Rumors

Raptors general manager Bobby Webster and assistant GM Dan Tolzman recently received contract extensions that were not announce until Friday and now assume day-to-day control of basketball operations while MLSE conducts a search for Ujiri's replacement. We'll have to see to what lengths MLSE is prepared to go in terms of hiring a successor when the significant annual salaries held by Ujiri and former Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan are believed to have factored in strongly to the dismissals of both lead executives in the space of the past five weeks.

marcstein.substack.com

Michael Grange: Rogers has received all league approvals — NBA, NHL, MLS and CFL — to take 75% ownership of MLSE and Raptors, Leafs, TFC and Argos etc. Last step for deal to close is approval from CRTC on indirect ownership of NBA Canada.

x.com

“Two years ago, you weren’t really thinking about this,” said Rob Tilliss, chief executive officer of Inner Circle Sports, a boutique investment bank that works within the sports and entertainment spheres. The company has worked with several professional sports teams, including the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens. “Now (as a business executive with a Canadian team) you’re thinking about hedging strategies. You’re thinking about how much of my revenue is contractual season tickets versus day-of-game tickets. “As the Canadian dollar declines, you have to adjust your budget. They’re all probably reassessing their budgets for the next year or two.” This might be a particular issue for the Toronto Raptors, the lone Canadian NBA team. Rogers’ purchase of Bell’s shares in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, the group that owns the Raptors, Maple Leafs, Toronto FC, among other teams and facilities, is expected to close in the middle of this year. That deal will give Rogers 75 percent control of MLSE. Rogers also owns the Toronto Blue Jays, although not under the MLSE umbrella. Rogers is a publicly traded company, and its stock price has fallen from more than $50 in December, to currently being under $40. Raptors president Masai Ujiri has never complained about MLSE’s financial support for the team, but these are unfamiliar, if not unprecedented, times.

New York Times

Rogers signed a deal to purchase Bell’s 37.5 percent ownership stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE), which owns the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors, for $4.7 billion Canadian dollars ($3.46 billion USD), making it the majority owner of the sports entertainment company.

New York Times

MLSE’s primary assets are the NBA’s Toronto Raptors, NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs, MLS’ Toronto FC, CFL’s Toronto Argonauts and their respective venues. Tanenbaum owns 25% of MLSE; it is unclear how much of his stake he is selling.

Sportico

The league announced a new team in the Bay Area on Thursday, with The Athletic reporting the league is also strongly considering awarding an expansion team to Portland. The Toronto Star reported that, among other factors, Edward Rogers’ poor relationship with Ujiri played a part in MLSE’s decision. Rogers is the chairman of Rogers Communications, one of the three major stakeholders in MLSE, along with Rogers’ main telecom competitor in Canada, Bell, and construction magnate Larry Tanenbaum. The latter is the chairman of MLSE’s board of directors, but reports surfaced in the summer that Tanenbaum is close to selling a portion of his stake to OMERS — the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System. (Bell and Rogers have reportedly expressed concern about Tanenbaum selling a portion of his share.) Tanenbaum headed up a group that originally tried to bring an expansion NBA team to Toronto in the early ’90s, eventually working his way to the Raptors when the Maple Leafs purchased the basketball team and the arena then known as Air Canada Centre in 1998.

The Athletic

Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment — owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Toronto Raptors, among other pro sports franchises — has been named one of Toronto's largest property tax debtors, with an unpaid bill of roughly $1.18 million, dating back to the 2019 tax year.

cbc.ca

Chelsea FC bidders were given an extra three days to submit their offers, and Stephen Pagliuca is using the time to his advantage — the Boston Celtics co-owner has recruited NBA chairman Larry Tanenbaum as a backer. The Canadian is chairman of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, the company that owns Toronto FC, the Maple Leafs, the Raptors, and the Argonauts.

Front Office Sports

Horford said he was aware that his absence from the recent Toronto game made some wonder about his future availability, but added that he would be able to play. He said this remains a personal matter for the players, and he declined to go into further detail. “It’s something I haven’t wanted to discuss,” Horford said. “I think with the Celtics, we made it clear we’re not going to discuss those things, and it’s a health matter, and we all respect everybody’s individual perspectives. That’s why I’m not going to get into it and talk about it. But I’m ready to go.”

Boston Globe

On Monday, the Ontario government announced that the province will be ramping up its reopening timeline. The NHL's Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, and the NBA's Toronto Raptors will be permitted to increase 50 percent capacity beginning on Feb. 17. In addition, if public health officials believe that it's a safe environment, then arenas could move to full capacity beginning on March 1.

CBSSports.com

Toronto won their second straight before about 100 family members and friends at Scotiabank Arena due to provincial-mandated COVID-19 crowd restrictions. This was the first game Raptors head coach Nick Nurse had a full complement of significant players this season

Toronto Star

Beginning Friday, the Toronto Raptors and Maple Leafs will host home games without selling tickets to fans for the next three weeks following a decision by the province of Ontario to limit venue capacities. Ontario's government capped attendance at concert venues, arenas and theaters to 1,000 people or 50% (whichever is less) amid the current surge in COVID-19 cases.

ESPN

Adrian Wojnarowski: The NBA postponed the Orlando-Toronto game on Monday, league says.

Twitter

Mike Vorkunov: The Ontario government said that starting Dec. 18 it will impose 50% capacity limits on indoor venues that seat more than 1,000 people. That includes Scotiabank Arena, where the Toronto Raptors and Maple Leafs play.

Twitter