TORONTO – Rogers Communications Inc. says it has signed a deal to purchase the remaining 25 per cent stake in Maple Leaf Sports activities & Leisure it doesn’t already personal from Kilmer Sports activities Inc. for $4.35 billion.
Rogers chief govt Tony Staffieri referred to as it a defining second for the corporate.
“Our full possession of MLSE brings collectively Canada’s premier communications firm with Canada’s premier sports activities and leisure group,” Staffieri stated in a press release.
“It offers us much more alternative to put money into championship-calibre groups, create distinctive experiences for purchasers and followers, and unlock long-term worth for shareholders.”
MLSE owns the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey workforce, Toronto Raptors basketball workforce, Toronto FC soccer workforce and the Toronto Argonauts soccer workforce.
Final 12 months, Rogers closed a separate $4.7-billion take care of rival BCE Inc. to purchase its 37.5 per cent stake in MLSE, making it the bulk proprietor.
The 2 corporations had beforehand owned equal stakes within the sports activities conglomerate, whereas the remaining quarter was owned by Larry Tanenbaum by his holding firm, Kilmer. Rogers held an possibility permitting it to purchase out that remaining 25 per cent stake in MLSE.
Past MLSE, Kilmer owns the Toronto Tempo, who’re taking part in their inaugural WNBA season, and final month turned the primary Canadian investor within the PWHL.
Tanenbaum, who at the moment serves on the MLSE board of administrators as chair emeritus, will step down as soon as the deal closes, as will MLSE board member Dale Lastman.
With Kilmer divesting from MLSE, Tanenbaum may even step down because the Maple Leafs’ consultant on the NHL board of governors and Toronto FC’s consultant on MLS’ board. Lastman is stepping down because the Argonauts’ consultant to the CFL board.
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Tanenbaum plans to step down as chairman of the NBA board of governors, and the Raptors’ consultant on that board, on the finish of September.
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“As I step again as an proprietor, as contemplated by a shareholders settlement entered into 15 years in the past, I’m extraordinarily proud to depart this legacy of excellence, a tradition of profitable, and a household feeling amongst all our MLSE staff to be carried on,” Tanenbaum stated in an open letter to followers printed Monday.
“I applaud the accomplishments of (Rogers chairman) Edward Rogers and want him and his workforce all the most effective shifting ahead with this extraordinary group.”
Brock College sport administration professor Michael Naraine stated the transfer could be a profit to the groups underneath MLSE’s umbrella.
Naraine described a decision-making course of that may very well be “tumultuous” underneath MLSE’s earlier governance construction, during which a board of administrators included representatives from Rogers and Bell, together with Tanenbaum.
“A part of the problem that MLSE at all times had in its evolution was having a number of cooks within the kitchen and attempting to please a number of events. That may be powerful at occasions,” Naraine stated in an interview.
“By Rogers now proudly owning 100 per cent of MLSE, what they’re in a position to do is have much less cooks within the kitchen, have a devoted chef and with a devoted imaginative and prescient for what the menu ought to appear to be and the way greatest to serve the patrons coming in to eat.”
Rogers expects the deal, which is topic to league approvals, to shut within the fourth quarter of this 12 months.
The corporate stated full possession will strengthen its potential to drive long-term progress throughout its companies.
“The strategic worth of our sports activities enterprise is even better whenever you mix it with our core connectivity enterprise — it offers us a singular worth proposition to compete in a really crowded market,” Staffieri stated.
Along with MLSE, Rogers owns the Toronto Blue Jays baseball workforce, Rogers Centre and Sportsnet community.
Earlier this 12 months, Rogers chief monetary officer Glenn Brandt stated the telecom large deliberate to mix its Rogers Sports activities & Media subsidiary, together with the Blue Jays and Rogers Centre, with MLSE.
Concordia College sports activities economist Moshe Lander stated the focus of possession underneath Rogers implies that “now it’s one voice and there’s no actual room for dissent.”
However he downplayed any dangers to followers underneath that construction, suggesting increased ticket costs had been unlikely until the varied groups expertise a surge in success by championships.
The true monetary boon to Rogers will come by content material possession, Lander stated.
“What that enables them to do then is to go to advertisers and say, at the least so far as Toronto sports activities are involved, ‘It’s important to do enterprise with us,’” he stated in an interview.
“The advertisers are actually going to say, ‘If we wish to be concerned with Toronto sports activities, we actually don’t have a variety of choices right here, we have now to do enterprise with Rogers, or we don’t do enterprise.’ That’s the place they’re going to have the ability to flex their muscular tissues and that successfully places Telus or Bell at an enormous drawback within the market for media telecommunications.”
Rogers intends to promote a minority stake in its consolidated sports activities, media and leisure property over the course of the following 12 months.
The take care of Kilmer implies a complete worth for MLSE of $17.4 billion, a 39 per cent improve from the $12.5-billion valuation implied when Rogers introduced the acquisition of BCE’s stake.
“Full possession was effectively telegraphed. What’s extra related is the value paid, which units a brand new benchmark valuation,” stated Scotiabank analyst Maher Yaghi in a observe.
He stated valuations for the Blue Jays are estimated to be between $3.6 billion and $4 billion.
“Mixed with the $17.4 billion, Rogers is underwriting a a lot increased sports activities asset worth than traders assumed.”
Rogers additionally has partnerships with the Vancouver Canucks, Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames, the NHL, the NBA, MLB and Stay Nation.
Its new 12-year, $11-billion settlement for the nationwide rights to NHL video games in Canada begins within the upcoming 2026-27 season.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed July 6, 2026.
— With information from John Chidley-Hill in Toronto
Corporations on this story: (TSX:RCI.B, TSX:BCE)