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 government Tony Staffieri known 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 mentioned 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 crew, Toronto Raptors basketball crew, Toronto FC soccer crew and the Toronto Argonauts soccer crew.
Final 12 months, Rogers closed a separate $4.7-billion cope with rival BCE Inc. to purchase its 37.5 per cent stake in MLSE, making it the bulk proprietor.
The 2 firms had beforehand owned equal stakes within the sports activities conglomerate, whereas the remaining quarter was owned by Larry Tanenbaum by means of 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 enjoying their inaugural WNBA season, and final month grew to become 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 will 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 go away this legacy of excellence, a tradition of profitable, and a household feeling amongst all our MLSE workers to be carried on,” Tanenbaum mentioned in an open letter to followers printed Monday.
“I applaud the accomplishments of (Rogers chairman) Edward Rogers and need him and his crew all one of the best shifting ahead with this extraordinary group.”
Brock College sport administration professor Michael Naraine mentioned the transfer can be a profit to the groups underneath MLSE’s umbrella.
Naraine described a decision-making course of that could possibly be “tumultuous” underneath MLSE’s earlier governance construction, through which a board of administrators included representatives from Rogers and Bell, together with Tanenbaum.
“A part of the problem that MLSE all the time had in its evolution was having a number of cooks within the kitchen and attempting to please a number of events. That may be robust at occasions,” Naraine mentioned in an interview.
“By Rogers now proudly owning 100 per cent of MLSE, what they’re capable of 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 seem like 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 mentioned full possession will strengthen its means to drive long-term development throughout its companies.
“The strategic worth of our sports activities enterprise is even higher once you mix it with our core connectivity enterprise — it offers us a singular worth proposition to compete in a really crowded market,” Staffieri mentioned.
Along with MLSE, Rogers owns the Toronto Blue Jays baseball crew, Rogers Centre and Sportsnet community.
Earlier this 12 months, Rogers chief monetary officer Glenn Brandt mentioned the telecom big 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 mentioned 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 larger ticket costs have been unlikely except the varied groups expertise a surge in success by means of championships.
The actual monetary boon to Rogers will come by means of content material possession, Lander mentioned.
“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 mentioned 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 lots of choices right here, we now have 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 muscle tissue 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 belongings over the course of the subsequent 12 months.
The cope with 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 properly telegraphed. What’s extra related is the worth paid, which units a brand new benchmark valuation,” mentioned Scotiabank analyst Maher Yaghi in a word.
He mentioned 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 larger 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 Dwell 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)
