue Jays increase their spending a bit.

I think I saw that Bell was also interested in the team.

[sahyder1]

I'm with Beatnik. I agree that Burke was a nice addition but winning was pretty low on the OTPP priority list. Rogers will need the teams to do well to get the TV audience. Hopefully this will also translate into more money for the Blue Jays. I want Rogers to get the team.

As for Leafs games on Sportsnet, I haven't lived in Canada on a regular basis for 10 years so I can't talk about their coverage vs TSN or CBC but the part of the plan is for Rogers to take away all the Leafs games TSN gets.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Well TSN has a national package with a set amount of Leaf games per year, those are untouchable until that contract is up.

Does TSN even do regional Leaf games anymore?

[sahyder1]

Well TSN has a national package with a set amount of Leaf games per year, those are untouchable until that contract is up.

Does TSN even do regional Leaf games anymore?

TSN has a regional Leafs deal until 2015.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

I believe that was renegotiated and no longer applies, given that:

a) TSN's pre-season press release hyping up their coverage said nothing about regional Leafs games (which wasn't the case in previous years)

b) TSN's website doesn't list any Leafs regional games but does list Habs regional games

c) TSN advertises Montreal regional games but not Toronto regional games

and d) I think I read somewhere once that it was renegotiated and no longer applies