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Rogers and Bell are buying Ontario Teachers Pension Plan's 3/4 stake in MLSE. The Jays not spending the last 11 years just got a whole lot worse. Rogers and Bell now owns Toronto.

December 8th, 2011. The day sports died in Toronto.

Is this not collusion? How is this allowed?

Their splitting it with Bell how the heck does that work they have done nothing but try to screw each other for years.
That must have been the easiest deal ever negotiated for the teachers.

OTPP: "So Rogers I hear you are only offering 1.25 Billion"
Rogers: "Yes thats correct"
OTPP : "Guess Bell wasn't lying when they said you guys were really lagging behind them"
Rogers "Oh those F%#K's we'll show them 1.5 Billion"

Really though I doubt anything will really change, hopefully we can get an NFL team now.

Can't say I like the idea of Rogers gaining control of more teams that I follow and spreading its cheapness even further in the city.

Don't know how this will affect the Jays overall, but it will certainly knock their coverage down a notch on Rogers' networks in favor of the Leafs.

has anyone noticed, telecom companies in other countries arent the pre-eminent companies in their country. virgins pretty big i suppose, but i dont see AT&T buying every team that comes up for sale. we really get screwed.

An informative link would be sooo appropriate....

WpgPage wrote:Their splitting it with Bell how the heck does that work they have done nothing but try to screw each other for years.

These guys have been colluding for years. Our telecom industry is one big scam.

Mattd97 wrote:has anyone noticed, telecom companies in other countries arent the pre-eminent companies in their country. virgins pretty big i suppose, but i dont see AT&T buying every team that comes up for sale. we really get screwed.

Makes sense - our government is protecting those two from all external competition, and they've been allowed to basically do whatever they want with virtually no risk.

Sigh, get ready for a 15 year rebuild, Leaf/Raptors.

So a monopolizing telecom company(ies) wants to monopolize the Toronto Sports scene.... what else is new?

What pisses me off about this is for either company to change their mind about buying in, they've had to talk together and realize because of their positions they can make more money faster by taking MLSE broadcasting in their preferred direction. Since I think more profits faster are unlikely to be from increased web presence or offering a standalone sports channel, it's far more likely so they can collude their asses into keep people's cable packages all retardo tied together so to watch all the Leafs and Raps and Jays games you need to buy 150 different channels (sorry sir, but that channel with 3 Leafs games is in tier 43, but it's only an additional $129.99/hr for that tier).

I don't hate Rogers for its Jays cheapness, but it is a total c**t of a company that I minimized my dealings with long ago. No cable tv, but cable internet through teksavvy, and a bell cell (that one I can't change 'cause it's a company plan). Those two companies along with Air Canada have the worst customer service ever and only keep customers because you can't get away from them. I was hoping an MLSE channel outside of their grips would break up stupid sportsnet and tsn 'cause they're terrible (seriously if I'm MLSE with one channel that carries Leafs, Raps, a premium half hour nightly hockey news show, and the rights to ESPN sportscenter, don't they wipe the 'net and tsn off the ratings map in like 2 years max despite our love of the Jays?)

so I guess this why Rogers doesn't have the money or the Jays don't have the "parameters" to get Fielder?

Sidenote: How long before we kiss HNIC on CBC good-bye?

SharoneWright wrote:Sidenote: How long before we kiss HNIC on CBC good-bye?

2014.

Is having these two guys owning MLSE better than the teachers??

I'd think for the raptors it would be buisness as usual. The raptors probably operate at or near the cap... for the leafs, I don't know what it would be like, but I don't really care as the leafs suck...

Anyways, I guess the question is, MLSE is a huge money making entity. Are Rogers and Bell going to re-invest some of that profit back into there teams, or are they just going to line there pockets with it? Personally, I'm inclined to think it's probably a little of column A and a little of Column B. I would wonder though, say if the jays where close to being contenders, and the companies decide to pony up and sign Fielder, Does that mean there isn't cash available for the raps, leafs and TFC? Is the money going to be allocated on a per team/per competitveness sort of way or what?

At the end of the day, for me atleast, I'm not as down on this deal as others, as at least it's a Canadian company buying the team, and there just wasn't many options to purchase this thing, I always felt that Rogers would be in on this sale... And I also work for Rogers so I'm hoping for some discounted tickets or something too ... But having them own my favourite teams, (leafs aside) does require them to spend and make them competitve. I think owning this many teams, there "commitment" to winning will certainly be front and center. You can make excuses for 1 team and get away with it, but can you do it 4? I don't think so. There "commitment" to these franchises should be fairly evident within the first couple years I'd think. But at the end of the day for me, I think this is a good deal, and I'm optimistic that when required, the money will be there.

Props to the Toronto Star reporter who asked why fans should be excited when Rogers hasn't shown the willingness to spend on the Jays. Think it was Kevin McGran. Nadir basically side-stepped the question, but I'm glad someone brought it up.

Funny how this purchase comes at the same time jays management is desperatly doing a 180 on payroll increase promises.