Rogers, Maple Leafs Deal Could Change Television Landscape

by Alan Adams

Filed under: Maple Leafs, Eastern, NHL Media Watch

Imagine a wintry Saturday night without Don Cherry and Ron MacLean, entertaining or enraging you on the television. Add to that no Hot Stove, and Glenn Healey not offering his insightful commentary on the NHL.

This bleak forecast could well be the future of televised hockey in Canada if media giant Rogers Communications winds up buying the Toronto Maple Leafs from the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund.

Teachers is facing a $17.1 billion gap between revenues and future payments to retiring Ontario teachers, so selling its 66 percent stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment for $1.3 billion makes a lot of sense.

Teachers only worry about the bottom line -- as they should -- and it seems they could care less about how the sale of the fabled Toronto Maple Leafs could change the sports industry landscape in Canada, including television.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Ryan Parent Theo Peckham Matt Pelech Jeff Penner