from Amazon
Monday, December 12, 2011
You’ve heard of teams merging? How about teams splitting?
About 30 years ago, the Minnesota North Stars and the Cleveland Barons merged into one team (as North Stars). Now, how about if you have a team, oh, the Toronto Maple Leafs, that is so hugely valued, and playing in the largest hockey market in the world, and so very under-served that it could easily support two NHL teams, that the co-owners decide to split the team into two?
As it so happens, the Ontario Toronto Pension Fund has sold the MLSE (owners of the Leafs, as well as the arena they play in) to Bell and Rogers (the equivalent of Verizon and Comcast). Having Bell and Rogers being co-partners in anything is quite shocking, but this fellow lays out the case for why it makes sense. And that is, have TWO teams in Toronto, with Bell owning one, and Rogers owning the other (Rogers also owns the Jays).
Bell is also a minority owner in the Montreal Canadiens. How Bell can exist as a minority owner to TWO teams is also quite a shock. So, who knows what kind of machinations are in place. Maybe Bell sells its new Toronto team to someone, and then splits Montreal into two as well (with co-owner Molson).
Anyway, fun stuff to follow for any sports fan.